A Local Expert’s Guide To 10 Budget-Friendly Cincinnati Neighborhoods to Call Home

Cincinnati is a unique Midwest city thanks to its riverfront downtown core, unique terrain, and a surprising amount of 1800s urban architecture not commonly seen west of the East Coast. The first time I drove up I-75 through Northern Kentucky, crested the hill, and saw downtown Cincinnati spread across the riverfront, I did a double-take. Then when I saw the 1800s urban charm on the both sides of the river (looking at you, (Covington!), I fell in love with the area.

Home to several national corporations, including Procter & Gamble, GE, American Financial Group, Kroger, and TQL, Cincinnati is a regional economic center. The University of Cincinnati and its School of Medicine anchor several neighborhoods in the hills north of downtown. The city boasts 52 unique neighborhoods, each with its own character and style.

Further out, you’ll find dozens of townships and small cities that make up the greater Cincinnati metro area. These, too, have unique charm all their own.

I’m Joey, your ApartmentHomeLiving.com Local Expert for Cincinnati. In this guide, we’ve highlighted 10 of the neighborhoods within the city of Cincinnati with the most affordable housing. Whatever brings you to the city, one of these neighborhoods will be the ideal place to call home — at an affordable price.

East Cincinnati

Located east and northeast of the downtown core but west of neighborhoods like Norwood and Hyde Park, East Cincinnati is a larger neighborhood that includes everything from downtown-style living to areas just shy of suburbia. Main thoroughfares include Reading Rd (US 42) to the west, I-71, and Gilbert Ave (US 22) to the east. Martin Luther King Dr runs east to west, connecting the neighborhood to both the University of Cincinnati and its College of Medicine.

My family loves Historic Eden Park and especially the famous Krohn Conservatory here — the holiday exhibit features handcrafted replicas of Cincinnati landmarks made from plants. Some apartments in this neighborhood are located within an easy walking or biking distance from UC. The nationally recognized Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is nearby as well — I’ve found this to be a hit for anyone with kids. The southern end of the neighborhood is an easy drive or public transit ride away from the downtown core.

Because the neighborhood is so varied, I see a mix of small single-family homes, small and large format multifamily apartments, studios within larger homes, mixed use developments, and high-rise towers. Walnut Hills High School is nearby as well, a public high school with a 9/10 GreatSchools rating.

Demographics are varied, with certain parts of the neighborhood skewing younger and more professional thanks to the proximity to the university.

The Heights

The Heights is located around the University of Cincinnati’s main campus. The neighborhood includes the campus, Burnet Woods to the north with a mix of historic single-family and multifamily homes, and land to the west of campus that includes fraternity houses and a large-format 8-story multifamily complex.

The neighborhood has the look and feel of a college town, but one that was built into the middle of a thriving historic city. Demographic makeup reflects this college town feel as well, skewing younger and more highly educated. Apart from the campus itself, you’ll see row houses to the north, statelier homes to the west (most of which are fraternity housing or similar), and a mix of both older and newer multifamily units.

I especially like the area just south of campus, a long east-west strip between McMillan and Calhoun, which provides a mix of retail, dining, and services catering to the university crowd but open to all. Burnet Woods provides a refreshing urban oasis, and we loved the stunning vistas from Bellevue Hill Park, which overlooks downtown toward the riverfront below.

College Hill

Winding north from downtown on Hamilton Ave (US 127) you’ll find numerous affordable neighborhoods, starting with College Hill. Belmont Ave and W North Bend Road are the other main surface streets crossing the former mill town turned college town turned Cincinnati suburb.

Named for long-shuttered colleges that stood where the neighborhood’s main school, Aiken High School, stands today, College Hill offers a cozy historic feel that I see in many of the suburbs closest to downtown. Housing stock is mostly older (bordering on historic) single family homes along mostly grid-aligned streets, with many properties well maintained. Some high-density multifamily and mixed-use apartments are available along the neighborhood’s main thoroughfares.

