Is “chinatown” OK in a real estate listing?

Why

An official neighborhood name is on the acceptable side of the NYPA and CRMLS lists. Leave out any commentary about who lives there.

What the tag means

OK means a cited source treats it as acceptable. Any alternative shown is a house-style preference some offices or MLSs ask for, not a legal requirement.

Check your own wording

Paste a sentence or your whole listing. It runs ListingLint's real rule engine in your browser, and nothing is uploaded. chinatown

No Fair Housing flags in this text. That's a word check, not a legal review.

Allowed terms we recognized

• OK “chinatown”

  An official neighborhood name is on the acceptable side of the NYPA and CRMLS lists. Leave out any commentary about who lives there.

A word check, not a legal review. Open the full checker for fixes, the fact lock and the MLS character count.

What the law covers here

National origin is a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act. The lists flag words that describe the people who live somewhere by ancestry, birthplace or language. A building's architectural style, or a restaurant's cuisine, is a different thing, and the rules here treat those separately.

• Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(c)

Sources

• Fair Housing Advertising Word and Phrase List (New York Press Assn.; source: Oklahoma Press Assn.)
• CRMLS Fair Housing Word & Phrase List (Apr. 2021)

Related phrases

• asian neighborhoods Avoid
• latinos Caution
• oriental design Caution
• english only Avoid
• citizens only Avoid
• foreigners Caution
• spanish style OK
• all-american neighborhood Caution

All national origin phrases on one page · The 12-check listing checklist

Not legal advice. Word lists can't judge context, and laws differ by state and city, with some protecting more classes than federal law does. If you're unsure about a listing, ask your broker or a fair housing attorney. Rule ok-neighborhood-name, ListingLint rules v2026.10.2.