The Boston neighborhoods where people are least likely to leave
A new neighborhood report from the Boston Redevelopment Authority showed the areas where people live in the same house they did a year ago.
Tired of moving every September? Consider relocating southwest of downtown Boston.
New neighborhood-by-neighborhood data from the Boston Redevelopment Authority shows areas where much of the population lives in the same house they did a year ago. According to that measure, people are least likely to move in Hyde Park and West Roxbury, with 90.3 percent of residents staying put in each. The neighborhood with the next-highest number of residents staying in the same home was Roslindale, at almost 88 percent.
The report, “Boston in Context – Neighborhoods,’’ compared Boston’s neighborhoods across several social, economic, and housing characteristics using 2010 U.S. Census data and figures from the 2009-2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Among its findings were neighborhoods where residents are most likely to rent, bike to work, and have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The lack of “geographic mobility’’ in West Roxbury and Hyde Park may be related to the age of the neighborhoods’ residents. Both areas have some of Boston’s oldest residents, with 42 as the median age in West Roxbury, and 38 in Hyde Park. Longwood and Fenway had some of Boston’s youngest residents, at 20.7 and 22.8, respectively. Those neighborhoods had a much lower percentage of residents living in the same home they lived in the year before.
Another explanation could be West Roxbury and Hyde Park’s low number of renter-occupied units. Only 36.4 percent of West Roxbury’s housing units are renter-occupied, compared to the city’s average of 66 percent. Only the Leather District had fewer rental units, at just over 30 percent.
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Hyde Park had slightly more renter-occupied units at 42 percent, with 58 percent of its homes owner-occupied. Compared with renter-heavy areas like Chinatown (93 percent) and Fenway (almost 91 percent), the lack of renter-occupied units in the two neighborhoods becomes more apparent.
If you’re looking to buy a home, Hyde Park is probably the cheaper option, with the median home value at $333,200, compared to West Roxbury’s $456,700. The median home value for Boston is $449,500, according to Zillow. Both neighborhoods have been home to notable residents. Former Mayor Thomas Menino was a lifelong resident of Hyde Park, while Ralph Walso Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau were known to frequent West Roxbury.
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