Neighborhood: East Harlem

East Harlem's southern border is 96th street, western - Fifth Avenue. To the east and north, East Harlem is flanked by the Harlem River.

That said, thanks to the arrival of a multitude of market-rate rentals and condos (in new, as well as converted buildings) in the blocks between East 96th and East 97th, the border region of East Harlem feels very much like the Upper East Side.

Character: Long thought as one of the Manhattan's grittiest areas, East Harlem has been improving its image and its housing stocks for more than a decade. Gentrification started slowly at the level of 96-97th Streets at first, but new rental and condo development quickly crept up to higher streets and the population became genuinely mixed.

That said, the neighborhood (also called "El Barrio") still retains its Latin-flavored character with many inexpensive eateries and a largely working class, Spanish-speaking population.

Demographics: Before 2000, East 96th street (the neighborhood's southern border) was one of the most famous socio-economic "boundaries" in North America: to the south of it lied the affluent Upper East Side and to the north - the significantly less affluent East Harlem, where within the span of a few blocks, the average household income plunged to only a fraction of its sub-East 96th value. That contrast has been softened and the border bluerred somewhat by gentrification of the late 1990's and 2000's.

Gentrification aside, the population of East Harlem remains considerably less affluent than that of its southern neighbor. The neighborhood contains a significant number of housing projects run by NYCHA (Carver, Lexington, Washington, Clinton, White, Metro North, Lehman, Johnson, Taft, Jefferson, Corsi, Wagner, Robinson, Lincoln).