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 Alexandria might be more expensive than living in rural Virginia, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Alexandria 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 Alexandria are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Alexandria for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Fairlington-Bradlee looks to be the cheapest Alexandria 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 Alexandria. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Alexandria that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Alexandria.
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 5 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Alexandria For 2024
/10
Population: 617
Cost Of Living Index: 140 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (5th cheapest)
More on Fairlington-Bradlee: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 30,816
Cost Of Living Index: 114 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (15th cheapest)
More on Alexandria Wrest: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 28,354
Cost Of Living Index: 115 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (14th cheapest)
More on Landmark-Van Dom: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 12,405
Cost Of Living Index: 168 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.5 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (2nd cheapest)
More on North Ridge-Rosemont: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 22,510
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (12th cheapest)
More on Seminary Hill: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Alexandria Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Alexandria, 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 15 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 Alexandria.” We’re lookin’ at you, Fairlington-Bradlee.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Alexandria. 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 Alexandria
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Alexandria where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Alexandria are Fairlington-Bradlee, Alexandria Wrest, Landmark-Van Dom, North Ridge-Rosemont, Seminary Hill, King St Metro, Potomac Yard-Potomac Greens, Old Town North, Braddock Road Metro, and Eisenhower East.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Alexandria aren’t all cheap. Southwest Wuadrant takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Alexandria.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Alexandria are Southwest Wuadrant, Northeast, Potomac West, Old Town, and Taylor Run.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
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Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Alexandria For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairlington-Bradlee | 140 |
| 2 | Alexandria Wrest | 114 |
| 3 | Landmark-Van Dom | 115 |
| 4 | North Ridge-Rosemont | 168 |
| 5 | Seminary Hill | 127 |
| 6 | King St Metro | 152 |
| 7 | Potomac Yard-Potomac Greens | 153 |
| 8 | Old Town North | 146 |
| 9 | Braddock Road Metro | 170 |
| 10 | Eisenhower East | 143 |
| 11 | Taylor Run | 143 |
| 12 | Old Town | 185 |
| 13 | Potomac West | 156 |
| 14 | Northeast | 153 |
| 15 | Southwest Wuadrant | 172 |