It’s not all peace, love, and harmony in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia has its fair share of sketch neighborhoods, too.
Just how bad are these neighborhoods? Well, you’re going to have to take a look below at RoadSnacks’ list of the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia for 2024 to see where the crime is high, the average income is low, and the locals are in constant survival mode. We call this the perfect ‘thunder’-storm.
But in order to determine Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods, we had to give each neighborhood an actual concrete score: We call this a neighborhood’s overall ‘SnackAbility’. To get this score, we looked at the latest census data on income levels, unemployment rates, crime, and home prices for 56 Philadelphia neighborhoods with over 2,000 residents. Incidentally, this is our tenth time ranking Philly’s worst neighborhoods, so trust us when we say that these are the worst of the worst.
Folks, the kind of places that we are talking about are the kind of places that you’ll want to invest in a security system or a guard dog. And in all honesty, if you find that one of Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods is all that you can afford, you might want to think about renting: Save yourself the headache.
And because the glass is always half full here a RoadSnacks, we think that if you do get stuck in one of Philly’s worst neighborhoods, it might not be all bad. Heck, you could find yourself front and center to a real life Live PD episode in Frankford and if you choose Elmwood the pure entertainment of people watching is not only free, it’s five star!
So, want to know where Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods are located? Keep reading.
Table Of Contents: Top 10 | Methodology | Summary | Table
It’s definitely not lost on us that many of Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods are also some of the city’s cheapest. Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods house many locals without jobs; and for most of these people, government subsidized housing is the only option. As a result, places like Strawberry Mansion that were once coveted are now starting to see the negative effects.
So, what’s the worst neighborhood in Philadelphia for 2024? The worst neighborhood in Philadelphia would be Tioga-Nicetown according to the most recent data.
To see how the rest of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods faired, take a look at the list below; and if you don’t see what you’re looking for there, head to the bottom.
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- Cheapest Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- Most Dangerous Cities In Pennsylvania
The 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Philadelphia For 2024
/10
Population: 17,382
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 2,737
Property Crime Per 100k: 6,530
Median Home Value: $58,569 (3rd worst)
Median Income: $24,935 (3rd worst)
More on Tioga-Nicetown: Data
Third on our list is the neighborhood of Nicetown-Tioga. But it’s not very nice here.
You know things are bad when you Google the name of the neighborhood and the first results are shooting, crime, crime rate.
Just south of Hunting Park and near the Upper North Philadelphia section of town, this is a rough part of town.
It’s been a rollercoaster here. During World War II, this place was jammin. Then, like other communities in the area, deindustrialization meant white flight, and soon, joblessness and poverty crept in. Then, there was a little blip of hope when gentrification boosted home prices to roughly $42,000. Then, the economy crashed, and home prices dropped to $22,000.
This part of town also used to have parades, but no longer.
/10
Population: 13,933
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 2,016
Property Crime Per 100k: 4,119
Median Home Value: $68,238 (5th worst)
Median Income: $29,030 (7th worst)
More on Strawberry Mansion: Data
Our next worst neighborhood in Philly is Strawberry Mansion.
That sounds delicious.
It’s not.
This north Philly neighborhood has the reputation as one of the most dangerous hoods in the city. And up until 2013, Strawberry Mansion was also home to one of the “most dangerous” schools in the United States – Strawberry Mansion High – which was so bad that it was profiled by ABC News. The school had almost 100 security cameras and metal detectors at every door, and teachers were attacked, and riots broke out at lunch here.
Things are so bad now that there are only 170 students who now attend the school – but it’s supposed to have 2,100 kids.
Look at this school’s enrollment as compared to the rest of schools in the surrounding area. That’s incredible.
However, it seems this neighborhood might actually be improving a bit, as its west and south side have been gentrified a little bit. As it stands, homes here now cost an absurdly low $48,000 in the middle of a major metro area. A far cry from what was once home to some of the wealthiest residents in Philadelphia.
I mean can you imagine – $48,000 for a home. For comparison, in our most expensive city to buy a home in the USA – San Francisco – there are only two homes listed that are under $250000 – more than 5 times higher than the average home price in Strawberry Mansion.
/10
Population: 18,676
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 2,549
Property Crime Per 100k: 5,471
Median Home Value: $48,477 (worst)
Median Income: $25,196 (4th worst)
More on Alleghany West: Data
Way up here on the north end of town is the neighborhood of Allegheny West.
This is a poor black enclave that has suffered post-industrial decline and disinvestment. Alleghany West has suffered one of the largest population losses of any neighborhood in Philadelphia. Vacant industrial sites are so eye-opening they use the area for movie sets.
