Fordham/University Heights Neighborhood Profile

Neighborhood Indicators

Demographics

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019
Population
Born in New York State		49.6%	47.9%	45.7%
Disabled population			16.8%	14.8%
Foreign-born population	34.8%	38.9%	38.8%	43.2%
Population	133,890	133,858	135,266	138,209
Population aged 65+	5.0%	4.9%	5.1%	9.2%
Households
Households with children under 18 years old	55.4%	51.9%	50.1%	39.7%
Single-person households		24.9%	26.3%	29.8%
Race and Ethnicity
Percent Asian	1.6%	1.9%	0.3%	2.2%
Percent Black	32.5%	28.9%	29.2%	26.8%
Percent Hispanic	61.7%	66.9%	67.4%	67.7%
Percent white	1.4%	0.8%	1.5%	1.7%
Racial diversity index	0.51	0.47	0.46	0.47
Income and Poverty
Income diversity ratio		5.7	5.0	6.8
Median household income (2021$)	$35,440	$26,970	$31,130	$33,650
Median household income, homeowners (2021$)		$71,580	$91,910	$66,410
Median household income, renters (2021$)		$25,790	$30,110	$33,280
Poverty rate	40.6%	41.6%	40.0%	31.4%
Poverty rate, population aged 65+		41.7%	23.2%	41.4%
Poverty rate, population under 18 years old		55.1%	52.5%	37.2%
Labor Market
Labor force participation rate		61.0%	63.7%	59.1%
Population aged 25+ without a high school diploma		38.4%	36.8%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	19.89%	15.18%	23.53%	11.58%

Housing Market and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Housing Stock
Homeownership rate	4.8%	4.0%	3.1%	4.0%
Housing units		45,809	47,358	47,934
Rental vacancy rate			3.3%	1.4%
Serious housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		198.8	132.7	219.8	145.9	173.5
Severe crowding rate (% of renter households)			6.3%	7.4%
Total housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		981.9	631.3	696.8	421.8	581.2
Finance - Distress
Notices of foreclosure rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)	21.2	31.7	39.7	13.8	3.2	8.4
Notices of foreclosure, all residential properties	38	56	79	25	7	16
Notices of foreclosure, initial, 1-4 family and condo properties	28	43	44	12	4	7
Notices of foreclosure, repeat, 1-4 family and condo properties	5	8	21	10	1	6
Pre-foreclosure notice rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)				69.8	51.8	42.2
Pre-foreclosure notices, 1-4 family and condo properties				112	81	66
Properties entering REO, 1-4 family	6	0	4
Finance - Lending
FHA/VA-backed home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		3.0%	90.6%	50.0%	50.0%
Higher-cost home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		63.0%	0.0%	30.6%	18.4%
Higher-cost refinance loans (% of refinance loans)		52.3%	16.7%	0.0%	0.0%
Home purchase loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		46.4	10.5	11.9	12.7
Home purchase loans in LMI tracts (% of home purchase loans)		99.3%	9.4%	100.0%	100.0%
Home purchase loans to LMI borrowers (% of home purchase loans)		4.7%	100.0%	11.1%	10.5%
Refinance loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		66.4	7.9	10.6	19.7
Sales - Volume
Sales volume, 1 family building	12	23	5	8	8	5
Sales volume, 2-4 family building	53	120	36	49	36	43
Sales volume, 5+ family building	22	46	26	5	9	17
Sales volume, condominium	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sales volume, all property types	87	189	67	62	53	65
Sales - Median Prices
Median sales price per unit, 1 family building (2021$)		$483,420	$379,480	$551,690	$515,030	$575,000
Median sales price per unit, 2-4 family building (2021$)		$290,380	$209,640	$301,060	$326,740	$325,000
Median sales price per unit, 5+ family building (2021$)		$95,850	$77,890	$180,370	$152,330	$137,500
Median sales price per unit, condominium (2021$)
Sales - Housing Price Index
Index of housing price appreciation, 1 family building	100.0	227.2	146.7	372.8	374.8	427.6
Index of housing price appreciation, 2-4 family building	100.0	203.3	150.2	239.8	260.9	340.3
Index of housing price appreciation, 5+ family building	100.0	259.1	199.4	634.0	454.0	484.1
Index of housing price appreciation, condominium
Index of housing price appreciation, all property types	100.0	218.6	160.7	312.7	344.5	404.6
Subsidized Housing
Total number of subsidized properties (properties)						410
HUD Financing or Insurance (properties)						6
HUD Financing or Insurance (units)						523
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (properties)						26
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (units)						1,999
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (properties)						105
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (units)						7,473
Public Housing (properties)						11
Public Housing (units)						6,073
Mitchell-Lama (properties)						7
Mitchell-Lama (units)						2,537
421-a Tax Exemption (properties)						41
421-a Tax Exemption (units)						1,825
420-c Tax Exemption (properties)						64
420-c Tax Exemption (units)						2,785
NYC Housing Production Programs and Zoning Incentives or Requirements (properties)						178
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (properties)						24
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (units)						988
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (properties)						31
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (units)						1,635
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (properties)						60
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (units)						5,862

Land Use and Development

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020
Density
Population density (1,000 persons per square mile)		88.6	89.6	91.5
Development
Units authorized by new residential building permits	130	3	132	523	577
Units issued new certificates of occupancy	54	264	295	185	304

