The top neighborhood names in the country tend to have certain words in common. According to a new study from Porch.com, the name of a neighborhood can attract wealthier homeowners.

“Whether it makes sense or not, the names and identifiers of our American communities and housing developments often say more about the people living there than we might realize,” wrote researchers working on the study. They went on to note that living in a place with a certain name could benefit you or “end up costing you.” Some of their research indicated that certain neighborhoods with relatively higher incomes actually did not have higher property values, as one might expect, and that this trend sometimes corresponds to certain nomenclature.

Best Bang for Your Buck

“When it comes to getting the most bang for your buck…certain cities and states tend to offer unparalleled values, especially when combined with more robust job markets or higher average incomes,” the study team observed. They suggested starting a search for lower home prices but higher resident incomes in neighborhoods and areas with the following words in their names:

  • Acres
  • Oaks
  • Lakes
  • Green

Conversely, they reported areas with the following words in their names tended to have above-average home values but below-average family incomes:

  • San
  • Vista
  • Pine
  • Santa
What Name is a “Moneymaker?”

To identify areas where average incomes were much higher than, well, the average, the analysts started with 2016 Census Data indicating average household income in America was $59,000 at that time. Then, they looked for areas where average household income was much higher. That list included the following:

  • Village
  • Valley
  • Heights

For example, in Texas, there are 22 communities with “village” in their name. Those communities posted an average household income of more than $174,000. In Colorado, the eight communities with “village” in the title earned an average of more than $175,000, and the six in Michigan earned more than $102,000.

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  • Carole VanSickle Ellis

    Carole VanSickle Ellis serves as the news editor and COO of Self-Directed Investor (SDI) Society, a membership organization dedicated to the needs of self-directed investors interested in alternative investment vehicles, including real estate. Learn more at SelfDirected.org or reach Carole directly by emailing Carole@selfdirected.org.

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