Park Tzameret in Tel Aviv is the Israeli neighborhood with the highest socioeconomic rating. In second place is the Tzahala neighborhood also in Tel Aviv, followed by the Denia neighborhood in Haifa in third place, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. In fourth through ninth place are Kokhav HaTzafon (Tel Aviv), Neve Ram (Ramat Hasharon), Sarona (Tel Aviv), Savion, Neve Gan (Ramat Gan) and Kfar Shmaryahu. The survey lists seven neighborhoods and two local councils in the highest socioeconomic group. At the other end of the scale, the survey lists over 90 neighborhoods in the lowest socioeconomic group, with a rating of 1, headed by the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood in Bnei Brak, Kiryat HaRama and Ramat HaTana'im in Beit Shemesh, and Mea She'arim in Jerusalem.
A total of 658,000 people live in Israel's poorest neighborhoods, of whom 358,000 are in Jerusalem, while 510,000 people live in Israel's wealthiest neighborhoods (ratings of 9 or 10).
The population's socioeconomic rating is measured through a combination of all of the basic socioeconomic characteristics of residents in any location: demographic mix, education and higher education, standard of living, employment, and pensioners. The Central Bureau of Statistics rates the communities in Israel according to this socioeconomic scale every few years, culminating in a rating that is later classed in one of the socioeconomic strata from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest socioeconomic group and 10 being the highest. The socioeconomic scale value of a statistical area in a municipality or local council is calculated as a continuous variable obtained by weighting the standardized values for 14 variables in the local authorities and communities within the regional councils. Calculating the index values of the statistical areas and dividing them up into groups uses the same method used to calculate the index values and to divide up into groups the communities within the regional councils.
Today, for the first time, the Central Bureau of Statistics has used a special index for statistical areas within cities, so that each neighborhood can be isolated and placed on the socioeconomic scale.
An examination of the 140 neighborhoods with ratings of 9 or 10 show that Tel Aviv is dominant. 58 of these neighborhoods, over 40%, are in Tel Aviv, following by 11 in Haifa, nine in Herzliya, eight in Ramat Hasharon, and seven in Ramat Gan.
Where does luxury appear in Jerusalem? The only place with a rating of 9 (there are none with 10) is the Neve Granot-Neve Sha'anan-Nayot area. Israel's capital city, which is also one of the cities with the highest housing prices, stands out mainly for Israel's high concentration of poor people in terms of the number of poor areas. 40 statistical regions in the city, almost one quarter of the city's regions containing 40% of the city's population and almost half of all of Israel's poor neighborhoods, have the lowest socioeconomic rating of 1, headed by Mea She'arim. Jerusalem is followed by Rahat and Modi'in Illit, each of which have nine neighborhoods with a rating of 1, Beitar Illit with eight, and Beit Shemesh with six.
Residents in neighborhoods with a rate of 1 outnumber the people living in neighborhoods with a rating of 9 or 10. If we take into account that fact that the socioeconomic level of neighborhoods with ratings of 2-6 is also low, we get another indication of the social and economic problems in Israeli society.