We scored all 158 Toronto neighbourhoods on 9 factors in two groups: five for your dog (off-leash count, off-leash area, green space, daycares, vets) and four for you (safety, walkability, restaurants, affordability). South Riverdale leads on dog infrastructure. Factor in rent and outer neighbourhoods like New Toronto and Weston climb fast. Use the sliders to weight what matters most to you.
By Onslow's Team · September 3, 2026 · Data: City of Toronto Open Data, OpenStreetMap, College of Veterinarians of Ontario, WealthVieu, rentals.ca, TRREB
158
Toronto neighbourhoods scored
83
off-leash areas in the city
9
factors in the score
Adjust the weights to rank Toronto by what matters to you. The list re-sorts instantly.
Adjust weights
For your dog
Off-leash parks (count)
Off-leash space (area)
Green space
Daycare access
Vet access
For you
Safety
Walkability
Restaurants & cafes
Affordability
South Riverdale
61Trinity-Bellwoods
59The Beaches
56East End-Danforth
55New Toronto
54Annex
51North Riverdale
51Stonegate-Queensway
50Cabbagetown-South St.James Town
49Woodbine Corridor
49Palmerston-Little Italy
47Woodbine-Lumsden
47Greenwood-Coxwell
46Junction Area
45Blake-Jones
45Long Branch
45Casa Loma
44High Park-Swansea
44Bay-Cloverhill
43Bendale-Glen Andrew
43Fort York-Liberty Village
43West Queen West
43Roncesvalles
43Dovercourt Village
42Wellington Place
42East-end dominance on dog factors
South Riverdale consistently leads on off-leash count, park count, and daycare access. The Beaches earns #2 by finishing near the top across nearly all nine factors without leading on any single one. Both sit mid-range on affordability, which keeps their composite position stable under the default weighting.
Affordable suburbs are more competitive than they look
With updated vet counts capped at 15 per neighbourhood, outer areas like Bendale-Glen Andrew, New Toronto, and Stonegate-Queensway score much higher than before. South Parkdale ranks #5 overall, combining solid park count, daycare access, and one of the more affordable rents in the inner city ($1,997/mo).
South Parkdale surprises at #5
South Parkdale has 22 parks, 2 daycares, and an affordability score of 79 (rent of $1,997/mo). That combination of green space, services, and relative affordability puts it ahead of traditionally favoured neighbourhoods like Trinity-Bellwoods and Fort York under the default weighting.
Area beats count in some neighbourhoods
Cabbagetown-South St. James Town has just one off-leash zone but scores 100 on area (over 45,000 sqm). The Beaches scores 76 on area thanks to expansive waterfront off-leash space. Weighting area reveals these hidden gems.
Daycares concentrate downtown
South Riverdale (4), The Beaches (3), Wellington Place (3), and Fort York-Liberty Village (3) lead on daycare access. Over half of Toronto neighbourhoods have zero dog daycares. Slide daycare weight up and the rankings shift significantly toward the core.
Inner suburbs are park-rich, off-leash-poor
Many Scarborough and North York neighbourhoods have substantial green space and comparatively affordable rent, but zero designated off-leash zones and no daycares. When you also factor in lower walkability scores, the inner city advantage on dog infrastructure remains significant even under affordability-weighted rankings.
Each neighbourhood received nine component scores, each normalized to a 0 to 100 scale. The highest value in the city becomes 100; all others are scaled proportionally. Scores are grouped into two sets: five for your dog and four for you.
For your dog
Off-leash parks (count)
Total number of City of Toronto designated off-leash zones within the neighbourhood boundary. This is the single strongest predictor of daily dog quality of life.
Off-leash space (area)
Total square metres of off-leash area, measured from OpenStreetMap polygon data. One large off-leash park is more valuable than two tiny ones. This score captures that difference.
Green space
Total count of parks, greenspaces, and trails within the neighbourhood polygon (OpenStreetMap, August 2026). Larger neighbourhoods naturally have more parks; the score reflects raw count, not density.
Daycare access
Number of dog daycares within or immediately adjacent to the neighbourhood, sourced from Google Maps (August 2026). South Riverdale leads with 4 daycares. Many outer neighbourhoods have none.
Vet access
Vet clinic counts from Google Places Text Search API (September 2026). Results capped at 15 per neighbourhood to avoid over-counting from adjacent areas.
For you
Safety
Derived from Toronto Police Service Open Data crime statistics (2024). Neighbourhood-level crime rates are inverted so that lower crime equals a higher score. These scores reflect reported crime only, not quality-of-life factors like encampments, litter, or park conditions.
Walkability
Estimated from neighbourhood position relative to the urban core, transit corridor proximity, and street density. Dense, centrally located neighbourhoods with grid street patterns score highest. Suburban car-oriented areas score lowest.
