Best Vancouver neighbourhoods for a Growing Family

Where does a household with young children get schools, parks and low daily-life risk? 18 of 22 Vancouver neighbourhoods qualify, top 18 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.

18 of 22 neighbourhoods qualify, 4 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
Fairview
86 school access88 recreation access49 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

64
2
Downtown
81 school access46 safety95 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

60
3
Mount Pleasant
84 school access69 recreation access37 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 0 out of 100.

59
4
Arbutus Ridge
57 safety94 recreation access70 climate

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

57
5
Riley Park
57 safety62 school access68 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 36 out of 100.

57
6
Shaughnessy
97 recreation access50 safety60 school access

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

56
7
Kensington-Cedar Cottage
65 school access51 safety71 climate

Trade-off: quiet at 27 out of 100.

53
8
Kitsilano
60 safety57 recreation access71 grocery access

Trade-off: school access at 26 out of 100.

53
9
West End
44 safety52 school access91 trail access

Trade-off: quiet at 14 out of 100.

53
10
South Cambie
90 recreation access64 school access32 safety

Trade-off: quiet at 3 out of 100.

51
11
Renfrew-Collingwood
69 school access46 safety51 recreation access

Trade-off: quiet at 22 out of 100.

49
12
Grandview-Woodland
68 school access37 safety75 grocery access

Trade-off: quiet at 10 out of 100.

47
13
Strathcona
52 school access34 safety78 trail access

Trade-off: quiet at 5 out of 100.

43
14
Victoria-Fraserview
63 safety74 climate70 quiet

Trade-off: recreation access at 16 out of 100.

43
15
Oakridge
76 recreation access43 safety40 school access

Trade-off: grocery access at 3 out of 100.

42
16
Hastings-Sunrise
48 safety49 school access63 climate

Trade-off: quiet at 17 out of 100.

39
17
Killarney
49 safety68 climate36 recreation access

Trade-off: trail access at 12 out of 100.

37
18
Sunset
46 safety71 climate53 quiet

Trade-off: recreation access at 13 out of 100.

35

Frequently asked

What is the best Vancouver neighbourhood for a Growing Family?
On this ranking, Fairview leads at 64 out of 100, driven by school access, recreation access, safety. Downtown and Mount Pleasant 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, 22 Vancouver neighbourhoods are filtered against a requirement: not in the city's bottom fifth for school access. 4 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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