Talk about affordable – this neighborhood has the absolute lowest home prices in the entire city – where median home prices sit at just $26,000. That’s incredible. To put that into perspective, somebody with decent credit with zero down would expect to pay about $400 a month for their mortgage here, including all taxes and insurance.
Crime, employment schools all get an F. Amenities. A+? What’s there to do for amenities that would warrant an A+? They have a Trolley Car Cafe and a Country Cookin. Must be some good cookin.
/10
Population: 4,405
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,602
Property Crime Per 100k: 6,845
Median Home Value: $52,433 (2nd worst)
Median Income: $17,992 (worst)
More on Fairhill: Data
The Fairhill neighborhood of Philadelphia is abundantly bad for crime, poverty and drugs. Located west of Kensington and along Glenwood Avenue, this part of town is known for its expanse of row houses, where only 20% of homes are owner occupied.
Fairhill also serves as the center of the Hispanic community of Philadelphia, and is known for its “El Centro de Oro” commercial strip along North 5th Street. The neighborhood is also the center of the Philadelphia Badlands.
The average incomes here are far under the poverty line – at about $15k a year for a family of four. 61% of people live below poverty. That’s five times the national average.
The intersection of 3rd Street and Indiana Avenue here was listed number two in a 2007 list of the city’s top ten drug corners.
/10
Population: 35,068
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,647
Property Crime Per 100k: 7,674
Median Home Value: $68,396 (6th worst)
Median Income: $28,706 (6th worst)
More on Haddington-Carroll Park: Data
Located in West Philly, Haddington-Carroll Park suffers from serious economic problems. A lack of high-paying jobs leaves this area as one of the least livable parts of the city.
Just look at the numbers: an unemployment rate of 8.9% and a median income of $28,706. A bad reputation has some benefits, however. A lack of competition in the housing market makes it easier to afford homes. The median home value sits at $68,396.
There are plenty of bright spots in Haddington-Carroll Park. You can find a host of amenities around the neighborhood and, for a spot of nature, check out the namesake Carroll Park.
/10
Population: 17,642
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,506
Property Crime Per 100k: 3,177
Median Home Value: $65,918 (4th worst)
Median Income: $28,438 (5th worst)
More on Hunting Park: Data
As we ponder that, it’s time to move onto our next worst neighborhood in Philadelphia – Hunting Park. This not so charming section of town is also in north Philly – just south of Roosevelt Blvd.
There’s a lot of gang activity here, boy. Although much of the area’s crime stems from local neighborhood-based street gangs and the drug trade, larger, more organized gangs also operate in the area, including the Black Mafia, Latin Kings, and various motorcycle gangs.
One commenter in north Philly once told the Philadelphia Weekly: For generations, Hunting Park served as the heart of the community. Then, about 25 years ago, it became its noose.
Just three days ago a young father was gunned down while driving his car through this neighborhood. Apparently he had just won $10,000 at a local casino and people followed him home.
/10
Population: 66,915
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,552
Property Crime Per 100k: 4,059
Median Home Value: $99,031 (12th worst)
Median Income: $29,642 (9th worst)
More on Germantown: Data
/10
Population: 23,813
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,175
Property Crime Per 100k: 2,889
Median Home Value: $80,772 (8th worst)
Median Income: $30,568 (10th worst)
More on Logan-Fern Rock: Data
/10
Population: 24,869
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 828
Property Crime Per 100k: 4,396
Median Home Value: $142,231 (25th worst)
Median Income: $42,035 (19th worst)
More on Kensington: Data
Where’s our worst neighborhood in Philly? Kensington is.
The Kensington neighborhood is smack dab in the central part of the worst area of Philadelphia. This is pretty much Philadelphia’s Skid Row.
You tell people in Philly that you’re going to Kensington, and they look at you like ARE YOU CRAZY? Besides the drug addicts all over the place, there are robberies, shootings, stabbings – just the worst things that can happen in an inner city… happen here.
The documentary Drugs Inc did a whole episode on Kensington once.
We mentioned the opioid crisis earlier. No other part of Philadelphia has been hit harder than Kensington, which has seen more than 200 OD deaths. 450 pain pills per person were brought into the community during the height of the crisis.
It doesn’t get much worse than in Kensington.
/10
Population: 16,098
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,764
Property Crime Per 100k: 6,893
Median Home Value: $87,075 (9th worst)
Median Income: $29,043 (8th worst)
More on Harrowgate: Data
Just north of Kensington and west of Port Richmond is the neighborhood of Harrowgate. Some just generally refer to his little part of town as just ‘north Philly.’ It’s kind of an unknown, poor, very blighted part of town largely populated by Puerto Ricans. It’s easy to miss. But not hard to recognize when you wind up in it.