Restaurants & cafes
Restaurant density from Google Places Text Search API (September 2026). Scored in tiers: neighbourhoods with extensive restaurant results score highest.
Affordability
Based on average 1-bedroom rent data by neighbourhood (sources: WealthVieu, rentals.ca, TRREB, 2026). Inverted scoring: cheaper neighbourhoods score higher. A score of 100 means the lowest rent in the dataset ($1,750/mo in Black Creek); scores near 0 are the most expensive (above $2,900/mo). Weighted at 20% by default because rent is usually the first filter when choosing where to live.
The default ranking weights affordability at 20, off-leash count, off-leash area, safety, and walkability at 12 each, with green space, daycares, vets, and restaurants at 8 each. The ranker above lets you change those weights in real time.
We scored each neighbourhood on nine factors across two groups. For your dog: number of off-leash areas, total off-leash area in square metres, total park count, number of dog daycares, and number of vet clinics. For you: neighbourhood safety (inverted crime rate), walkability, restaurant and cafe density, and affordability (inverted rent, so cheaper neighbourhoods score higher). All nine are normalized to a 0 to 100 scale. Use the sliders to weight what matters most to you.
Affordability is based on CMHC Rental Market Survey data (October 2025) for average 1-bedroom rent by zone across 17 Toronto sub-markets. The scoring is inverted: cheaper neighbourhoods score higher. A score of 100 means the lowest rent in the dataset ($1,493/mo in Etobicoke South); a score near 0 means among the most expensive ($2,042/mo in Toronto Central). Affordability is weighted at 20% by default, reflecting that most people choosing where to live care about rent first.
South Riverdale has the highest number of off-leash areas of any Toronto neighbourhood (5, including Withrow Park and Jimmie Simpson), the highest park facility count (33), and decent daycare access. Combined with solid affordability relative to downtown, that combination puts it at the top under default weighting. When affordability is weighted heavily, lower-rent outer neighbourhoods like New Toronto and Stonegate-Queensway move up significantly.
Trinity-Bellwoods scores high on daycares (20 nearby), vets (15), restaurants (60, the maximum), and safety (78). Its off-leash area score is solid too (35, from over 15,000 sqm). While not the cheapest neighbourhood, its across-the-board strength in services puts it near the top under balanced weighting.
Slide the affordability weight up past 50 and watch outer neighbourhoods like New Toronto, Stonegate-Queensway, and Long Branch rise sharply. These areas score 100 on affordability thanks to Etobicoke South's $1,493/mo average rent, and they still have decent park counts and safety scores.
Slide the vet weight up and watch the rankings shift. North St. James Town, Little Portugal, and Dovercourt Village have the highest vet counts (15-16 clinics within 1.5 km). When vet access is prioritized, central and west-end neighbourhoods dominate.
One massive off-leash area is more valuable than two tiny ones. Cabbagetown-South St. James Town scores 100 on area (over 45,000 sqm) but only has one designated zone. The Beaches scores 76 on area thanks to expansive waterfront off-leash space. Separating count from area lets you distinguish between neighbourhoods with many small zones versus fewer, larger ones.
Safety scores are derived from Toronto Open Data neighbourhood crime rates (2024). Nine crime types (assault, auto theft, bike theft, break and enter, homicide, robbery, shooting, theft from motor vehicle, theft over) are summed per neighbourhood and inverted so that lower crime equals a higher score. A score of 100 means among the safest in the city; 0 means the highest recorded crime rate.
Walkability is based on Census 2021 Neighbourhood Profiles: the percentage of employed residents who walk or bicycle to work. Dense, centrally located neighbourhoods like Yonge-Bay Corridor (55.6%) and Kensington-Chinatown (50.0%) score highest. Suburban and car-oriented areas like Morningside Heights (1.1%) score lowest.
Restaurant scores are based on Google Places Nearby Search results for restaurants and cafes within 1 km of each neighbourhood centroid, with pagination up to 60 results. Neighbourhoods with high concentrations of dining options score highest. This is a proxy for street life and amenity density that benefits both dogs and their owners.
Off-leash area counts, park facility counts, and crime rates are from the City of Toronto Open Data portal (September 2026). Off-leash area measurements (sqm) are from the same open data source. Daycare counts, vet counts, and restaurant counts are from Google Places API (September 2026). Walkability and transit data are from Census 2021 Neighbourhood Profiles (158-model). Rent data is from the CMHC Rental Market Survey (October 2025).
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Data verified August 2026. Sources: City of Toronto Open Data (parks, crime statistics 2024, business licences 2024), OpenStreetMap, College of Veterinarians of Ontario, WealthVieu, rentals.ca, TRREB (rent data 2026).