Neighborhood Services and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Commute
Car-free commute (% of commuters)	72.9%	73.7%	77.0%	83.1%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	43.9	41.0	41.5	48.1
Crime and Incarceration
Serious crime rate (per 1,000 residents)		15.5	12.0	13.5	15.9	14.8
Serious crime rate, property (per 1,000 residents)		7.4	5.2	5.9	8.4	7.2
Serious crime rate, violent (per 1,000 residents)		8.1	6.8	7.6	7.5	7.6
Schools
Students performing at grade level in English language arts, 4th grade				33.5%
Students performing at grade level in math, 4th grade				27.1%

Renters

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Median Rent
Median rent, 2- and 3-bedrooms (2021$)			$1,200	$1,250
Median rent, all (2021$)	$990	$1,090	$1,210	$1,290
Median rent, recent movers (2021$)			$1,250	$1,470
Median rent, studios and 1-bedrooms (2021$)			$1,060	$1,160
Change in collected rent (2019-2020)					-2.9%
Affordability
Rental units affordable at 30% AMI (% of recently available units)			14.0%	13.7%
Rental units affordable at 80% AMI (% of recently available units)			81.7%	92.9%
Rental units affordable at 120% AMI (% of recently available units)			97.8%	100.0%
Rent Burden
Moderately rent-burdened households		21.7%	24.7%	26.7%
Moderately rent-burdened households, low income			27.9%	27.5%
Moderately rent-burdened households, moderate income			3.4%	4.4%
Severely rent-burdened households	33.4%		35.6%	38.8%
Severely rent-burdened households, low income			42.9%	45.4%
Severely rent-burdened households, moderate income			0.0%	0.0%
Rental Subsidy
Housing choice vouchers (% of occupied, privately owned rental units)			19.2%	19.6%	18.9%
Public housing (% of rental units)						3.0%

DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2019, there were an estimated 138,209 people in Fordham/University Heights, of which 2.2% of the population identified as Asian, 26.8% identified as Black, 67.7% identified as Hispanic, and 1.7% identified as white.

Graph showing the racial and ethnic composition of Fordham/University Heights in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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In 2019, the household income group with the largest share (36.6%) of households was <= $20,000. In 2000, the same household income group had the largest share as well, with a slightly lower share of 35.0%.

Graph showing the distribution of household income in Fordham/University Heights in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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Median household income in 2019 was $33,650, about 54% less than citywide median household income ($72,930). The poverty rate in Fordham/University Heights was 31.4% in 2019 compared to 16.0% citywide.

The poverty rate in Fordham/University Heights was 31.4% in 2019 compared to 16.0% citywide.

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The rent distribution shows the share of apartments by their size (according to the number of bedrooms), and then for each apartment size in the community district, the share of apartments according to their monthly gross rent. This distribution compares 5-year ACS figures from 2010 to 5-year ACS figures from 2019. This is a new figure made for the 2021 State of the City report.

Graph showing the distribution of rents in Fordham/University Heights in both 2010 and 2015-2019.

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HOUSING

Renters

Real median gross rent in Fordham/University Heights increased from $1,090 in 2006 to $1,290 in 2019. In 2019, 38.8% of renter households in Fordham/University Heights were severely rent burdened (spent more than 50% of household income on rent). 92.9% of the rental units were affordable at 80% Area Median Income, 11 percentage points higher than the share in 2010. 3.0% of rental units were public housing rental units, as of 2021. The overall rental vacancy rate in Fordham/University Heights was 1.4% in 2019.

Real median gross rent in Fordham/University Heights increased from $1,100 in 2007 to $1,290 in 2019.

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3.0% of the rental units in Fordham/University Heights are public housing rental units in 2021.

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Homeowners

In 2019, the homeownership rate in Fordham/University Heights was 4.0%, lower than the citywide share of 31.9%. The homeownership rate in the neighborhood has increased by 0.9 percentage points since 2010. In 2020, the home purchase loan rate was 12.7 per 1,000 properties (owner-occupied 1-4 family buildings, condominiums, or cooperative apartments) and the refinance loan rate was 19.7 per 1,000 properties in the neighborhood. Out of all the first-time home purchase loans and refinance loans in Fordham/University Heights, 18.4% and 0.0% were high cost loans, respectively. 16 properties had a filing of mortgage foreclosure in Fordham/University Heights in 2021. There were 8.4 mortgage foreclosure actions initiated per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units.

There were 8.4 mortgage foreclosure notices per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units in Fordham/University Heights in 2021

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Development

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 304 residential units in new buildings in Fordham/University Heights in 2020, 119 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 304 residential units in new buildings in Fordham/University Heights last year, 119 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

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Over the last decade, 1,966 units in 4+ unit buildings were built in Fordham/University Heights. 35% were market rate, compared to 60% low-income. We use data from a variety of sources to count the number of income-restricted units targeted to households earning between 80% and 165% of AMI. However, due to restricted availability of granular data our calculations of income-restricted units should be read as conservative estimates. Read more about our methdology in the technical appendix of the 2021 Focus Report.

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES AND CONDITIONS

The serious crime rate was 14.8 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

The serious crime rate was 14.8 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

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Data Notes: See CoreData User Guide for more information about indicator definitions and methods.

Indicators: The rental vacancy rate, severe crowding rate, and the severely rent-burdened households indicators use five-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. Data under the 2010 heading comes from the 2006 – 2010 ACS and data under the 2019 heading comes from the 2015 – 2019 ACS.

Rankings: We report rankings out of all neighborhoods for which the indicator can be calculated. Rankings are listed for community districts, though some indicators are reported at the sub-borough area level.