College Hill is an ideal affordable neighborhood for those looking for a quiet suburban experience that remains relatively close to the hustle and bustle of UC (just a 13-minute drive or 24-minute bus ride away) and downtown (roughly 20 minutes by car).

I love exploring the year-round beauty of Southwest Ohio’s landscapes. South of the neighborhood sits LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center, an inviting place to explore the biodiversity here. An Underground Railroad exhibit teaches visitors about Cincinnati’s role in welcoming enslaved people to freedom. A campus of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is also located on the south side of the neighborhood.

Mount Airy

A western suburb of Cincinnati, Mount Airy sits to the west of Northside and College Hill, just north of I-74 where the interstate diverges from I-75 and exits the main of the city. Roughly half of the land in the neighborhood is the Mt. Airy Forest, an early urban reforestation project that today has grown into a sprawling wooded landscape with an arboretum, Everybody’s Tree House, a playground, and The Nati, a well-regarded disc golf course. (As a rather unskilled disc golf aficionado, I haven’t made it over to this park yet, but it’s on my to-do list!)

Kipling Ave, W North Bend Rd, and Colerain Ave (US 27) are the main roads running through the residential part of the neighborhood. Housing is a mix of single-family homes and conventional multifamily apartments. Neighborhood streets aren’t tightly packed, with plenty of green space and tree cover throughout the area. Other points of interest include Mt Airy Park and the nearby Fox Preserve.

Though Mount Airy feels secluded and like it’s a world away from the city, downtown’s Fountain Square is just 13 to 17 minutes away thanks to easy access to I-74/75.

Mount Auburn

Liberty Street and McMicken Ave form a natural northern boundary for Cincinnati’s downtown core: everything to the north climbs steadily and sometimes sharply uphill, which explains many of the neighborhood names (Mount Auburn, Mount Adams, Mount Auburn, The Heights, and so on). As a Midwest native Cincinnati transplant, I never get tired of the unique topography here.

Mount Auburn is the neighborhood just north and northeast of downtown, bordered neatly by Liberty St at the south, Vine to the west, McMillan to the north, and Eden Park to the east. I-71 runs through the eastern side, dividing Eden Park from the rest of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is a fascinating mix of historic homes and multifamily structures alongside newer and even brand-new mixed use apartment complexes. Several residential streets rise sharply, leading to some unique architecture and picturesque views.

Mount Auburn is close to everything: historic Eden Park (one of my favorites!), downtown, Over the Rhine, the riverfront, Christ Hospital, and UC. The terrain, housing stock, and demographics are all richly diverse. Several parks dot the landscape; the most significant is sprawling Eden Park, where you’ll find the Krohn Conservatory, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and the Eden Park Overlook, with picturesque views of the Ohio River and the Northern Kentucky Riverfront.

Over the Rhine

Before I moved to the area, one of my first visits to the city included a weeklong stay at the top end of Over the Rhine. Once a study in urban decay, Over the Rhine (locals call it OTR) has reinvented itself in the past couple of decades, becoming a buzzy, lively district immediately north of Cincinnati’s downtown business district.

OTR sits north of E Central Parkway, between W Central Parkway (US 127) and Sycamore Street. The district runs north past Liberty Street along Elm, Race, and Vine and extends to just north of McMicken, where downtown meets the hills.

You’ll find plenty of Cincinnati’s famous late-1800s architecture throughout the neighborhood. The area is quite walkable, and a free city trolley runs on a continuous loop from the top of Over the Rhine to the riverfront.

Much of Over the Rhine has the look and feel of a city downtown; first-floor storefronts with homes above them line many of the densely packed city streets. There are plenty of historic multifamily units and a few modern apartment complexes built into the surrounding landscape.

Over the Rhine boasts much to see and do, including Rhinegeist Brewery, Washington Park, historic Findlay Market (the longest continually operating public market in the US), and a dazzling array of unique restaurants and bars.

