EDITOR’S NOTE: Neighborhoods by the Numbers is a six-day multi-part series profiling Nashua neighborhoods by digging into economic data. Coming Thursday: Daniel Webster Highway.

NASHUA – June Kelleher said she can’t think of anything negative about her home on Wethersfield Road in South Nashua.

"It’s wonderful," she said. "Everything is quiet. It’s a great location."

Kelleher said she’s lived in the home for 40 years, and five or six of her current neighbors were there when she moved in. Years ago, she said, you saw more children playing on the street, but if there are fewer now, it’s only
because couples didn’t move after their kids grew up and left home.

"I think it’s just, we love the place so much we’ve stayed," she said.

Asked about the range of incomes in the neighborhood, Kelleher said it’s by no means a wealthy enclave.

"I see the kids walk by, and they don’t all have designer clothes," she said.

Census Tract 113 – an area The Telegraph is calling the "Robin Hood Streets" because it’s full of roads with names like Nottingham Drive, Friar Tuck Lane, and Robinhood Road – isn’t the wealthiest neighborhood in the city but with a median annual household income of $101,842, its the most affluent neighborhood in the city’s core. In terms of income, the neighborhood is second only to the neighboring Bicentennial neighborhood, coming in about $9,000 less per household.

Home prices are only the fourth highest in Nashua, but Tract 113 is the area with the fewest low-income residents in the city. Less than 8 percent of households here make under $35,000 a year. In Bicentennial, it’s 11 percent, and in several downtown neighborhoods, the figure is above 50 percent. And less than 1 percent of households in the Robin Hood Streets fall below the poverty level.

Contributing to the stable feel of the neighborhood, more than half of the residents are between the ages of 45 and 64, putting them in what’s typically a worker’s prime earning years. The percentage in that age group is the highest in the city.

Nationwide, the separation of families by income has been on the rise for decades. Between 1980 and 2010, the portion of upper-income households located in a majority upper-income census tract rose from 9 percent to 18 percent, according to an analysis released last year by Pew Social Trends.

Sheri Bulluck, who has lived on Nottingham Drive since 1997, said she likes the neighborhood, and she hopes a smattering of foreclosures won’t drive home prices down.

"I would think that if it became more low-income, I think the neighborhood would change," she said. "If the housing market was to drop, or if it was to become a low-income neighborhood there might be more crime."

Besides being mostly middle- to high-income, the Robin Hood Streets is one of the whitest parts of the city. Eighty-nine percent of locals are non-Hispanic whites, while 4.3 percent are Asian, 2.5 percent black and 2.6 percent Hispanic. The only whiter tract is Nashua River West.

Bulluck said she never thought much about the lack of economic or racial diversity, but her children did interact more with kids of different backgrounds when they attended Elm Street Middle School. When her son moved from New Searles, their neighborhood elementary school, to Elm Street, she said she heard some bad things about it, but she volunteered there and found she was happy with what she saw.

Aaron Dufoe, who lives just outside Tract 113 but was in the area helping his son practice baseball at Kirkpatrick Park one fall afternoon, said being inside the city but outside the downtown center is a good mix for a lot of local families.

"This is a great area – you don’t have a lot of renters," he said.

Just 1.3 percent of homes in the Robin Hood Streets are rentals, by far the smallest percentage in the city. Dufoe said he thinks the stability of a neighborhood where most people own homes is ideal for his kids. But he’s also glad that they’re involved in the Nashua’s sports leagues, playing with kids from all over the city and meeting a range of people they might not find in one of the smaller towns nearby.

"I think one good thing Nashua gives your kids is a more diverse upbringing," he said. "That can be a draw for families."

To view an interactive map of the 18 neighborhoods in Nashua, visit www.nashuatelegraph.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Neighborhoods by the Numbers is a sixday multi-part series profiling Nashua neighborhoods by digging into economic data. Coming Thursday: Daniel Webster Highway.

NASHUA – June Kelleher said she can’t think of anything negative about her home on Wethersfield Road in South Nashua.

"It’s wonderful," she said. "Everything is quiet. It’s a great location."

Kelleher said she’s lived in the home for 40 years, and five or six of her current neighbors were there when she moved in. Years ago, she said, you saw more children playing on the street, but if there are fewer now, it’s only because couples didn’t move after their kids grew up and left home.

"I think it’s just, we love the place so much we’ve stayed," she said.

Asked about the range of incomes in the neighborhood, Kelleher said it’s by no means a wealthy enclave.

"I see the kids walk by, and they don’t all have designer clothes," she said.

Census Tract 113 – an area The Telegraph is calling the "Robin Hood Streets" because it’s full of roads with names like Nottingham Drive, Friar Tuck Lane, and Robinhood Road – isn’t the wealthiest neighborhood in the city but with a median annual household income of $101,842, its the most affluent neighborhood in the city’s core. In terms of income, the neighborhood is second only to the neighboring Bicentennial neighborhood, coming in about $9,000 less per household.

Home prices are only the fourth highest in Nashua, but Tract 113 is the area with the fewest lowincome residents in the city. Less than 8 percent of households here make under $35,000 a year. In Bicentennial, it’s 11 percent, and in several downtown neighborhoods, the figure is above 50 percent. And less than 1 percent of households in the Robin Hood Streets fall below the poverty level.

Contributing to the stable feel of the neighborhood, more than half of the residents are between the ages of 45 and 64, putting them in what’s typically a worker’s prime earning years. The percentage in that age group is the highest in the city.

Nationwide, the separation of families by income has been on the rise for decades. Between 1980 and 2010, the portion of upperincome households located in a majority upper-income census tract rose from 9 percent to 18 percent, according to an analysis released last year by Pew Social Trends.

Sheri Bulluck, who has lived on Nottingham Drive since 1997, said she likes the neighborhood, and she hopes a smattering of foreclosures won’t drive home prices down.

"I would think that if it became more low-income, I think the neighborhood would change," she said. "If the housing market was to drop, or if it was to become a low-income neighborhood there might be more crime."

Besides being mostly middle- to high-income, the Robin Hood Streets is one of the whitest parts of the city. Eighty-nine percent of locals are non-Hispanic whites, while 4.3 percent are Asian, 2.5 percent black and 2.6 percent Hispanic. The only whiter tract is Nashua River West.

Bulluck said she never thought much about the lack of economic or racial diversity, but her children did interact more with kids of different backgrounds when they attended Elm Street Middle School. When her son moved from New Searles, their neighborhood elementary school, to Elm Street, she said she heard some bad things about it, but she volunteered there and found she was happy with what she saw.

Aaron Dufoe, who lives just outside Tract 113 but was in the area helping his son practice baseball at Kirkpatrick Park one fall afternoon, said being inside the city but outside the downtown center is a good mix for a lot of local families.

"This is a great area – you don’t have a lot of renters," he said.

Just 1.3 percent of homes in the Robin Hood Streets are rentals, by far the smallest percentage in the city. Dufoe said he thinks the stability of a neighborhood where most people own homes is ideal for his kids. But he’s also glad that they’re involved in the Nashua’s sports leagues, playing with kids from all over the city and meeting a range of people they might not find in one of the smaller towns nearby.

"I think one good thing Nashua gives your kids is a more diverse upbringing," he said. "That can be a draw for families."