Newscruncher is a daily series that breaks down the characteristics of your town by the numbers. You can see more posts by clicking the Newscruncher link above the headline or by checking out our weekend roundups. If you see any technical issues with this map, or if you'd like to suggest ideas for future Newscruncher articles, please email data@patch.com.
This map shows a snapshot of the percentage of vacant homes across different areas of your town.
On a national level, the vacancy rate is still higher than it was before the housing bubble burst in 2008.
Vacant homes sometimes bring down the property values of those buildings surrounding them. As a result, their presence can hurt the economic standing of nearby businesses and households alike.
The data are from the United States Census Bureau's 2011 American Community Survey. These values are an estimate for 2011 taking into account 60 months of collected data. You can learn more about the survey here.
Using your cursor, you can hover over any census tract – the geographic region defined by the U.S. Census – and the percentage of vacant homes will appear in the box in the upper right hand corner of the map.
What do you think explains the differences in the prevalence of vacant homes across town? Tell us in a comment or a blog post.
