These Are The 10 Best Neighborhoods In Philadelphia

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 Philadelphia, 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 Philadelphia neighborhoods are 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 find out which neighborhoods in Philadelphia 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.

Here are the best neighborhoods in Philadelphia:

1. City Center West
2. City Center East
3. Fairmount-Spring Garden
4. Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista
5. Manayunk
6. Riverfront
7. Schuylkill Southwest
8. Chestnut Hill
9. Pennsport-Whitman-Queen
10. Bustleton

Read on to see how we determined the places around Philadelphia that deserve a little bragging rights. Would you rahter live outside of the city? Check out the best suburbs around Philadelphia.

How do you determine the best neighborhoods in Philadelphia?

In order to rank the best neighborhoods in Philadelphia, we had to determine what criteria defines a “best”.

Using crime, census, and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

• High incomes
• Low unemployment rates
• Low crime
• High home prices
• High population densities (A proxy for things to do)

We limited the analysis to neighborhoods with over 1,000 people.

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 56 in each category, where 1 was the best.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a best neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest best neighborhood index the “Best City Neighborhood In Philadelphia.” We’re lookin’ at you, City Center West.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the best places Philadelphia has to offer. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from best to worst.

1. City Center West

Population: 29,969
Median Home Price: $473,083
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,764
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%

2. City Center East

Population: 24,010
Median Home Price: $460,746
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,764
Unemployment Rate: 3.4%

3. Fairmount-Spring Garden

Population: 21,588
Median Home Price: $353,935
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,764
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%

4. Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista

Population: 25,188
Median Home Price: $246,118
Crimes Per 100K People: 2,549
Unemployment Rate: 5.3%

5. Manayunk

Population: 10,745
Median Home Price: $218,621
Crimes Per 100K People: 2,408
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%

6. Riverfront

Population: 1,852
Median Home Price: $369,233
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,764
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%

7. Schuylkill Southwest

Population: 12,568
Median Home Price: $260,722
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,920
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%

8. Chestnut Hill

Population: 9,817
Median Home Price: $408,875
Crimes Per 100K People: 1,764
Unemployment Rate: 5.0%

9. Pennsport-Whitman-Queen

Population: 28,721
Median Home Price: $220,643
Crimes Per 100K People: 3,005
Unemployment Rate: 8.4%

10. Bustleton

Population: 32,035
Median Home Price: $244,637
Crimes Per 100K People: 2,705
Unemployment Rate: 5.9%

Putting A Bow On Our Analysis Of Philadelphia

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Philadelphia where crime is low and everyone wants to live, this is an accurate list.

If you’re curious, here are the worst places in Philadelphia:

1. Tioga-Nicetown
2. Fairhill
3. Strawberry Mansion

For more reading, check out:

• These Are The 10 Best Allentown Suburbs
• These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Pennsylvania
• Americans Try To Pronounce Pennsylvania City Names For The First Time.

Detailed List Of The Best Neighborhoods In Philadelphia