Old Town West median real estate price is $1,022,380, which is more expensive than 90.3% of the neighborhoods in Virginia and 89.4% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Old Town West is currently $3,917, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 90.9% of the neighborhoods in Virginia.
Old Town West is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Alexandria, Virginia.
Old Town West real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) townhomes and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Old Town West neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases, quite a bit earlier. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Old Town West has a 14.6% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 78.2% 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.
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.
Some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 51.8% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 99.3% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.7% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
In addition, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the Old Town West neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 98.3% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for college students.
Also, wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the Old Town West neighborhood is wealthier than 95.0% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood.
Many people dream of living along a street lined with row houses or other attached homes. Such places do often have an abundance of charm. If you are one of these people, the Old Town West neighborhood could be your paradise. With 50.3% of the homes and real estate here classified as rowhouses or other attached homes, this neighborhood brims with opportunity to find the right place for you. Only 1.1% of U.S. neighborhoods have more row houses than this neighborhood, making it one of the most interesting things about this special neighborhood.
A unique way of commuting is simply not to. And in the Old Town West neighborhood, analysis shows that 38.9% of the residents work from home, avoiding a commute altogether. This may not seem like a large number, but it is a higher proportion of people working from home than is found in 98.8% of the neighborhoods in the United States. One thing NeighborhoodScout's research reveals is that the wealthier and/or more isolated the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of residents who choose to work from home.
Also, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 13.7% of the Old Town West neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 96.4% of America's neighborhoods.
The Old Town West neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 98.6% of the neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. This is a unique feature of this neighborhood, and one that shapes its character.
Furthermore, with 3.4% of employed workers living in the Old Town West neighborhood active in the military, this neighborhood has the distinction of having a higher proportion of people in the military than 97.8% of American neighborhoods. This is a major shaper of the neighborhood's culture and character.
In addition, executives, managers and professionals make up 75.9% of the workforce in the Old Town West neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 97.8% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.
Did you know that the Old Town West neighborhood has more Welsh and Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Welsh ancestry and 4.0% have Scots-Irish ancestry.
Old Town West is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Arabic at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Old Town West neighborhood in Alexandria are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 95.0% of the neighborhoods in America. With 28.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 80.7% 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 Old Town West neighborhood, 75.9% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions, with 18.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (13.3%), and 5.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Old Town West neighborhood is English, spoken by 85.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
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 Old Town West neighborhood in Alexandria, VA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (20.7%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (17.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (16.5%), and some of the residents are also of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (8.5%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.5%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Old Town West neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (45.0% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (32.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (13.7%) and 7.9% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.