Only Half Of Americans Know Their Neighbors' Names

[FarCenter]

How well do you know your neighbors?

Chances are, not very.

Only half of us even know our neighbors' names, according to new statistics from Trulia, a real estate company that surveyed over 3,000 Americans in suburban and urban areas to ask them how they feel about the people living next door.

And while 67% of us say we like our neighbors, only 53% know what to call them.

One-third of respondents said the most important characteristic of a neighbor was the ability to speak the same language, while 35% said it was important for their neighbor to be a home-owner, as opposed to a renter.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-well-americans-know-their-neighbors-2013-10

[warrior1]

1. I do

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Me too.

Until the guy who organized the events die a few years ago, we used to have neighborhood bonfire evenings in which everyone got together & talked about nothing in particular, drank a beer or 2 or pop, passed around finger food, etc. Nobody has replaced our organizer, unfortunately, but everyone says they would come if someone else would organize it.

We live in the country; "neighbors" means within a couple of miles.

[pipi_k]

10. So true...

We live in the country; "neighbors" means within a couple of miles.

I even know some neighbors in town, on the other side of the "mountain".

When you're rural, pretty much everyone within five miles is a neighbor.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Me too. I've been inviting them to join Nextdoor...

I got tons of traffic at my garage sale when I posted it there, and met more neighbors than I had for the 8 years I've lived here.

Nextdoor.com
Free private social network for neighborhoods.

[Shampoyeto]

2. All neighbors? At least one neighbor?

I don't get it.

[NuclearDem]

3. Oh I know their names, just not their real ones.

There's the Shitheads, the Motorcycle Jackasses, the Fucking Subwoofers, the Attention Grabbers, the Spoiled Little Shits, and the Fuckers Whose Dog Bites Mine Unprovoked.

[kestrel91316]

11. I've just got The People Next Door With The Screaming Toddler, and then The People Downstairs Who

Smoke Like Chimneys And Are Comprised Of Grandma, Mom, 2 Adult Daughters (One Mentally Ill) Plus Two Little Kids All In A 2-BR Apartment.

The People Downstairs, for all their flaws, are not horrible neighbors, and I did finally learn their names after two years.

[Duer 157099]

6. Not only that, I know which magazines they subscribe to...

and who they donate to politically... our mailman is very often confused and gives everybody's mail to everyone else.

[Iggo]

7. One of my next door neighbors is Kevin, and the other one is Scott...

...but I don't remember which is which.

Been living here about six years now.

Slight mitigation: The one neighbor is a raving RWer (yelled "You're what's wrong with this country!" at my 78 year old Korean War veteran dad because he wouldn't sign his petition to get Prop 8 on the ballot.) The other neighbor seems really cool and fun, but he has beer drinking bashes all the time and I'm clean and sober going on 18 years and I really should not be around defenseless drunks. It gets ugly fast.

That said, you'd think I could at least get their names right.

[Tikki]

8. Interesting thing...both of our immediate neighbors grew up in the wider neighborhood..

bought in the neighborhood when their children were little. Both are and have been
single parents the majority of the time.

Both have grown children who stay and go but mostly stay.

We have two homes within eye-shot that are vacant...one for over twenty years
because the parents have passed on, the houses have been paid off and because of
Prop 13 the taxes on both homes are in the hundreds of dollars not the thousands
so neither of the adult children, who live out of State are in any hurry to sell.

We are in nonconforming acreage so no one sits "next" to each other, so to speak...but we all know
each other, like each other.



The Tikkis

[sharp_stick]

9. I know all the neighbors

within about 3 houses on each side and the folks across the street and on either side of them.

My next door neighbors have a key to my house and we have a key to theirs and the guy's across the street.

We're lucky that the neighborhood is a good one, we can still let the kids play outside on their own and know that the neighbors will help keep an eye on them

[Phentex]

12. I know all of the names of everyone on my street plus their pet's names...

well, not the fish but I know the dogs and cats and guinea pigs' names. We have street parties and neighborhood parties and our kids used to play together when they were younger. I still babysit for some of the neighbors occasionally and I know plenty I could call on if I need to borrow something. I have great neighbors. I cannot imagine not knowing my neighbors.

[JCMach1]

13. Know our neighbors, but the best part is they are both 1/2 mile away

I hate having people close at hand... but then again, I'm a misantrope...

[Xyzse]

14. I kinda know some of their names.

Not that I pay attention much.

[City Lights]

15. I know the names of the couples living on either side of me.

One couple is very kind and friendly, and the other is Fox "News" watching assholes.

I also know the names of the family living across the street, however, I do not know the names of most of the other people living on my street, which is the exact opposite of how it was when I was growing up.

[The2ndWheel]

16. Don't really need to know them

You don't really need your neighbors for all that much these days.

[maxsolomon]

18. That's kind of sad.

We have neighbors that feed our cat when we're gone, 2 have keys to our house, we share exercise equipmetn, we borrow tools, an egg or a lemon when needed, and share backyard fruits at harvest, which come back in the form of jam at Xmas. I checked on my elderly neighbor until the day he died.

It's neighborly. Literally.

[maxsolomon]

17. Anomie is bad.

Seattle promotes block parties, and allows people to close their street off and have a BBQ/Pot luck one day a year.

Thanks to this party (and our teeny 50x100 lots), we know most everyone, and the ones we don't know personally it's because they choose not to come. There is also a regularly updated map of the entire block with names and phone numbers.

[Jamaal510]

19. I saw one

of my neighbors (who lives in the apartment to the right of me) on my first day moving in a month ago, but that has been it. She never told me her name when she first saw me; it was just "hi, neighbor!" She usually has been out and about when I'm either in my apartment or at school.
As for my neighbor to my left, I've never even seen him before, although I do always hear him playing loud music in his crib. In fact, our walls are so thin here that I even heard him had sex one night, but I digress.

[MineralMan]

20. I know the names of everyone on my block.

I know the names of many on surrounding blocks, as well. I have a dog, and walk it, and I also do door knocking during campaigns.