The Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday released Israel's socio-economic index by urban clusters, ranking communities from 1 – the lowest socio-economic cluster – to 10, the highest socio-economic cluster.
According to the CBS' 2019 Socio-Economic Index, Tel Aviv ranked in the 10th and highest cluster, while Jerusalem slipped from the fifth cluster in 2004 to the second-to-last socio-economic cluster in 2019 – just one level ahead of the ranking of mostly non-Jewish communities.
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Moreover, with the exception of three neighborhoods in Jerusalem that receive a high socio-economic rating (cluster 8), most neighborhoods in the capital were relegated to the lower clusters in the index – a sad statement for Israel's second-largest city, which is home to about 1 million people.
Apart from Tel Aviv, the top socio-economic clusters are dominated by affluent communities in central Israel, such as Savyon, Kfar Shmaryahu, Hod Hasharon, Givatayim, Givat Shmuel, and Raanana. The northern community of Beit She'an and the southern city of Sderot ranked midway, in cluster 5, while the three bottom socio-economic clusters included mainly ultra-Orthodox communities, such as Bnei Brak, Beitar Illit, and entire neighborhoods in Safed.
The CBS' ratings are influenced, among other things, by property value, the level of education, the size of families residing in the surveyed communities, and the average household income.
In the top socio-economic clusters, residents earned twice and upward of the average wage in the economy, meaning over NIS 20,000 ($5,600), and all families had two providers, at least two cars, multiple TVs and Internet connection.
Low socio-economic clusters were characterized by high unemployment and a high ratio of residents who regularly receive welfare benefits.
Overall, seven local authorities, including Jerusalem, dropped at least one slot in the index; 26 moved up one cluster, and the rest – 222 communities – retained their previous socio-economic ranking.
The index also included a ranking of some 1,600 neighborhoods, showing a disconcerting disparity between neighborhoods in big cities and the periphery.
The richest neighborhood in Israel is Tzameret Park in northern Tel Aviv, while the poorest neighborhood is Ramat Elhanan in Bnei Brak. Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood Mea Shearim and the neighborhoods in its immediate vicinity are among the poorest in Israel.
The neighborhoods' socio-economic ranking is, however, somewhat inaccurate, as it fails to include small areas in terms of the number of residents.
More than 90 neighborhoods are ranked in cluster 1 – the lowest socio-economic ranking. These neighborhoods are all ultra-Orthodox, Bedouin, or neighborhoods in central Israel that are currently inhabited by foreign workers and illegal labor migrants from African countries.
