Washington Heights is located in upper Manhattan, from around 157th street to 193rd street. It is located above Harlem and below Inwood, reaching across the borough from the Hudson River to the East River. According to the 2010 census, the total population is around 130 thousand people, spread out across 1.64 square miles of land. The area is very hilly (hence “heights”) and the rivers themselves are bridged by the George Washington to New Jersey and the Washington to the Bronx, hence the name of the neighborhood.
The neighborhood itself is very ethnically diverse, with Latinos (namely Puerto Ricans and Dominicans) taking up the majority of the population and the rest of it being a diverse mix of the rest of the races. The residents are predominantly Christian/catholic, with a few large Catholic churches being in the area. There are many Jewish residents as well, especially because Yeshiva University is located in the upper west end of the Heights. The median income for the majority of the Heights is below the $50k range, aside from the far eastern areas past Broadway, where the population is predominantly White and the median income is in the $80k range. Numerous public schools are located in the area, along with some catholic/private schools but not as many. My elementary school PS 189 is located on the street of the same number, along with the zone middle school a few blocks away and the high school similarly distanced.
Numerous small businesses are located throughout the neighborhood, with the majority of the businesses being small bodegas usually on at least one side of most of the blocks. These stores are at the bottom of the many apartment buildings located in the neighborhood, with more than 90% of the living spaces being occupied by renters rather than owners. Numerous clothing stores and barber shops are also located throughout Washington Heights, along with various fast food chains and small restaurants. The 1 and A/C trains are the subway connections into the area, along with various buses like the M3, M100/101, Bx3, Bx11 and so on. The population of the area at its fringes is shifting, with some stores closing down and people with higher incomes moving in.
Many stories are embedded in these statistics: a neighborhood of renters? Does that mean that there are few coops and condos? If renters, are apartments, rent stabilized or rent controlled? Fate of the local bodegas? Are they closing one by one and if so what is replacing them?