Which brooklyn neighborhood

Think about which apartments in your top two or three actually fit the description of what you are looking for. If you are working with a long list of apartments say over 5 apartments , you may need to reevaluate your criteria and priorities. It usually boils down to what the most important aspect or two are and how closely a unit actually embodies it. It can mean the difference between a place you like and a place you love.

When you click through our links, we may get a commission. Ruth Shin Updated: Sep 9, Brooklyn may be increasing in popularity, but it's difficult to know which neighborhoods might be right for you. Use our guide to find out which neighborhoods are great families, singles, or offer peace and quiet, and learn how to prioritize the features you want most. Brooklyn is arguably the most desirable outer-borough to live in. Before You Start The most important step in the apartment hunting process is going to be making sure you actually qualify and knowing what to expect from the application process.

Whether it's Manhattan or Brooklyn, the process will be roughly the same. After all, if you don't qualify you won't be able to move. Compare estimated credit score services. Learn what credit score is good. Find out how to get a free annual credit score check. Learn more. Deposit If working with a real estate agent, most agencies will take a security deposit at the time of application if you are seriously interested in an apartment.

Application and Credit Check Once you fill out an application, normally this will generate your credit report to be viewed and considered by the landlord.

Preparing Income Documentation Not everyone's income requirements nor the documentation they ask for will be the same, but generally speaking, you'll need to provide a copy of a government-issued photo ID such as a state ID, driver's license, or passport , recent bank statements, recent pay stubs, recent tax returns, and some kind of employment verification.

Prioritize The first thing to think about is not necessarily limited to the neighborhood or even your budget. Do you spend a lot of time at local bars and restaurants? Are you primarily looking for a short commute? Do you work from home? Do you like to spend a lot of time in an outdoor space? Are you on a tight budget? Finding apartments well-below these prices in choice neighborhoods can be challenging.

Expect to find more deals in Central and South Brooklyn. Parks Is there a park in the neighborhood? Is it a park where you can carry out recreational activities or exercise? Does the park have a playground for your child? Restaurants Are there proper sit-down restaurants in the area? How about restaurants to order delivery? Do you need a good variety of cuisines to choose from? Or maybe you'll be doing a lot of cooking. Top Public Schools If you don't have kids, this might not be a priority for you at all.

But if you have school-aged children, you'll want to make sure that you're in a good school district or zoned for a good neighborhood school.

If not public, there's always private school. Movie Theaters If you can find a movie theater in your neighborhood, consider yourself lucky. With well under 20 movie screening venues in all of Brooklyn much less if you're only counting proper movie theaters , you'll most likely be seeing a movie in the city. Brooklyn is home to more unconventional type venues that either screen rarities or provide screenings in private spaces or rooftops.

Walkability New York City is the most walkable city in the country, but this can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. Does your chosen neighborhood have lots of shops and restaurants that are easily accessible by foot? Is there beautiful architecture and greenery and easy to get around? The most walkable neighborhoods will have beautiful parks, public spaces, and pedestrian walkways or plazas, with plenty of retail spaces and other pedestrians.

Depending on your budget and desired apartment size, you may have to sacrifice how close you are to your place of work or far your walk to the train is. Remember, a minute walk to a train station is not the worst or longest walk to a train station even in Manhattan. Not everyone is lucky enough to live down the street from the train. Parking Neighborhoods with good street parking has always been an issue in New York, but it's a growing issue especially as Brooklyn becomes increasingly popular.

It's not unusual for Brooklynites to acquire cars as public transportation is not as convenient in some areas. FIning a building or apartment with designated parking might something to prioritize.

Some people forgo activities or traveling anywhere just because they don't want to lose their parking spot. If this sounds like you, you might need to find a place with a garage or designated parking spot. Music Venues Luckily, this is an area where you won't have to sacrifice too much. In a city full of talented musicians, there's no shortage of a live music shows or acts.

