The 10 Cheapest Philadelphia, PA Neighborhoods To Live In For 2024


The cheapest Philadelphia neighborhoods are Marconi Plaza-Packer Park and Wissanoning for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Worst Neighborhoods In Philadelphia
Source: Wikipedia User en:User:Jleon (Transfered by MSClaudiu/Original uploaded by Jleon) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighbhorhood in Philadelphia might be more expensive than living in rural Pennsylvania, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Philadelphia neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Philadelphia are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Philadelphia For 2024

  1. Marconi Plaza-Packer Park
  2. Wissanoning
  3. Haddington-Carroll Park
  4. Oak Lane
  5. Eastwick
  6. Alleghany West
  7. Tioga-Nicetown
  8. Academy Gardens
  9. East Falls
  10. Richmond

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Philadelphia for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Marconi Plaza-Packer Park looks to be the cheapest Philadelphia neighborhood to live in.

At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Philadelphia. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Philadelphia that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Philadelphia For 2024

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,804
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.5 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.006 (cheapest)
More on Marconi Plaza-Packer Park: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 27,190
Cost Of Living Index: 95 (19th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (14th cheapest)
More on Wissanoning: Data | Real Estate

Haddington-Carroll Park Philadelphia, PA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 35,068
Cost Of Living Index: 90 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (38th cheapest)
More on Haddington-Carroll Park: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 42,412
Cost Of Living Index: 97 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (29th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (3rd cheapest)
More on Oak Lane: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,841
Cost Of Living Index: 94 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (30th cheapest)
More on Eastwick: Data | Real Estate

Alleghany West Philadelphia, PA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 18,676
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.031 (5cheapest)
More on Alleghany West: Data | Real Estate

Tioga-Nicetown Philadelphia, PA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 17,382
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.3 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.028 (48th cheapest)
More on Tioga-Nicetown: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 4,094
Cost Of Living Index: 105 (36th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.7 (17th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (5th cheapest)
More on Academy Gardens: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 9,937
Cost Of Living Index: 110 (43rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (4th cheapest)
More on East Falls: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 26,912
Cost Of Living Index: 94 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (34th cheapest)
More on Richmond: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Philadelphia Hoods In 2024

To rank the cheapest places to live in Philadelphia, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

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

  • Overall Cost Of Living
  • Rent To Income Ratio
  • Median Home Value To Income Ratio

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

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

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Philadelphia.” We’re lookin’ at you, Marconi Plaza-Packer Park.

We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Philadelphia. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Philadelphia

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Philadelphia where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Philadelphia are Marconi Plaza-Packer Park, Wissanoning, Haddington-Carroll Park, Oak Lane, Eastwick, Alleghany West, Tioga-Nicetown, Academy Gardens, East Falls, and Richmond.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Philadelphia aren’t all cheap. City Center West takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Philadelphia.

The most expensive neighborhoods in Philadelphia are City Center West, City Center East, Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista, Poplar-Ludlow-Yorktowne, and Fairmount-Spring Garden.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Philadelphia For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Marconi Plaza-Packer Park 92
2 Wissanoning 95
3 Haddington-Carroll Park 90
4 Oak Lane 97
5 Eastwick 94
6 Alleghany West 89
7 Tioga-Nicetown 89
8 Academy Gardens 105
9 East Falls 110
10 Richmond 94
11 Hunting Park 90
12 Morris Park 97
13 Mayfield 99
14 Holmesburry-Torresdale 99
15 Logan-Fern Rock 93
16 Juniata Park-Feltonville 93
17 Strawberry Mansion 92
18 Grays Ferry 95
19 Summerdale 98
20 Cedar Brook 100
21 Manayunk 113
22 Roxborough 112
23 Olney 95
24 Torresdale 105
25 Byberry 107
26 Fox Chase 106
27 Wynnefield 98
28 Girard Estates 103
29 Fairhill 89
30 Elmwood 93
31 Frankford 95
32 Harrowgate 90
33 Belmont 94
34 Somerton 110
35 Kensington 100
36 Oxford Circle 100
37 Germantown 95
38 Mount Airy 111
39 Riverfront 134
40 Rhawnhurst 107
41 Cobbs Creek 101
42 Hartranft 90
43 Brewerytown 100
44 Pennsport-Whitman-Queen 110
45 Schuylkill Southwest 122
46 Bustleton 111
47 South Philadelphia 105
48 Chestnut Hill 139
49 Point Breeze 100
50 North Central 94
51 Fishtown 113
52 Fairmount-Spring Garden 125
53 Poplar-Ludlow-Yorktowne 105
54 Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista 117
55 City Center East 143
56 City Center West 141
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.