Yokohama Chosen Most Desirable Place to Live in Kantō Region

In the 2018 survey of the most desirable places to live in the Kantō region, Yokohama headed the list, followed by Ebisu, Kichijōji, Shinagawa, and Ikebukuro, all of which are in Tokyo. Notable this year is Yokohama’s climb to the top and the inclusion of Saitama Prefecture’s Ōmiya and Urawa in the top 10. Kichijōji had long dominated the ranking and some take its demotion to third place as a sign that the once popular district is losing its allure.

Since 2010, Tokyo real estate listings company Recruit Sumai has been conducting the online survey of residents of Tokyo and nearby Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, and Ibaraki Prefectures aged from 20 to 49. This year there were 7,000 valid responses. Ranking is decided by the total number of points awarded to each location. Kichijōji topped the list almost every year until 2017, dropping to second only once. This year the structure of the survey was changed and although Kichijōji had a high score, it fell behind Yokohama and Ebisu.

Top 20 Most Desirable Places to Live

Compiled by Nippon.com from Recruit Sumai Company press release on February 28, 2018.

The top three remained largely the same when ranked by the preferences of each age cohort. Those in their twenties showed a relative preference for Shinagawa, Ikebukuro, Musashi-Kosugi, and Shibuya; those in their thirties, Meguro and Shinjuku; and those in their forties, Kichijōji, Ikebukuro, Ōmiya, and Kamakura.

Ranked by area, respondents showed a clear preference for districts in their own metropolitan area or prefecture. Tokyoites chose Kichijōji, Kanagawa residents picked Yokohama, people in Saitama selected Ōmiya, and Chiba residents went for Funabashi.