This very true in Brooklyn as well. There a few large music venues such as the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Kings Theater, but you're more likely to be able to catch a show at one of the numerous smaller clubs and venues in your neighborhood.

While a farmers market won't be the main reason most are drawn to a neighborhood, it's a definite plus for many, especially if there aren't many great supermarket or grocery shopping choices in the area. Coffee Shops A definite first sign of gentrification or livability for many is the popping up of a local small business coffee shop we're definitely not talking about Starbucks here. Coffee shops are a great place for people to interact, work, and find out about things happening in the neighborhood.

A coffee shop can be an almost transformational presence a neighborhood where there are little to no retail businesses. Crime Of course, most people are concerned about crime and want to feel secure enough to wander their area even at night. However, it's New York City, which although relatively safe, is still an urban area with over 8 million people. This means you're just going to have higher occurrences of crime.

The good news is that violent crimes are relatively rare. If you check NYC's crime map, you'll be surprised to find that most of Brooklyn is far safer than lower Manhattan. You can taste the value of a neighborhood in a local slice. Most areas will have the usual staple of old-school New York pizza. However, you can definitely tell a lot about a neighborhood on whether your pizza place offers vegan or gluten-free options or real brick-oven thin-crust pizza. Being able to order pizza from a great place is a huge plus when it comes to picking neighborhoods.

Budget Appropriately Besides budgeting for a rental price that you think is reasonable, you need to take into consideration the formula that most landlords are judging your ability to pay the rent. Average Rent Price History by Borough. Are you the type of person that like a place that needs a little TLC? Do you prefer a new development? Given there are more than 30 amazing neighborhoods to choose from in Brooklyn — each with thousands of unique attributes — we may have missed a few in this list!

If you want to share your favorite, please let us know in the comments. Coming from Manhattan, Williamsburg is the first stop in Brooklyn on the L subway train. This densely populated area has an amazingly rich cultural, ethnic and artistic heritage, with high-end galleries bordering bodegas, multi-million-dollar apartments next to factories, and everything in between.

Arguably one of the best places to live in Brooklyn by many standards, Williamsburg's popularity and visibility has translated into some of the highest rents in New York. If you do find housing that fits your budget though, you'll find yourself living in an awesomely vibrant, extremely walkable, and totally stylish area of the city guaranteed to make your friends envious for years to come.

If a historic showcase of a neighborhood is what you're looking for, look no further than beautiful Carroll Gardens, the heart of "Brownstone Brooklyn. A relatively short commute to Manhattan, Carroll Gardens is also super kid-friendly — which is important to know whether or not you actually have kids. If you like the vibe of Carroll Gardens, be sure to check out its neighbors Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill which are both very similar in feel and price and make up an area sometimes referred to as BoCoCa.

Try saying that ten times fast. Looking for a Brooklyn neighborhood with filled with generations of families, affordable waterfront access and sizable Irish, Norwegian, Greek, Italian and Middle Eastern populations? Bay Ridge boasts a strong community of longtime residents who fiercely protect overdevelopment of their unique neighborhood, meaning the highest structures are only a handful of stories tall.

Bay Ridge is widely considered a great place to buy an older single- or multi-family home, settle down and raise a family in an area that specializes in them.

Though the neighborhood is located fairly far from Manhattan in the southwest corner of Brooklyn, transit options have recently improved with the addition of the South Brooklyn NYC ferry route.

There is also the aforementioned R train which takes about an hour to get to midtown Manhattan , as well as some rapid transit buses. The tree-lined streets house rows of historic brownstones, and as neighborhood explorers get closer to Prospect Park, they will find Victorian mansions built in the s overlooking the expansive park.

New York City preserved Prospect Park as an outdoor space for all city residents, and soon after, developers constructed rows of iconic Park Slope brownstones, extending the southern reach of the neighborhood.

