Best Toronto neighbourhoods for a Growing Family

Where does a household with young children get schools, parks and low daily-life risk? 132 of 158 Toronto 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.

132 of 158 neighbourhoods qualify, 26 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.

Your priorities may differ. Re-rank these for me
1
Danforth East York
82 safety64 school access72 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 48 out of 100.

71
2
Forest Hill South
90 school access64 safety88 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 43 out of 100.

69
3
Bay-Cloverhill
99 school access96 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

67
4
Mount Pleasant East
67 safety68 school access86 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 45 out of 100.

67
5
South Eglinton-Davisville
68 safety82 school access92 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

67
6
Church-Wellesley
97 school access95 recreation access41 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

66
7
Lawrence Park South
72 safety81 school access79 recreation access

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

66
8
North St.James Town
95 school access95 recreation access46 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

66
9
Blake-Jones
63 safety63 school access83 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 34 out of 100.

65
10
Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills
61 safety70 school access86 recreation access

Trade-off: grocery access at 30 out of 100.

65
11
Casa Loma
95 school access96 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 16 out of 100.

65
12
Humewood-Cedarvale
86 school access68 safety77 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 27 out of 100.

65
13
Trinity-Bellwoods
90 school access91 recreation access45 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 28 out of 100.

65
14
Yonge-St.Clair
91 school access95 recreation access56 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

65
15
Cabbagetown-South St.James Town
92 school access95 recreation access96 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 8 out of 100.

64
16
East Willowdale
69 safety61 school access97 trail access

Trade-off: grocery access at 41 out of 100.

64
17
Palmerston-Little Italy
94 school access95 recreation access47 safety

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

64
18
Woodbine-Lumsden
72 safety64 school access70 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 36 out of 100.

64
19
Yonge-Bay Corridor
97 school access97 recreation access99 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
20
Kensington-Chinatown
97 school access94 recreation access98 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63
21
Regent Park
82 school access87 recreation access50 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63
22
Rosedale-Moore Park
93 school access95 recreation access35 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 29 out of 100.

63
23
West Queen West
82 school access58 safety83 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63
24
Downtown Yonge East
94 school access90 recreation access100 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

62
25
Greenwood-Coxwell
66 safety83 recreation access51 school access

Trade-off: quiet at 40 out of 100.

62

Frequently asked

What is the best Toronto neighbourhood for a Growing Family?
On this ranking, Danforth East York leads at 71 out of 100, driven by safety, school access, recreation access. Forest Hill South and Bay-Cloverhill 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, 158 Toronto neighbourhoods are filtered against a requirement: not in the city's bottom fifth for school access. 26 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.
Go deeper
Ask anything about this place and get answers from the same data, instantly.
Re-rank these by my own weightingBest of these for my budgetWhich of these has the shortest downtown commute?
Find neighbourhoods that fit your Growing Family
Other rankings
Best for a First-Time HomebuyerBest for an Established FamilyBest for a Young ProfessionalBest for a Remote WorkerBest for an Investor