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.
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:
- Best Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- Cheapest Places To Live In Pennsylvania
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- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Philadelphia For 2024
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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:
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