Best Toronto neighbourhoods for a Growing Family

Where does a household with young children get schools, parks and low daily-life risk? 128 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.

128 of 158 neighbourhoods qualify, 30 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
Danforth East York
80 safety68 school access75 recreation access
72
2
Forest Hill South
87 school access66 safety85 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 49 out of 100.

69
3
Bay-Cloverhill
99 school access97 recreation access50 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

68
4
Mount Pleasant East
67 safety74 school access76 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 45 out of 100.

68
5
North St.James Town
96 school access96 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

68
6
Church-Wellesley
98 school access96 recreation access45 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

67
7
South Eglinton-Davisville
69 safety83 school access85 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

67
8
Blake-Jones
66 safety72 school access86 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 34 out of 100.

66
9
Humewood-Cedarvale
69 safety83 school access78 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 35 out of 100.

66
10
Regent Park
92 school access90 recreation access51 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

66
11
Trinity-Bellwoods
90 school access94 recreation access45 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 28 out of 100.

66
12
Yonge-St.Clair
91 school access58 safety93 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

66
13
Cabbagetown-South St.James Town
96 school access95 recreation access95 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 8 out of 100.

65
14
Casa Loma
92 school access93 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 16 out of 100.

64
15
Downtown Yonge East
97 school access91 recreation access100 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
16
East Willowdale
67 safety63 school access95 trail access

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

64
17
Kensington-Chinatown
98 school access97 recreation access98 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
18
Palmerston-Little Italy
93 school access96 recreation access48 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 18 out of 100.

64
19
West Queen West
79 school access61 safety86 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
20
Yonge-Bay Corridor
99 school access96 recreation access99 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
21
Lawrence Park South
70 safety81 school access70 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 39 out of 100.

63
22
Moss Park
94 school access88 recreation access97 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63
23
Oakwood Village
70 safety72 school access66 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 20 out of 100.

63
24
University
98 school access100 recreation access95 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63
25
Wellington Place
96 school access88 recreation access98 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

63

Frequently asked

What is the best Toronto neighbourhood for a Growing Family?
On this ranking, Danforth East York leads at 72 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. 30 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.
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