SONAR RESEARCH ｜ 2026-08-04 published
Cheap rent, low crime: 20 overlooked neighborhoods in Tokyo's 23 wards
Out of 2,478 chome-level neighborhoods across Tokyo's 23 wards, these are the ones that clear all three bars: top 15% for safety, bottom 30% for estimated 1K rent, and within a 15-minute walk of a station.
Key findings
- The TOP20 average 1K rent is ¥92,000, 18% below the 23-ward median of ¥111,000
- Top of the list is Nerima-ku Nishioizumi 1-chōme (1K at ¥84,000, 15-min walk to Hoya Station)
- Most entries come from Katsushika-ku (7), Edogawa-ku (5), Nerima-ku (3). They cluster in the outer residential wards, not the center.
Rents are estimates derived from the national Housing and Land Survey. Crime rates and other per-neighborhood figures are on each neighborhood's page.
Quoting this research
The rankings, figures and tables here are free to quote in media and on blogs. Please credit "Sonar, the neighborhood scoring service" and link to this page (https://sonar.place/en/research/anaba-tokyo). Questions about the data go to hello@sonar.place.
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Get your personalized scoreMethod and sources
The universe is the 2,478 chome-level neighborhoods in Tokyo's 23 wards that have crime measured at chome level, a workable rent estimate, and a minimum density of everyday facilities. The safety score is Sonar's 0-100 score: Tokyo Metropolitan Police recorded offences by chome and offence type (2024), normalized by exposed population (census residents plus economic-census workers times 0.3) with Bayesian smoothing. Rent is a chome-level estimate anchored on the Housing and Land Survey (1K layout) and can differ from actual listing prices. A neighborhood qualifies if it is (1) in the top 15% for safety (82 points or above), (2) in the bottom 30% for estimated 1K rent (¥103,000 or below), and (3) within a 15-minute walk of a station. Where several chome in the same town qualify, only the cheapest is listed. Nightlife cores and non-residential blocks are excluded. The ranking runs from cheapest estimated rent upward, breaking ties on the lower crime rate. Per-neighborhood detail is behind each link.