The 10 Best Neighborhoods In Washington, DC For 2024

What’s the best part of Washington?

It could be where everyone knows their neighbor. Or it could be where home prices are the highest, meaning it’s where everyone wants to live.

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and find out which neighborhoods in Washington are the best based on Saturday Night Science.

Whether you live in the sticks or in an apartment building downtown, you want a little pocket that you can call home. And each neighborhood offers different perks and benefits.

Smaller neighborhoods usually have obvious benefits — less crime, a slower pace of life, and a lower cost of living. But not all Washington neighborhoods are created equal. Some are better than others. But which ones?

If you’re thinking of moving to Washington Dc and Washington is on the top of your list, check out the best neighborhoods for 2024.

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

So what’s the best neighborhood to live in Washington for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Au-Tenleytown looks to be the best Washington neighborhood to live in.

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

Methodology: How We Determined The Best Washington, DC Neighborhoods In 2024

To rank the best neighborhoods in Washington, we had to determine what criteria define “best” and then apply Saturday Night Science to it.

Using FBI 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 then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 34 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 Washington.” We’re lookin’ at you, Au-Tenleytown.

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

We updated this article for 2024. This report is our tenth time ranking the best neighborhoods to live in Washington.

Summary: Putting A Bow On Our Analysis Of The Best Neighborhoods In Washington

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

The best neighborhoods in Washington are Au-Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, The Palisades, Chevy Chase, Barnaby Woods, Woodley Park, Kalorama, Glover Park, Berkley, and Georgetown.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Washington aren’t all good. Brentwood takes the title of the worst neighborhood to live in Washington.

The worst neighborhoods in Washington are Brentwood, Deanwood, Anacostia, Stadium-Armory, and South West.

We ranked the neighborhoods from best to worst in the chart below.

Best Neighborhoods To Live In Washington For 2024 Detailed Data