Do you like your neighborhood? Is it friendly, and where everyone knows their neighbors? No matter if you live in the sticks or in an apartment building in downtown New York, you have a little pocket that you can call home. And each neighborhood is different.
Smaller neighborhoods usually have obvious benefits – less crime, a slower pace of life, and a lower cost of living. But not all American neighborhoods aren’t created equal. Some are better than others. But which ones?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and dug into the data to find out which neighborhoods are the best. If you’re in one of the places we’re about to highlight, odds are you know you’ve got it made.
Turns out the Battery Park neighborhood of New York City is the best neighborhood where you can live in this country. The worst? Marlborough East in Kansas City, MO.
Here are the best neighborhoods in America:
- Battery Park, NYC
- Carnegie Hill, NYC
- Greenwich Village, NYC
- Upper East Side, NYC
- Soho, NYC
- Tribeca, NYC
- Back Bay-Beacon Hill, Boston
- The Waterfront, Jersey City
- Financial District, NYC
- Upper West Side, NYC
So basically, downtown New York City has the best neighborhoods, if you can afford to live there. At least generally.
How do you decide if a neighborhood is awesome or not?
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the government census, this is the criteria we used:
- High incomes
- Low unemployment rates
- Low crime
- High home prices
- High population densities
There’s a chart at the bottom with a longer list of the best and worst neighborhoods. Note: For crime numbers below, the U.S. average is 100, so anything below 100 is best.
1. Battery Park, NYC
Population: 11,781
Home values: $747,000
Unemployment rate: 2.6%
Crime rank: 26.5
You might not be surprised to hear it, but almost every neighborhood on this list is in downtown New York City. The only problem? It’s understandably hard to afford to live here.
In Battery Park, crime is very low, and homes are actually relatively affordable – at least more so than in most other ‘great’ downtown NYC neighborhoods.
2. Carnegie Hill, NYC
Population: 15,300
Home values: $1 million
Unemployment rate: 3.3%
Crime rank: 26.5
In Carnegie Hill, crime numbers are about the same as some of the other more posh NYC neighborhoods, but homes are the most expensive. The average home is more than a million bucks. Lots of people might argue that makes the neighborhood ‘less’ desirable, and they might have a good point.
Plus, you live right across from Central Park.
3. Greenwich Village, NYC
Population: 47,761
Home values: $842,020
Unemployment rate: 3.7%
Crime rank: 26.5
Greenwich Village is a lot more packed in than most of the other neighborhoods on this list, and for a good reason. There’s simply too many things to do here – and you’ve got nice, modern amenities right at your disposal. That means the dry cleaner, coffee shop and grocery store is at the bottom of your stoop.
4. Upper East Side, NYC
Population: 188,964
Home values: $842,200
Unemployment rate: 4%
Crime rank: 26.5
The television show ‘The Jeffersons’ made this neighborhood in downtown NYC a household name. If you wanted to move on up yourself and live on the Upper East Side, you’d better get in line and have a deep pocketbook.
5. Soho, NYC
Population: 12,902
Home values: $894,000
Unemployment rate: 4%
Crime rank: 26.5
Like many of the other fancy downtown New York neighborhoods, crime in the Soho neighborhood is very low. That’s most likely because the criminals can’t afford to live here, and prey on easier targets. The unemployment rate is also far below the national average, too.
6. Tribeca, NYC
Population: 14,430
Home values: $981,000
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
Crime rank: 26.5
Homes are close to a million smackeroos in this upscale downtown NYC neighborhood, where you might find yourself bumping elbows with executives at well known banks or world-famous publications. Tribeca is actually the 7th most expensive neighborhood in the country.
7. Back Bay-Beacon Hill, Boston
Population: 27,566
Home values: $751,000
Unemployment rate: 2.9%
Crime rank: 149.5
Whoa on the crime rate in Back Bay-Beacon Hill, which is the first ‘hood on this list that’s not in downtown NYC. While the crime rate here is above normal, the other factors actually make this a very desirable place to live. And if you can afford to live here, odds are you can also afford an alarm system.
8. The Waterfront, Jersey City
Population: 8,695
Home values: $510,000
Unemployment rate: 2.8%
Crime rank: 26.5
Across the Hudson from New York is the awesome neighborhood of The Waterfront, where you get views of downtown NYC and much cheaper homes, too. For those who want low crime and affordability, plus the NYC metro area experience, this place is super.
9. Financial District, NYC
Population: 25,321
Home values: $826,303
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
Crime rank: 26.5
For those lucky individuals who can claim to live in the Financial District of downtown NYC, there’s a low crime and highly motivated community at your beckon. Home prices are through the roof, but with that comes the world at your fingertips and some very successful next door neighbors.
10. Upper West Side, NYC
Population: 207,304
Home values: $875,100
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
Crime rank: 26.5
The Upper West Side is the ‘every man’s’ neighborhood in downtown New York. Those who can’t afford the Upper East Side, but want the poshness that comes with a fancy downtown experience live here. It’s packed, and for good reason.
That’s certainly a sign that there’s demand to live here.
There You Have It
When you’re looking at American neighborhoods that have the best economies and low crime, this is an accurate list.
Here are the worst neighborhoods in America:
- Marlborough East, Kansas City, MO
- South Blue Valley, Kansas City, MO
- Kinsmith, Cleveland
- South Cumminsville, Cincinnati
- Milo Grogan, Columbus
