The last time we ranked the neighbourhoods, in 2013, we conducted an online poll of Toronto Life readers to determine what they look for in their neighbourhoods. This time, we used the same criteria and weightings, but improved our methodology, adding new information and more controls for land area and population. The city has drastically changed, and so have our rankings (to wit: Rosedale, the former champion, has dropped to number 18).
We scored each neighbourhood in 10 categories, broken down as follows:
1 Housing (15%) affordability (cost versus income), appreciation (year-over-year change) and quality (how many homes recently required major repairs).
2 Crime (13%) the number of incidents per neighbourhood by type
3 Transit (11%) the number of overcrowded routes and TTC stops per square kilometre
4 Shopping (11%) the number of groceries, hardware stores and pharmacies per square kilometre
5 Health (10%) the number of cancer screenings and health care providers per capita, and the amount of air pollution, tree coverage and green space
6 Entertainment (10%) the number of sports facilities, bars and restaurants per square kilometre
7 Community (8%) the number of street beautification efforts per square kilometre, plus voter turnout
8 Diversity (8%) the number and proportion of various ethnicities
9 Schools (7%) the number of schools in each ’hood, and their performance in the Fraser Institute’s report card
10 Employment (7%) the number of jobs and businesses per capita, plus unemployment rates
For more detailed look at our methodology, please visit the
Martin Prosperity Institute’s website.
Of course, the perfect neighbourhood is a subjective ideal, so we’ve created an
interactive (and addictive) feature that lets users create their own custom ranking by selecting and weighting their priorities. We’ve also included a smorgasbord of all the data we couldn’t let go to waste: tidbits about real estate, crime, money, schools, demographics and transit that help us better understand our city.
Some of our findings confirm what we already know—that wealthier neighbourhoods score higher for schools, that a huge number of jobs are downtown, that the suburbs are transit deserts. But there were also some surprises, especially in our top 10, which stretches across the whole city and features some rapidly emerging new players. So here it is: our mostly scientific, wildly controversial ranking, one that pits east versus west, downtown versus suburb, neighbour versus neighbour.
We also hold social events. You do have to work to create community in a condo.
