What do we mean by a neighborhood?
NeighborhoodScout® uses the official government designation for neighborhoods - the census tract.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have 4,000 persons, but can range between 1,500 and 8,000 persons. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St)
Why we don't use Zip Codes as neighborhoods
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 10 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area. The result is that potentially great matching neighborhoods can be missed, and erroneous matches can also be produced and delivered to you.
Using census tracts makes great matches possible, and helps people find the areas that are best for them and their families. Because we are committed to providing the highest possible quality and finding the neighborhoods that best meet your criteria, we use census tracts. And, as always, we show you the actual street map of the neighborhood so you know exactly where your best matching neighborhood is located.
What is a Condition Alert?
A condition alert is a condition in the neighborhood that triggers an alert. NeighborhoodScout contains condition alerts to highlight conditions that are extreme, whether good or bad. This helps answer crucial questions about the state of the neighborhood being evaluated, such as:
What are the risks of violent crime here?
Is the risk of home break-ins or other property crimes increasing?
Does real estate here hold its value?
Are the trends in local vacancies or unemployment concerning?
...and dozens more.
Information at a glance that you need to know to invest, appraise or finance a property.
Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd median real estate price is $236,707, which is more expensive than 45.0% of the neighborhoods in Michigan and 28.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd is currently $1,747, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 60.9% of the neighborhoods in Michigan.
Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Westland, Michigan.
Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) apartment complexes/high-rise apartments and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd has a 13.9% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 75.1% of American neighborhoods). Most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This could either signal that there is a weak demand for real estate in the neighborhood or that large amount of new housing has been built and not yet occupied. Either way, if you live here, you may find many of the homes or apartments are empty.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Real Estate
The Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood is very unique in that it has one of the highest proportions of one, two, or no bedroom real estate of any neighborhood in America. Most neighborhoods have a mixture of home or apartment sizes from small to large, but here the concentration of studios and other small living spaces is at near-record heights. With 100.0% of the real estate here of this small size, this most assuredly is a notable feature that makes this neighborhood unique, along with just a handful of other neighborhoods in the U.S. that share this characteristic.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 90.4%, which is higher than 96.9% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.
Furthermore, corner bodegas, stores on the first floor and apartments above, former grand Victorian residences converted into apartments, three-deckers built shoulder-to-shoulder, duplexes. Such building types define the real estate of neighborhoods dominated by small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. Many are in older core neighborhoods of Eastern and Midwestern cities, or historic town centers in their hinterlands. If you wax romantic about the look and feel of such neighborhoods, with fresh pizza, falafel and an independent florist at the corner, then you might find the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood worth a close look. This neighborhood is an absolutely outstanding example of the dominance of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings compared to neighborhoods across the nation, as they make up a substantial portion of this neighborhood's real estate stock. In fact, no less than 33.7% of the real estate here is made up of such dwellings, which is higher than 95.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Occupations
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 22.0% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 99.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
One of the unique characteristics of the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 97.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, divorcees may find friendship and understanding in this neighborhood, as 21.3% of its residents are divorced. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis found that this divorce rate is higher than in 97.1% of the neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood has more Sub-Saharan African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 12.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Sub-Saharan African ancestry.
Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 6.8% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Langs. of India at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Neighbors
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood in Westland are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 97.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 41.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 89.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood, 31.1% of the working population is employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 28.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (22.0%), and 21.5% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood is English, spoken by 91.6% of households. Some people also speak Langs. of India (6.8%).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood in Westland, MI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (12.1%). There are also a number of people of Polish ancestry (6.3%), and residents who report African roots (4.9%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (2.9%), along with some German ancestry residents (2.9%), among others.
Getting to Work
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Nankin Blvd / Cowan Rd neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (50.6% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (86.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
SCOUT’s patented match algorithm identifies the most similar neighborhoods to a subject location, and quantifies the similarity to the subject location. This allows analysts to identify the most similar neighborhoods in a local market area for appraisals, investments, and research.
The algorithm uses 273 neighborhood conditions, identifies the dominant dimensions underlying the conditions and calculates the similarity. This captures the true culture and character of locations, economic conditions, and trends.
The closer to 100% means the locations are nearly identical. 80% is a very good, but not excellent match, and so forth.
