67fit
West Village
$3K median rent
West 4th, brownstone streets that ignore the grid, and rents that assume you already live here. The postcard is the product.
NightlifeWalk 68Safety 24
New York/Chelsea
43fit
Chelsea
Official neighborhood: Chelsea-Hudson Yards
Data vintage. ACS 2024 5-year · NYPD Oct 2025 – Jun 2026 · OSM Sep 2026 · updated Sep 2026
Galleries, the High Line, and a waterfront that turned into towers. The gayborhood label stuck; the warehouses did not.
hudson yardshigh linewest chelsea
Best in New York for familiesWalkable New YorkUnder $2,500 rent
Why this score
Safety
19
192 violent · 1263 property · 27.9 per 1k (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026)-31 vs city set
Schools
47
Rating 7.2 / 10 nearby0 vs city set
Walk
30
OSM: 44 groceries · 79 cafes · 138 transit · 120 parks-10 vs city set
Cost
83
$2,659 ACS median vs your rent budget-3 vs city set
Vibe
44
OSM: 79 cafes · 283 restaurants · 68 bars · 120 parks+7 vs city set
Commute to work
From Chelsea, a typical weekday is 11 min to Midtown, 20 min to FiDi, 26 min to Downtown Brooklyn. Not live traffic.
Midtown is the fastest of these three job centers from here.
Midtown
11 min
Times Square, Hudson Yards · -16 min vs the city-set median · fastest of these three
FiDi
20 min
Wall Street, ferries · -9 min vs the city-set median
Downtown Brooklyn
26 min
BAM, Dumbo, Borough Hall · +4 min vs the city-set median
Minutes are baked from neighborhood geography to three job centers — not Google, not this hour’s traffic.
Cost of living
The ACS median rent is $2,659 — every occupied rental mixed together, not the 1-bed in the window.
That is 25% of median household income — under the 30% HUD line. A household at this area’s median income ($128K) could “afford” about $3,205 a month at 30% of pay.
69% of households rent. Median home value is $983,541.
ACS median rent
$2,659
30% income budget
$3,205
Rent / income
25%
Median home
$983,541
Rent since 2014
ACS 5-year median gross rent for New York city. Up 48% since 2014. Chelsea is 46% above the 2024 city median.
Overlapping 5-year ACS windows (B25064), not asking rent. Census does not publish a rent series for each official neighborhood, so the line is the city place. The dashed mark is this area’s ACS 2024 median.
HUD treats 30% of income as the cost-burden line. We do not split ACS rent into 1-bed vs 2-bed. Method.
Within a walk
Within a short walk of this official neighborhood: 44 groceries, 79 cafes, 120 parks, and 138 transit stops.
Daily errands and coffee are realistic on foot. Parks are close — 120 mapped parks in that radius. Transit is dense (138 stops or stations).
79 cafes and 283 restaurants make this one of the busier food pockets in the New York set.
OpenStreetMap, 800 meters. Not a Walk Score license. More groceries than 4 of the other 21 areas in this city.
Population
52,113
Median age
41.9
Median income
$128K
Renters
69%
Bachelor+
75%
Violent / 1k
3.7
Property / 1k
24.2
ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) · 10 census tracts · NYPD Oct 2025 – Jun 2026 · OSM 2026-09-01
NightlifePlannedWaterfront
Crime is NYPD Part I reports per 1,000 ACS residents — not a judgment of who lives here. Home and rent figures are ACS medians, not live MLS. Read the method.
On the ground
What it is like to live here, beyond the scores.
Galleries, the High Line, and a waterfront that turned into towers. The gayborhood label stuck; the warehouses did not. Zillow’s downtown-Brooklyn-adjacent notes do not apply — this is Manhattan, with C/E/1 trains and a park that floats.
Tenth Avenue is a different night from Eighth. Weight walk and vibe. Cost is high even by Manhattan standards on the High Line blocks. Hell’s Kitchen is the noisier, slightly more attainable north; the West Village is the brownstone south.
Compiled from Zillow neighborhood guides, 5280 Magazine, Chicago and San Francisco resident guides, Mpls With Love, Eastside LA reporting, Seattle Times coverage, Boston planning-neighborhood writing, and local writing, 2025–2026. Editorial — not part of the fit score.
Reported here lately
City 311 service requests in this official unit, last 14 days. This is what neighbors filed with the city — not a chat thread, and not part of the fit score.
995 reports
- Encampment159
- Noise - Residential85
- Illegal Parking79
- Homeless Person Assistance60
- UNSANITARY CONDITION43
- Noise - Residential
- Noise
- Noise - Residential
- Dirty Condition
- Noise
NYC 311 from 2020–present, last 14 days, mapped to 2020 NTAs. No addresses stored. Method.
On Reddit
Public posts from r/nyc that mention this neighborhood. Not Nextdoor, not people on this block, and not part of the fit score.
In r/nyc lately: lost-and-found.
- AI Slop Spotted in Hudson Yards
r/nyc · Aug 20 · 311 upvotes · 120 comments
- Hudson Yards’s Stomach Growls as Day’s First Batch of Tourists Arrives From High Line
r/nyc · Aug 24 · 2 comments
- Lost Wallet, Chelsea
r/nyc · Aug 24 · 1 upvote
The line above is a reading of the titles, not a verdict. Up to 3 links, last 90 days, snapshot 2026-09-01. Method.
Common questions
Straight answers from the numbers on this page.
Is Chelsea safe?
Chelsea shows more Part I than most of this New York set (safety 19 vs city 50). NYPD logged 3.7 violent and 24.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents — 27.9 combined. Visitors count in those numbers. This is not a judgment of who lives here.
What is rent in Chelsea?
ACS median rent is $2,659 — studios through large apartments mixed together. About 69% of households rent. Median home value is $983,541. Survey medians, not a listing you can message tonight.
Is Chelsea walkable?
Walk is 30 here vs 40 for the New York set — you will likely drive or ride for a weekly shop. Inside 800 meters: 44 groceries, 79 cafes, 138 transit stops, 120 parks. Not a Walk Score license.
Is Chelsea good for families?
There is more night and visitor traffic in the mix — not the quietest family default. Nearby school rating is 7.2 / 10. Median age is 41.9. That rating is not your assigned campus.
How long is the commute from Chelsea?
11 typical weekday minutes to Midtown. Not the app on your phone this hour. Other job centers are further down this page.
How many people live in Chelsea?
About 52,113 people. Median income $128K. 75% have a bachelor's or higher.
What neighborhoods are next to Chelsea?
West Village, Hell's Kitchen, East Village sit closest on this map. If you are choosing between two official neighborhoods, start with Chelsea vs West Village.
Next door
Adjacent on the map, ranked with your weights.
Chelsea vs West VillageChelsea vs Hell's KitchenChelsea vs East Village
60fit
East Village
$2K median rent
St. Marks to Tompkins, bars stacked on bars, and a residual punk that the brunch menus cannot quite kill.
NightlifeWalk 53Safety 43
52fit
SoHo / Tribeca
$3K median rent
Cast-iron and cobblestones, then quiet streets and art-storage money. Tourists on Broadway; actual residents one block over.
NightlifeWalk 58Safety 0
41fit
Lower East Side
$2K median rent
Orchard Street, public housing, and new condos sharing the same blocks. Night-out density with daytime fruit stands.
NightlifeWalk 31Safety 10
29fit
Hell's Kitchen
$3K median rent
Ninth Avenue restaurants, Port Authority in earshot, and Hudson Yards glass at the south edge. Nightlife that still has walk-ups.
NightlifeWalk 5Safety 29