Not too long ago, a teenager was caught in a crossfire when 30 shots rang out in this part of town. She was hit and nearly killed. That’s not uncommon in Harrowgate.
Painkillers are taking their toll on members of this ravaged neighborhood. Pharmacies in this nook of town were given 26 MILLION pain pills over a 7 year period. And there are only about 65,000 people who live in the greater Harrowgate/Kensington/Port Richmond area.
This part of Philly has been hit hardest by the pain pill crisis. And Philadelphia as a whole is seeing more than just an epidemic. Although the pain pill market has somewhat been reigned in, at one point, in the greater eight-county Philadelphia metro area, more than 1.2 BILLION pain pills were shipped in over a six year period.
That’s incredible.
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Philadelphia neighborhoods in 2024
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia:
- High crime (Estimated)
- High unemployment (Less jobs)
- Low median income (Less pay)
- Low population density (No things to do)
- Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for each of these criteria from worst to best.
Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”
The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Philadelphia.
The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2024. This report is our time ranking the worst neighborhoods to live in Philadelphia.
Skip to the end to see the list of all 56 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.
Summary: The Worst Neighborhoods Around Philadelphia
Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Philadelphia with Tioga-Nicetown landing at the bottom of the pack.
The worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia are Tioga-Nicetown, Strawberry Mansion, Alleghany West, Fairhill, Haddington-Carroll Park, Hunting Park, Germantown, Logan-Fern Rock, Kensington, and Harrowgate.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Philadelphia aren’t all bad. Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista takes the cake as the best place to live in Philadelphia.
The best neighborhoods in Philadelphia are Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista, Chestnut Hill, Fairmount-Spring Garden, Roxborough, and City Center West.
We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below.
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
Most Dangerous Neighborhoods To Live In Philadelphia For 2024?
| Rank | Neighborhood | Population | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tioga-Nicetown | 17,382 | $58,569 | $24,935 |
| 2 | Strawberry Mansion | 13,933 | $68,238 | $29,030 |
| 3 | Alleghany West | 18,676 | $48,477 | $25,196 |
| 4 | Fairhill | 4,405 | $52,433 | $17,992 |
| 5 | Haddington-Carroll Park | 35,068 | $68,396 | $28,706 |
| 6 | Hunting Park | 17,642 | $65,918 | $28,438 |
| 7 | Germantown | 66,915 | $99,031 | $29,642 |
| 8 | Logan-Fern Rock | 23,813 | $80,772 | $30,568 |
| 9 | Kensington | 24,869 | $142,231 | $42,035 |
| 10 | Harrowgate | 16,098 | $87,075 | $29,043 |
| 11 | Hartranft | 20,205 | $90,838 | $23,203 |
| 12 | Elmwood | 15,688 | $103,192 | $36,392 |
| 13 | Frankford | 23,989 | $93,217 | $33,299 |
| 14 | Belmont | 3,931 | $109,500 | $33,473 |
| 15 | Juniata Park-Feltonville | 34,014 | $78,023 | $31,888 |
| 16 | North Central | 14,299 | $253,378 | $33,376 |
| 17 | Poplar-Ludlow-Yorktowne | 18,907 | $184,789 | $35,486 |
| 18 | Grays Ferry | 15,927 | $165,333 | $58,692 |
| 19 | Mayfield | 32,474 | $139,232 | $48,968 |
| 20 | Wissanoning | 27,190 | $108,379 | $44,320 |
| 21 | Morris Park | 26,860 | $118,371 | $42,528 |
| 22 | Olney | 41,744 | $101,396 | $38,306 |
| 23 | Cobbs Creek | 33,242 | $106,654 | $36,830 |
| 24 | Holmesburry-Torresdale | 25,247 | $130,835 | $46,772 |
| 25 | Richmond | 26,912 | $135,789 | $53,760 |
| 26 | Eastwick | 6,841 | $152,940 | $62,198 |
| 27 | Brewerytown | 9,470 | $196,938 | $53,106 |
| 28 | Marconi Plaza-Packer Park | 5,804 | $105,150 | $69,608 |
| 29 | Oak Lane | 42,412 | $135,242 | $42,352 |
| 30 | Pennsport-Whitman-Queen | 31,306 | $218,266 | $54,536 |
| 31 | Summerdale | 6,756 | $118,500 | $50,710 |
| 32 | Cedar Brook | 26,401 | $157,534 | $46,862 |
| 33 | Mount Airy | 32,467 | $233,451 | $58,968 |
| 34 | Wynnefield | 15,237 | $168,340 | $51,329 |
| 35 | Byberry | 16,442 | $219,346 | $63,343 |
| 36 | Torresdale | 6,385 | $169,583 | $63,800 |
| 37 | Oxford Circle | 54,737 | $144,852 | $48,280 |
| 38 | Riverfront | 2,451 | $382,120 | $116,172 |
