Neighborhood names: Do they matter?

What’s in a name?

According to a recent Porch.com report, neighborhoods with certain words in their names tend to attract those with higher incomes and bigger house prices. Words like village, valley, hills and heights are some of the most popular words in the neighborhood names for wealthier areas across the U.S. In Pennsylvania, people residing in neighborhoods with the name Roslyn had the highest income, averaging $183,700. Roslyn is featured in the name of four neighborhoods in the state.

In Pennsylvania, west is the most popular word used in neighborhoods at 31, followed by lake at 26, east at 25, city at 23 and heights at 21. Lake is also the most popular across the country, 605 neighborhoods use it in their names, followed by city at 599 and park at 345.

Across the country, in neighborhood names, the word hills has the average highest income, followed by island and village. The average lowest household income in neighborhood featured words such as los, university and springs.

Words with a water theme attracted the highest home values. The average highest home value belongs to neighborhood names including the word island at $440,386, followed by beach at $423,325 and harbor at $416,332. The lowest average home value belonged to fort at $109,116, followed by junction at $115,268 and rock at $115,395.

Porch.com said location is key when choosing a neighborhood. Neighborhoods with acres, oak, lakes or green in their name are more likely to have homes under the average price, but also have residents with above-average income.