Best Toronto neighbourhoods for a Young Professional

Where does someone without a car-first lifestyle get transit, amenities and things to do? 138 of 158 Toronto neighbourhoods qualify, top 25 shown. Updated 2026.

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

Transit access is treated as a requirement: a neighbourhood in the city's bottom fifth for transit reach is excluded, because the premise of this page is not driving everywhere.

138 of 158 neighbourhoods qualify, 20 excluded.

Then ranked on
transit access25%dining and cafes20%safety20%affordability15%grocery access10%retail access10%

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
Bay-Cloverhill
99 transit access98 dining and cafes71 affordability
85
2
Church-Wellesley
99 transit access97 dining and cafes80 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 45 out of 100.

85
3
Downtown Yonge East
100 transit access99 dining and cafes80 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 32 out of 100.

83
4
Yonge-Bay Corridor
99 transit access100 dining and cafes72 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 32 out of 100.

82
5
Moss Park
98 transit access94 dining and cafes78 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 35 out of 100.

81
6
Regent Park
93 transit access87 dining and cafes78 affordability
80
7
West Queen West
77 transit access94 dining and cafes61 safety
80
8
Kensington-Chinatown
92 transit access99 dining and cafes70 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 32 out of 100.

79
9
North St.James Town
84 transit access92 dining and cafes89 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 48 out of 100.

79
10
South Eglinton-Davisville
80 transit access89 dining and cafes69 safety
79
11
Wellington Place
82 transit access99 dining and cafes81 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 33 out of 100.

79
12
Little Portugal
83 transit access93 dining and cafes53 safety

Trade-off: affordability at 49 out of 100.

76
13
Cabbagetown-South St.James Town
94 transit access91 dining and cafes95 grocery access

Trade-off: safety at 36 out of 100.

75
14
Junction-Wallace Emerson
93 transit access84 dining and cafes50 safety

Trade-off: affordability at 49 out of 100.

75
15
North Toronto
89 dining and cafes63 transit access83 affordability
75
16
University
92 transit access96 dining and cafes95 grocery access

Trade-off: safety at 35 out of 100.

74
17
High Park North
83 transit access81 dining and cafes64 safety
73
18
St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands
75 transit access91 dining and cafes74 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 37 out of 100.

73
19
Weston-Pelham Park
85 transit access78 dining and cafes53 safety
73
20
Harbourfront-CityPlace
97 dining and cafes52 transit access78 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 47 out of 100.

72
21
Palmerston-Little Italy
86 transit access95 dining and cafes48 safety

Trade-off: affordability at 21 out of 100.

72
22
Trinity-Bellwoods
84 transit access96 dining and cafes96 retail access

Trade-off: affordability at 24 out of 100.

72
23
Annex
93 transit access92 dining and cafes89 retail access

Trade-off: affordability at 31 out of 100.

71
24
Dufferin Grove
87 transit access91 dining and cafes94 grocery access

Trade-off: safety at 31 out of 100.

71
25
Fort York-Liberty Village
91 dining and cafes56 transit access78 affordability

Trade-off: safety at 49 out of 100.

71

Frequently asked

What is the best Toronto neighbourhood for a Young Professional?
On this ranking, Bay-Cloverhill leads at 85 out of 100, driven by transit access, dining and cafes, affordability. Church-Wellesley and Downtown Yonge East 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 Young Professional ranking calculated?
First, 158 Toronto neighbourhoods are filtered against a requirement: not in the city's bottom fifth for transit access. 20 were excluded on that basis. The remainder are scored on a weighted blend of transit access 25%, dining and cafes 20%, safety 20%, affordability 15%, grocery access 10%, retail access 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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