| 39 | South Philadelphia | 24,829 | $171,795 | $45,300 |
| 40 | Rhawnhurst | 28,304 | $197,226 | $56,166 |
| 41 | Point Breeze | 16,276 | $233,615 | $55,178 |
| 42 | Academy Gardens | 4,094 | $193,067 | $71,325 |
| 43 | Somerton | 26,084 | $235,033 | $67,342 |
| 44 | Bustleton | 34,562 | $231,650 | $61,570 |
| 45 | East Falls | 9,937 | $272,075 | $107,507 |
| 46 | Manayunk | 4,007 | $253,750 | $101,206 |
| 47 | City Center East | 26,784 | $481,058 | $76,360 |
| 48 | Fox Chase | 20,117 | $227,400 | $68,297 |
| 49 | Fishtown | 19,203 | $321,841 | $88,516 |
| 50 | Schuylkill Southwest | 13,322 | $305,539 | $71,943 |
| 51 | Girard Estates | 11,869 | $240,820 | $74,177 |
| 52 | City Center West | 32,463 | $446,456 | $74,773 |
| 53 | Roxborough | 14,698 | $249,267 | $89,950 |
| 54 | Fairmount-Spring Garden | 23,809 | $320,109 | $72,884 |
| 55 | Chestnut Hill | 10,783 | $485,075 | $105,999 |
| 56 | Wharton-Hawthorne-Bella Vista | 29,357 | $268,021 | $56,818 |
Who did this study. Must be going by zip codes again. And kensington and feltonville are higher than Richmond. Guess there counting shootings and crack heads.
You get trouble in every area I’m from Dublin one off the most visted city’s in the world and it’s as hard a place you will ever find gun shootings on the rise but it’s in every Neighbourhood
If your ranking has places like Port Richmond listed as worse than Kensington, you know your ranking went wrong somewhere.
Which one is considered Parkwood? Is this saying Byberry?
This is hilarious. Where did you get this information? This must be a road map for your investor friends. You can really tell you have no idea about Philadelphia or how to read a map? What made you put multiple communities together that are not together at all and closer / neighboring to other communities that you do not even mention? Where are you getting you research? Your intentions are not good.
I don’t understand this article I think it was flawed .They didn’t name the areas of the Cities properly and how was the study based and done on what crime income home value doesn’t mean it’s the worst or best what about Tacony ? Philadelphia in general is going down there’s trash everywhere and it’s not addressed I was outside of a dollar store and two children with adults came out and threw their candy wrappers on the ground along with the bag and I said by the way there’s a trash can right behind you and I was giving the middle finger sad sad sad. I am the renter and I care every year I plant flowers in the front of the house and keep the area very nice when I walk out my door and cross the street to a new Charter School there’s glass all over and trash and glass and trash in the park across the street in park….. I wish there was a way to stop the trash!!!! That alone would improve the neighborhoods
Where’s Mayfield ? Tacony, Northwood ? I’ve lived in the Fairhill section of North Philly most of my life (60+ yrs), there was never anything called West Kensington. Never heard of a section called Glenwood. Back in the day there were something called Phone Books, and in them there were maps of all the zip codes and their individual smaller neighborhoods. Now we have to listen to our local News Stations with newer reporters coming to town steadily, and they haven’t a clue where their reporting from, and they get it wrong, or even worse; they make it up, and the name sticks, even though it never existed before.
Port Richmond is worse than Kensington? You have lost your mind and dont know Philly at all.
South Philly is a section of the city which is made up of neighborhoods. Pennsport Whitman , grays Ferry, point Breeze, Bella Vista and packer Park are all different neighborhoods that are on the South Side and make up South Philly. So South Philly can’t be on your list at 46 and Bella Vista ranked 55 because Bella Vista is in South Philly.
Your photo of an AMC theater at N Broad Street and W Oxford St. is not in Harrowgate. You apparently don’t know jack about what you are talking about.
Not only that, Mike, but Harrowgate is technically in Northeast Philly. Broad Street runs in literally a straight line between North and South Philly, so Broad doesn’t even go through “the Northeast,” period
Not only that, Mike, but Harrowgate is technically in Northeast Philly and not North Philly. Broad Street doesn’t even go through “the Northeast.” And it’s bad enough that many posters rightly called out the writer of both this article and the survey featured herein for excluding one of Harrowgate’s neighbors—Kensington—as it is!
