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 Providence might be more expensive than living in rural Rhode Island, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Providence 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 Providence are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Providence for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Mount Pleasant looks to be the cheapest Providence 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 Providence. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Providence that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Providence.
For more Rhode Island reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Rhode Island
- Cheapest Places To Live In Rhode Island
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Providence For 2024
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Population: 11,438
Cost Of Living Index: 107 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (5th cheapest)
More on Mount Pleasant: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,444
Cost Of Living Index: 106 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.7 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (9th cheapest)
More on Reservoir: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 5,417
Cost Of Living Index: 98 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.3 (16th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (7th cheapest)
More on Olneyville: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 6,526
Cost Of Living Index: 144 (2cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.6 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (cheapest)
More on Blackstone: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 6,286
Cost Of Living Index: 100 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.8 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (8th cheapest)
More on Hartford: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 6,103
Cost Of Living Index: 110 (17th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (2nd cheapest)
More on Mount Hope: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 6,674
Cost Of Living Index: 103 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (11th cheapest)
More on Charles: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 11,958
Cost Of Living Index: 103 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.0 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (10th cheapest)
More on Silverlake: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,175
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (19th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.8 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (6th cheapest)
More on Hope: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 17,334
Cost Of Living Index: 100 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.4 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (17th cheapest)
More on West End: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Providence Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Providence, 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 23 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 Providence.” We’re lookin’ at you, Mount Pleasant.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Providence. 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 Providence
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Providence where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Providence are Mount Pleasant, Reservoir, Olneyville, Blackstone, Hartford, Mount Hope, Charles, Silverlake, Hope, and West End.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Providence aren’t all cheap. Downtown takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Providence.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Providence are Downtown, Federal Hill, Fox Point, College Hill, and Wayland.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Rhode Island reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In Rhode Island
- Richest Cities In Rhode Island
- Safest Places In Rhode Island
- Worst Places To Live In Rhode Island
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Providence For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Pleasant | 107 |
| 2 | Reservoir | 106 |
| 3 | Olneyville | 98 |
| 4 | Blackstone | 144 |
| 5 | Hartford | 100 |
| 6 | Mount Hope | 110 |
| 7 | Charles | 103 |
| 8 | Silverlake | 103 |
| 9 | Hope | 127 |
| 10 | West End | 100 |
| 11 | Elmhurst | 109 |
| 12 | Valley | 108 |
| 13 | Washington Park | 104 |
| 14 | Lower South Providence | 101 |
| 15 | Elmwood | 100 |
| 16 | Wanskuck | 103 |
| 17 | South Elmwood | 107 |
| 18 | Smith Hill | 102 |
| 19 | Wayland | 155 |
| 20 | College Hill | 147 |
| 21 | Fox Point | 130 |
| 22 | Federal Hill | 108 |
| 23 | Downtown | 116 |