Living in SoHo: rent, commute and grades

Manhattan · Updated October 2026

Restaurant tables under umbrellas along Mott Street between red brick tenement buildings.
Cast-iron storefronts with stoops along West Broadway, pedestrians walking and One World Trade in the distance.
Cast-iron and brick buildings along Broome Street with traffic lights and a delivery van.
A street of brick buildings with fire escapes and bare trees in daylight.
Red brick walk-up buildings with fire escapes and green trees on a bright day.
Photo credits

This guide also covers Nolita and Little Italy, which share SoHo’s official city boundaries.

Rent in SoHo

$3,247 a month

Type of homeA room in a 2-bedroom, shared by two

SoHo is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in SoHo
B+Overall

SoHo graded

Grades compare NYC neighborhoods with each other. How the grades work.

Everyday life

  • AWalkability

    The average home has 4.9 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 1,845 places to eat or shop.

    Residents: Everyday errands such as dropping off laundry get hard in Nolita on weekends because of the crowds. Resident, Jun 2026

    City data alone would give A+; what residents say in 3 Reddit threads moves it to A.

  • A+Food and shopping

    Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 485 places to eat, 49 kinds of cuisine, 9.9 large grocery stores and 1,299 open storefronts.

    Residents: Groceries can be cheap despite high rents: the SoHo Trader Joe's sells eggs for $2.99, and local grocers carry plenty of fresh food. Resident, May 2026

    City data and 9 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.

  • FParks and green space

    90% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 39 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 327 street trees within 300 m of the average home.

    Residents: The Elizabeth Street Garden is a pretty, calm spot and is no longer in danger of closing. Former resident, Jun 2026

People

  • A+Community

    34% of households moved in since 2018, 15% are roommates sharing a home, 29% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 378 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

  • A+Nightlife

    About 285 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

    Residents: Nolita has many bars within a short walk for a drink. Resident of 5 years, Jul 2025

    City data and 4 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.

Home and safety

  • FSafety

    14.5 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (307 in all).

    Residents: Nolita feels fairly safe to live in. Former resident, Jun 2026

  • FQuiet

    119 noise complaints to 311 per 1,000 residents in 2025, not counting helicopter complaints, and counting each address at most 12 days a year. That measures how often people complain, not how loud it is.

    Residents: The San Gennaro festival adds to Nolita's crowds every September; moving to quieter Hudson Square meant no longer dealing with the crowds. Former resident, Jul 2025

    City data and 4 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.

  • B-Building upkeep

    11.6 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 8.2 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

    Residents: Many Nolita buildings are very old, so expect some apartment headaches. Former resident, Jun 2026

Who lives there

  • Recent grads and young professionals
  • Lots of roommates

What residents say

Residents like

Residents don’t like

  • QuietThe San Gennaro festival adds to Nolita's crowds every September; moving to quieter Hudson Square meant no longer dealing with the crowds. Former resident, Jul 2025
  • Building upkeepMany Nolita buildings are very old, so expect some apartment headaches. Former resident, Jun 2026
Show 16 moreShow less

Safety

Food and shopping

Nightlife

Walkability

Quiet

  • Nolita has a lot going on but is extremely packed with people.

    Not a resident, Jun 2026

  • Mott and Prince Streets are always mobbed with tourists and lined with stores, which makes them less appealing to live on.

    Not a resident, Jun 2026

  • Nolita has become a zoo; living in Gramercy and taking a car to Nolita for food and drinks is the better choice.

    Not a resident, May 2025

Parks and green space

Getting around from SoHo

Map of New York City neighborhoods shaded by travel time by subway or bus from SoHo
By subway or bus, arriving by 9:00 on a weekday:Under 30 min30 to 45 min45 to 60 minOver an hourSoHo
  • Canal St 6JNQRWZ
  • Canal St 1
  • Houston St 1
  • Prince St RW
  • Spring St CE
  • Spring St 6

Residents: Nolita's subway access ranks among the best in the city. Former resident of 4 years, Jul 2025

Residents: Nolita is within walking distance of the B, D, F, M, the 6, and the R and W, with the N, Q, J, