Best Edmonton neighbourhoods for a Growing Family

Where does a household with young children get schools, parks and low daily-life risk? 191 of 284 Edmonton neighbourhoods qualify, top 25 shown. Updated 2026.

How this ranking is built
Requirements
  • Not in the city's bottom fifth for school access

School access is treated as a requirement: a neighbourhood in the city's bottom fifth for school reach is excluded, because the premise of this page is children.

191 of 284 neighbourhoods qualify, 93 excluded.

Then ranked on
safety25%school access20%recreation access15%trail access10%grocery access10%quiet10%climate10%

These weights are our judgment about what this situation usually calls for, not a fact about the city. They are published here so you can disagree with them.

1
Rossdale
96 school access66 safety98 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 26 out of 100.

78
2
McKernan
97 school access62 safety91 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 27 out of 100.

77
3
Strathcona
89 school access60 safety95 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 25 out of 100.

76
4
Queen Alexandra
98 school access97 recreation access43 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 26 out of 100.

74
5
Cloverdale
70 safety77 school access91 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 24 out of 100.

73
6
Downtown
94 school access96 recreation access53 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 1 out of 100.

73
7
Garneau
98 school access98 recreation access46 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

73
8
Kameyosek
86 school access65 safety81 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 46 out of 100.

72
9
Parkallen
99 school access93 recreation access51 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 42 out of 100.

72
10
Central McDougall
91 school access91 recreation access51 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

70
11
Ekota
71 safety78 school access86 climate
70
12
Meyonohk
75 safety71 school access86 climate
70
13
Allendale
96 school access86 recreation access47 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 33 out of 100.

69
14
Lee Ridge
70 safety69 school access70 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 42 out of 100.

69
15
Lendrum Place
96 school access92 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 39 out of 100.

69
16
McCauley
81 school access51 safety84 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 9 out of 100.

69
17
Wîhkwêntôwin
89 school access91 recreation access53 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

69
18
Belgravia
92 school access59 safety99 trail access

Trade-off: grocery access at 6 out of 100.

68
19
Greenfield
69 safety73 school access82 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 19 out of 100.

68
20
Sherwood
88 school access64 safety63 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 18 out of 100.

68
21
Tawa
80 school access56 safety68 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 31 out of 100.

68
22
Tipaskan
67 safety69 school access58 recreation access
68
23
Bonnie Doon
68 school access54 safety89 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 47 out of 100.

67
24
Crestwood
83 school access58 safety67 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 38 out of 100.

67
25
Holyrood
83 school access58 safety91 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 29 out of 100.

67

Frequently asked

What is the best Edmonton neighbourhood for a Growing Family?
On this ranking, Rossdale leads at 78 out of 100, driven by school access, safety, recreation access. McKernan and Strathcona follow. There is no single best neighbourhood: this is the ranking that falls out of the priorities published above, and different priorities give a different order.
How is the Growing Family ranking calculated?
First, 284 Edmonton neighbourhoods are filtered against a requirement: not in the city's bottom fifth for school access. 92 were excluded on that basis. The remainder are scored on a weighted blend of safety 25%, school access 20%, recreation access 15%, trail access 10%, grocery access 10%, quiet 10%, climate 10%, using population-weighted dissemination-area data. The weighting is our editorial judgment about what this situation usually calls for, published here so you can disagree with it and re-rank on your own priorities.
What data is missing from this ranking?
Scores are computed only where the underlying data exists. A factor with no data for a neighbourhood is dropped from that neighbourhood's average rather than scored as zero, and each row states which factors were unavailable. Neighbourhoods with data for less than half their weighted factors are not ranked at all.
Other rankings