Charlotte Rates A Perfect 10!
About 40 percent of households in the Charlotte, N.C.-S.C. Metropolitan
Area rated their neighborhood a perfect 10 and a comparable proportion
said their home was "the best place to live," according to a new report
jointly 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 Charlotte
Metropolitan Area in 1995, H170/95-63, 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, 7 percent reported problems
with crime, a comparable proportion reported problems with traffic and 3
percent experienced problems with litter or housing deterioration.
Other findings about the Charlotte, N.C.-S.C. Metropolitan Area:
- The area had 539,000 housing units in 1995, of which 503,000 were
occupied (67 percent by owners and 33 percent by renters).
- Single-family homes, at 80 percent of all occupied units, represented
the predominant housing type in the area.
- The median age of homes in Charlotte city was 19 years, compared with
21 years for the remaining area.
- Homes in the area had a median of 2.7 bedrooms.
- Occupied homes in the area had a median of 2.3 persons per unit and a
median of 5.4 rooms per unit.
- The median monthly housing costs for owners was $532 and for renters
was $489. 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 17
percent of the owners and 3 percent of the renters.
- The median household income for area homeowners was $43,200; for
renters, it was $25,500.
- Owners had monthly housing costs that represented a median of 17
percent of their current income; for renters, it was 25 percent.
- The median value of homeowners' residences in 1995 was $86,800.
- Of the 38,000 owner-occupied homes built or purchased during the last
four years, 55 percent cost $100,000 or more; 53 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.