Chinatown

Chicago's Chinatown centers on Wentworth Avenue and the two-level Chinatown Square plaza along Archer, with the Nine Dragon Wall and the Chinatown Gate as its postcard markers. Ping Tom Memorial Park gives the neighborhood a riverfront few realize it has — pagoda-style pavilion, boathouse, water taxi to the Loop — and the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line stop puts downtown seven minutes away.

Apartments for rent in Chinatown run from units in the brick three-flats lining the interior streets to newer mid-rise buildings along Archer and Cermak. The rental market is tight and word-of-mouth driven — listed inventory understates what actually turns over — and demand from downtown workers has grown as the South Loop has expanded toward the neighborhood's eastern border.

Homes for sale include the townhome developments of Chinatown Square and Santa Fe Gardens, two-flats throughout the residential core, and condos in low-rise buildings near the park. The neighborhood is one of the few in the city where new townhome construction has been continuous since the 1990s, and its housing market historically holds value through downturns better than most South Side districts.