U.S. Department of Commerce
and U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development Joint Release IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1997 Public Information Office CB97-H.14 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TTD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Ed Montfort 301-763-8551 Thirty-Four Percent of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area's Households Give High Marks to Their Neighborhood, Census Bureau Report Says About 34 percent of households in the Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Area rated their neighborhood a perfect 10 and about 37 percent said their home was "the best place to live," according to a new report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the report, American Housing Survey for the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area in 1995, H170/95-33, respondents were asked to rate their neighborhood and their house or apartment as a place to live based on scales of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best and 1 is the worst. Of the households in these neighborhoods, 9 percent reported problems with crime, a comparable proportion reported problems with traffic and 6 percent experienced problems with litter or housing deterioration. Other findings about the Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Area: - The area had 1,986,600 housing units in 1995, of which 1,820,600 were occupied (69 percent by owners and 31 percent by renters). - Single-family homes, at 76 percent of all occupied units, represented the predominant housing type in the area. - The median age of homes in Philadelphia city was 60 years, compared with 32 years for the remaining area. - Homes in the area had a median of 2.8 bedrooms. - Occupied homes in the area had a median of 2.3 persons per unit and a median of 6.0 rooms per unit. - The median monthly housing costs for owners was $673 and for renters was $578. Monthly housing costs include mortgage payments or contract rent, utilities, fuels, insurance, real estate taxes (for owners) and other housing-related expenditures. - Monthly housing costs that were $1,000 or more accounted for 31 percent of the owners and 7 percent of the renters. - The median household income for area homeowners was $43,000; for renters, it was $23,400. - Owners had monthly housing costs that represented a median of 22 percent of their current income; for renters, it was 31 percent. - The median value of homeowners' residences in 1995 was $112,800, down 11 percent from a 1995 constant dollar figure of $127,400 for 1989. - Of the 37,200 owner-occupied homes built or purchased during the last four years, 84 percent cost $100,000 or more; 63 percent of the owners of new homes used savings or cash-on-hand for their down payment. Data in the report are shown separately for units with African American householders. Since data in the report are from a survey, they are subject to sampling variability.-X-The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In over 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