Lower Price Hill

West of the downtown core lie the western foothills and a long stretch of riverfront communities. Located literally on the other side of the tracks from Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, Lower Price Hill is the first neighborhood you’ll encounter as you head into the hills. It’s a small neighborhood bordered by the Ohio River, Mill Creek, and State Ave.

Lower Price Hill proper is primarily a manufacturing area, with small pockets of historic row homes (both single family and multifamily). On the outskirts of the neighborhood you’ll find several large-format multifamily apartments. Up the hill a bit further in Price Hill proper are numerous residential streets with single-family homes, apartment complexes, and duplex/quadplex apartment buildings.

Points of interest and notable organizations in Lower Price Hill include the Cincinnati Police Academy, Evans Playground, and the Cincinnati Type & Print Museum. Cincinnati Union Terminal is a nearby museum center (a big hit with my kids!) and remains the region's AMTRAK hub.

CUF (Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview)

If you’ve never heard of CUF, you’re not alone: CUF is the formal designation for a set of three neighborhoods surrounding the University of Cincinnati, though it’s a term locals don’t typically use. (I’d never heard this name before digging into official neighborhoods for this review.)

The communities of Clifton Heights, University Heights, and Fairview all share some common attributes. These are mainly residential neighborhoods with heavy student populations thanks to their walkable and bikeable proximity to UC. Clifton Heights is south of the university, extending roughly from McMillan south to the hill. Vine and Ravine streets are its eastern and western borders. Fairview and University Heights occupy the rest of the land between UC and I-75 and north to MLK Drive West. The south end of CUF is mostly single family residential, with more small and large-format multifamily apartments as you head north.

The communities of CUF are ideally located, not just to UC but also to downtown. They are close to Over the Rhine and downtown, but thanks to the elevation change I feel like I’m a world away when I’m “up the hill” in neighborhoods like these.

Fairview Park and Bellevue Hill Park are the main attractions within CUF, but primarily it’s a residential area for students, faculty, and staff at nearby UC. Expect a demographic that skews younger and with relatively high turnover.

Pendleton

Close to all the action, but at a more affordable price: Pendleton is a triangular neighborhood located west of Over the Rhine, south of Mount Auburn, and north of the Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati. Downtown Cincinnati, the riverfront, and Eden Park are all just blocks away. Bounded by Reading Rd, E Liberty Street, and Sycamore Street, Pendleton is a densely packed urban playground consisting of single family and multifamily row houses, large-format multifamily apartments, and mixed use developments.

I find less to do here than in neighboring OTR. Still, Pendleton boasts unique local restaurants, an art center, and great walkability and bikeability to all that next-door Over the Rhine has to offer. Ziegler Park provides a welcome open green space, and the Hard Rock Casino is just across Central Parkway.

Pendleton is also conveniently located near the Hamilton County Courthouse and numerous other government facilities, making it a convenient choice for employees of the city and county.

White Oak

Downtown living has its appeal, but it isn’t for everyone. If you're looking for something a little more spread-out and suburban (like we were), White Oak is an attractive option. White Oak is a sprawling suburban neighborhood of nearly 20,000 located a bit further out from downtown, to the northwest. It stretches from just north of I-74 up to the Cross County Highway. Banning/Hanley Road is the most significant east-west road through the area.

The vast majority of homes in the neighborhood are single-family homes in typical suburban layouts. Demographics skew toward families and retirees. Colerain Ave (US 27) is the main north-south highway. Most retail, services, and multifamily units are along this corridor and Cheviot Road to the west.

White Oak is roughly 12 miles from downtown Cincinnati (a 20 to 30 minute drive). However, the neighborhood also has easy access to I-275 and the Cross County Highway (126), giving residents relatively easy access to the northern and central suburbs.

There’s plenty of natural beauty in White Oak, and those looking to explore more outdoors will enjoy easy access to Mount Airy Forest and Arboretum.