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is a neighborhood of Boston, located in the western part of the city. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part, Allston is administered collectively with the adjacent neighborhood of Brighton. The two are often referred to together as "Allston-Brighton". A large portion of Allston's population is students, mostly from Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, Harvard University, MIT, Berklee College of Music and Emerson College.
Housing stock varies but largely consists of brick apartment buildings, especially on Commonwealth Avenue and the streets directly off it; while areas further down Brighton Avenue, close to Brighton, are largely dotted with wooden triple-deckers. Lower Allston, across the Massachusetts Turnpike from the rest of Allston, consists of mostly 1890-1920s single-family and multi-family Victorian homes.
The estimated population of Allston is 21,485, a decline of 1.42% from the 2000 Census. The median home cost is $317,000, a decline of 0.97% in the last year. The cost of living is 9.81% higher than the national average. The population density is 18,505/mi
, about 50% higher than the citywide average of 12,166. The median age is 29.2. 76.45% of residents list status as single.
Allston, at the confluence of presence from Boston University, Boston College, and increasingly an expanding Harvard University, is primarily a student neighborhood, though many of its traditional residents remain, many of whom are immigrants from Russia, East Asia, and South America, particularly Brazil and Colombia.
In the 1990s, census figures indicated that 52.6% of its population was aged 20-34 (as compared to 33% for the city of Boston as a whole), an indication of the strong student and "twenty-something" presence. That presence has created tension between some long-time residents and the student population, which constantly cycles in and out as students matriculate and graduate from Boston's many colleges and universities. In addition to nightly dancing and live music at area bars, house parties abound on surrounding streets, particularly during the school year. This has long been a sore point among other Allston residents.
The largest religious affiliation is Catholic (44.96%), followed by Protestant (4.77%), unspecified Christian (4.62%), Jewish (3.58%), Baptist (2.10%), and Islam (1.97%).