This is steering!
I am very flabbergasted,Kensington is not number one on this list. Low income houses dosent make a neighbor bad nor do the amount of people living in a section of the city without job. I would rather much live among underemployed neighbors than stepping over used needles on the ground and constantly worrying if if a child might pick one up.
Well I am from kensigton & that should be number 1 period…
I’m not particularly proud of where I’ve lived throughout Philly, but i have to say i honestly think this list is way off. Being of immigrant parents, we moved constantly, from Kensington, to Frankford, to 25th and Cecil B Moore, then to Trenton and Camden Nj which was disgusting, I’d take any part of philly over Jersey anyday, just my personal preference..
From my own personal experience, unless something has changed in the last 3 years, frankford and Port Richmond are not worse than Kensington. Neither is Germantown.. i don’t know where they got the data to make this list, but yeah…
I would have awared Kensington top honors…or at least in the top 3.
Lol you went to the worst part of Jersey, Trenton and Camden. Why didn’t you go to Collingswood, Moorestown, Cinnaminson??? And anyways, there’s bad and good everywhere you go
I grew up in the first block north of Market on 56 in West Philadelphia in the 60s and 70s. The closest designation I saw was Haddington/Carroll Park? So much of the city outside of Center City and Society Hill is struggling financially. West Philly had Penn and the immediate surrounding area for student and staff housing, bit once you came up into the mid 40s, the quality dropped off dramatically. I’m told 56 was undergoing a real estate surge now that they spruced up the elevated train stop, but it’s hard to see evidence.
Although I have not currently lived in the Philadelphia very long, I have spent much of my time within the various neighborhoods of the city as I lived nearby. First off, your picture for the Harrowgate neighborhood is actually of the Temple University neighborhood. Second off, of all the areas I have been to, having Kensington not even rank in the top 10 is frankly insulting. There were also neighborhoods listed as bordering each other which are far off from that. Not to sound rude, but I would definitely look over this article and do some more research if I were you.
Thanks! I was thinking the same
Anybody who knows a thing about Philadelphia—or certainly has lived or previously lived in same in recent decades knows that Kensington is as bad as Philly neighborhoods come—or at least one of the neighborhoods that accurately fit that description. For the last two or three decades or so, it and neighboring neighborhoods in North Philly in particular have collectively been referred to as “the Badlands.” And this article still didn’t include Kensington in that list? Shame! Plus, the intersection of Broad and Oxford is located in North Philly; Harrowgate is technically—and historically—located in NORTHEAST Philly; Broad Street **doesn’t even** ***GO*** *THROUGH* Northeast Philly!!
With the rep that it has rightfully had in recent decades as part of the so-called “Badlands” (along with its neighbors immediately west of Front Street on the North Philly side thereof), how Kensington could be excluded from this list is beyond me. And plus, Broad Street runs from North Philly to South Philly as the proverbial crow flies; it does not run through Northeast Philly—Harrowgate (and Kensington, by the way)—included.
I don’t know if I or a tech glitch deleted the original of this comment, slime, but the reputation Kensington—and its immediate neighbors west of Front Street (part of the North Philly-Northeast Philly border)—have had in recent decades as “the Badlands,” it is a shame that it didn’t make that list at all. Plus, Kensington is technically located in Northeast Philly. Broad Street, where Temple University is located, goes neither through Kensington nor to Northeast Philadelphia, period. Rather, it runs a straight line between North Philly (Temple University included) and South Philly.
With just the reputation that Kensington and its immediate North Philly neighbors west of Front Street (part of the North Philly-Northeast Philly border) have rightfully had in recent decades as “the Badlands,” how Kensington was excluded from the above list is beyond me. Besides, anybody who knows a thing about Philadelphia knows not only that Temple University is located in North Philly, but also that Broad Street, where Temple is located, doesn’t even go through Northeast Philly—Harrowgate (and Kensington) included.
Carroll Park and Haddington are two distinct areas. You only describe Carroll Park. I see from other comments that this article is rife with errors.
Your picture of #5 Kensington West, is smack dab in the middle of Port Richmond, Allegheny Ave and Edgemont St.
Something tells me that whomever made that list neither lives in nor is originally from the Delaware Valley in general, never mind Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!
“The Eastwick neighborhood” Dude, pull up “Eastwick” on Wikipedia and read where the Demo mf’s declared Eminent Domain(Genocide) on the last truly integrated neighborhood in USA.
I agree with everyone. This article is unjust. Kensington should be the worse neighborhood, by far. Just take a ride to Kensington and Allegheny, at ANY hour of the day, post up for about 10 minutes, and bring some popcorn.