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Many long for the days when neighbors would knock on one another’s doors asking for cups of sugar, local children would play pickup games of basketball in the street, and everyone seemed to know everyone else’s name. People were downright neighborly. But do such places still exist?
It turns out they do! In honor of National Neighbor Day on Wednesday, the 10 most neighborly cities in America have been revealed. Topping the list is Rochester, NY, a northern city on Lake Ontario, according to storage company Neighbor.com. The city came in second in the rankings last year.
Who says New Yorkers are rude, again?
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Rochester has the second-highest percentage of residents volunteering their time for good causes, at 45.6%, according to AmeriCorps. It also has the most affordable home prices of any city that made Neighbor.com’s top 10, with a median home list price of just $150,000.
“Being neighborly goes beyond a friendly wave while driving down the street or offering to water plants while on vacation. To be neighborly is opening yourself up to building relationships and ultimately a community that is rooted in compassion, trust, and care,” says Neighbor.com founder and CEO Joseph Woodbury.
“This is especially important given the polarizing political tensions and economic uncertainty,” adds Woodbury. “People now, more than ever, need those connections.”
The ranking looked at the 100 largest metropolitan areas and then factored in charitable donations, neighborly acts, volunteering rates, nonprofit organizations per capita, proximity to local parks, crime rates (including hate crimes), and the happiness of local residents to come up with the final list.
Nearly three-quarters of folks did a favor for a neighbor within the past year, according to a recent Neighbor.com survey of 1,000 participants across the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation have also made many folks feel more neighborly. About 42.5% of respondents are more willing to help out their neighbors than they were before the pandemic. Roughly 30% are spending more time with their neighbors and local friends as gas and transportation costs have risen.
And despite it being an election year, nearly half of those surveyed say their neighbors’ opposing political beliefs do not affect their desire to be neighborly toward those who live near them.
The most neighborly cities in America in 2022:
- Rochester, NY
Median home list price: $150,000* - Madison, WI
Median home list price: $360,000 - Provo, UT
Median home list price: $495,000 - Oxnard, CA
Median home list price: $794,500 - Grand Rapids, MI
Median home list price: $307,500 - Raleigh, NC
Median home list price: $495,000 - Milwaukee, WI
Median home list price: $175,000 - Poughkeepsie, NY
Median home list price: $334,000 - Harrisburg, PA
Median home list price: $215,000 - Des Moines, IA
Median home list price: $227,500
* Median home list price for active home listings within the city limits in August using Realtor.com® data
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Watch: The 10 Most Affordable Lake Towns in America in 2022
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