Neighborhood overview
Generally, a neighborhood can be defined as:
- A contiguous area that forms a (social) community within a city or town
- A historical or other region around a known location; or
- An area (located within a town or city) that has a recognizable name
Neighborhood build methodology
Neighborhood boundary construction starts with the collection of GIS data, map images, or textual descriptions from multiple sources such as municipalities, counties, or housing associations, or from verified customer feedback. All of this information serves as input into the compilation process. We apply specific GIS standards for geometry, horizontal accuracy, naming, and content attribution to construct high-quality polygons that are consistently defined and integrated across the nation.
Throughout the process, rigorous automated and manual quality assurance programs ensure that the product is of the highest quality and true to local perception.
Neighborhood hierarchy
People use the term neighborhood to refer to anything from a five-mile radius to an area encompassing just a few city blocks. In order to develop datasets that reflect the diverse nature of neighborhoods, these areas must be broken down into neighborhood types that convey information about their size and nature. The ideal hierarchy both supports the search and reporting needs of neighborhood data users, and effectively captures the social, political, and territorial characteristics of a neighborhood for uses like target marketing. We believe that neighborhoods are best classified into the following types:
- Macro neighborhoods
- Neighborhoods
- Sub-neighborhoods
Neighborhood types are nested within this hierarchy. This means that sub-neighborhoods fit within neighborhoods, which fit into macro neighborhoods. Neighborhood boundaries within a neighborhood type layer typically do not overlap. In rare instances where an overlap is needed to best represent the neighborhood, it is flagged as an exception in the Neighborhood Classification Scheme.
Macro neighborhoods (M)
Macro neighborhoods are the largest neighborhood type and typically cover a large portion of a city, such as Midtown Manhattan in New York City. They can include residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational areas. Names often tend to include directional or locational indicators, such as Southwest Seattle or Midtown Manhattan. Due to their broad coverage, there are typically fewer than twenty-five macro neighborhoods per metro area, with a low density per square mile of coverage. Macro neighborhoods will typically encompass other neighborhoods of lower hierarchical types.
Macro neighborhoods typically have a population range between 10,000 and 50,000.
Neighborhoods (N)
This category covers the types of named areas that are typically by local authorities and commonly referenced by people who live or work there. Examples of neighborhoods are SoHo or the Garment District in New York City. Geographically, they tend to be small- to medium-sized (smaller than a macro neighborhood and larger than a sub-neighborhood) and can also cover or include residential, commercial, and recreational areas. There can be a great difference in neighborhood density from metro to metro depending on the social, political, and territorial characteristics of the area.
Neighborhoods typically have a population range between 1,000 and 3,000.
Sub-neighborhoods (S)
Sub-neighborhoods represent smaller, locally known areas within an existing neighborhood, primarily in an urban setting. In a city, sub-neighborhoods tend to be infrequent and cover a smaller section of the city (perhaps a few blocks). They are often used to represent an important area that is compact in size, such as Pike’s Place Market in Seattle.