Which are Israel's wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods?

The upmarket Tel Aviv neighborhood of Tzahala, home to approximately 2,100 residents, and the southern Haifa neighborhood of Denia were ranked as Israel's second and third highest socioeconomic areas

By EYTAN HALON
Picture of Park Tzameret, Israel's most advantaged neighborhood (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Picture of Park Tzameret, Israel's most advantaged neighborhood
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The luxurious central Tel Aviv neighborhood of Park Tzameret has been revealed as Israel’s most advantaged area, according to a new socioeconomic index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
For the first time, the CBS index listed 1,624 areas within municipalities and local councils according to the socioeconomic status of their residents.
The status of neighborhoods, all home to a minimum of 120 inhabitants, was determined according to 14 different variables.
The upmarket Tel Aviv neighborhood of Tzahala, home to approximately 2,100 residents, and the southern Haifa neighborhood of Denia were ranked as Israel’s second and third highest socioeconomic areas, respectively.
Areas were also divided into 10 hierarchical clusters of socioeconomic status, with more advantaged neighborhoods at the upper end of the spectrum.
 Only seven areas nationwide were allocated to the highest of the 10 clusters, including four neighborhoods from Tel Aviv, two from Ramat HaSharon and one from Haifa.
At the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum, the ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak neighborhood of Ramat Elhanan (West), with a population of 1,137 residents, was designated as Israel’s least advantaged area. In total, more than 90 neighborhoods – many home to religious populations – were allocated to the very lowest socioeconomic cluster.
Other neighborhoods among Israel’s least advantaged included Kiryat HaRama in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Mea She’arim in Jerusalem, and Kiryat Degel HaTorah in Modi’in Illit.
The socioeconomic status of areas within 36 Arab and Druze localities were not calculated, the CBS explained, due to the absence of addresses in local land registries.