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 Washington might be more expensive than living in rural Washington Dc, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Washington 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 Washington are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Washington for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Takoma Park looks to be the cheapest Washington 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 Washington. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
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.
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Washington For 2024
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Population: 5,302
Cost Of Living Index: 169 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.006 (cheapest)
More on Takoma Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 57,481
Cost Of Living Index: 140 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.6 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (9th cheapest)
More on Catholic University-Brookland: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 24,123
Cost Of Living Index: 137 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.9 (18th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (13th cheapest)
More on Fort Totten-Upper Northeast: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 11,100
Cost Of Living Index: 136 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (28th cheapest)
More on South West: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 8,132
Cost Of Living Index: 141 (9th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (27th cheapest)
More on Downtown: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,768
Cost Of Living Index: 157 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.4 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (17th cheapest)
More on Logan Circle: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 12,937
Cost Of Living Index: 164 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.9 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (16th cheapest)
More on Glover Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 17,154
Cost Of Living Index: 157 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.2 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (22nd cheapest)
More on Adams Morgan: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 29,798
Cost Of Living Index: 113 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.3 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (3cheapest)
More on Deanwood: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 117,488
Cost Of Living Index: 112 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.4 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (33rd cheapest)
More on Anacostia: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Washington Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Washington, 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 34 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 Washington.” We’re lookin’ at you, Takoma Park.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Washington. 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 Washington
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Washington where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Washington are Takoma Park, Catholic University-Brookland, Fort Totten-Upper Northeast, South West, Downtown, Logan Circle, Glover Park, Adams Morgan, Deanwood, and Anacostia.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Washington aren’t all cheap. Foxhall Village takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Washington.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Washington are Foxhall Village, Berkley, Kalorama, Shaw, and Georgetown.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Washington Dc reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Washington For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Takoma Park | 169 |
| 2 | Catholic University-Brookland | 140 |
| 3 | Fort Totten-Upper Northeast | 137 |
| 4 | South West | 136 |
| 5 | Downtown | 141 |
| 6 | Logan Circle | 157 |
| 7 | Glover Park | 164 |
| 8 | Adams Morgan | 157 |
| 9 | Deanwood | 113 |
| 10 | Anacostia | 112 |
| 11 | Au-Tenleytown | 205 |
| 12 | Stadium-Armory | 135 |
| 13 | Cleveland Park | 184 |
| 14 | Dupont Circle | 158 |
| 15 | Capitol Hill | 162 |
| 16 | Barnaby Woods | 206 |
| 17 | Friendship Heights | 189 |
| 18 | Chevy Chase | 195 |
| 19 | Foggy Bottom | 138 |
| 20 | Mount Pleasant | 158 |
| 21 | Brentwood | 134 |
| 22 | Woodley Park | 204 |
| 23 | Petworth | 175 |
| 24 | Ledroit Park | 164 |
| 25 | U Street Corridor | 174 |
| 26 | Columbia Heights | 156 |
| 27 | Brightwood | 161 |
| 28 | The Palisades | 228 |
| 29 | Mount Vernon Square | 159 |
| 30 | Georgetown | 220 |
| 31 | Shaw | 169 |
| 32 | Kalorama | 250 |
| 33 | Berkley | 225 |
| 34 | Foxhall Village | 207 |