Once the MTA connected Brooklyn with the other boroughs, Park Slope became a working-class neighborhood, with many of the mansions and brownstones subdivided to serve as multi-family units. Today, Park Slope is one of the best neighborhoods in Brooklyn to live for New Yorkers, and many tech workers, parents, and other folks call the serene locale home. Prospective buyers thinking of purchasing real estate near the green space of Prospect Park can find restaurants, boutiques, and bakeries lining 5th and 7th Avenue which runs north-to-south through the neighborhood.

Browse listings for sale in Park Slope. Originally called Carroll Park, developers and real estate tycoons pushed to change the name to Carroll Gardens to woo wealthy New Yorkers from Manhattan to purchase homes in the area. In the s, surveyor Richard Butt designed large brownstones with expansive space, creating the front yard gardens that put Carroll Gardens on the map.

Today, Carroll Gardens has plenty of boutiques, dance studios, hobby shops like the Brooklyn Strategist, and other quirky outlets aimed at curious kids and adults. Underneath the G and F train tracks, residents can find St.

Generations of Italian Americans took up shop in Carroll Gardens, and many Italian bakeries and restaurants continue to line the neighborhood streets. Browse listings for sale in Carroll Gardens. Conveniently located just to the west of Brooklyn Heights across from Cadman Plaza Park, straphangers emerging from the A, C, E, train at High Street will see the skyscraper buildings that characterize the Downtown Brooklyn skyline.

When historical societies popped up to curb the construction of towering buildings in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights, developers eyed Downtown Brooklyn, as the neighborhood sits at the confluence of major transportation hubs for several up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Condo buyers scouring listings for the best places to live in Brooklyn might have previously passed over Downtown Brooklyn in their search. But that changed in when New York City rezoned unused office buildings and other undeveloped lots to create new condos and townhouses. Brooklyn owners looking for swanky condo living can find high rises on Hoyt Street, Willoughby Street, and Lawrence Street. While buyers give up the historic charm of smaller neighborhoods, these luxury buildings usually come equipped with amenities such as doormen, expansive rooftop gardens and viewing platforms, and private gym facilities.

Within the next few years, the Downtown Brooklyn skyline will change forever once developers finish construction on the 1,foot tall residential skyscraper at 9 DeKalb Avenue, making it the first super-tall building in the borough. Browse listings for sale in Downtown Brooklyn. To the east of Clinton Hill and north of Prospect Heights, New Yorkers will find Bedford Stuyvesant, historically known for its vibrant African American community dating back to the s. Today, buyers exploring one of the countless landmarked Victorian brownstones built before the s will find perfectly preserved examples of historical detailing such as quoins joining the outside angles of homes together.

From technology workers to life-long residents, Bed Stuy has a welcoming mix of people living day-to-day in the neighborhood. Buyers visiting Bedford Stuyvesant should explore Bedford Avenue, where they can grab a drink to go at the Do or Dive bar, then check out the mural paying tribute to Biggie Smalls as the King of New York. Browse listings for sale in Bedford Stuyvesant. Nestled between Downtown Brooklyn to the west and Bed Stuy to the east, the Fort Greene area provides buyers with storied buildings and tree-lined streets, making it one of the attractive Brooklyn neighborhoods to explore for listings.

New Yorkers thinking of purchasing a home in this noble neighborhood of Brooklyn are buying a historic real estate close to the campus of the Pratt Institute and St. Myrtle Avenue is the main commercial corridor of Fort Greene, where residents have a variety of shops and restaurants to frequent. Folks attending open houses should explore Fort Greene Park, then meander over to one of the many restaurants the neighborhood has to offer.

Despite being one of the smallest Brooklyn neighborhoods in size, Prospect Heights has become one of the go-to neighborhoods for Brooklyn buyers. Prospect Heights offers the perfect array of housing options, including historic townhouses, quaint co-ops, and new luxury condos to fill the desires of every aspiring property owner. Ciao Gloria attracts those looking for a morning coffee or fresh made pastry, while Chuko dishes out some of the best ramen in Brooklyn.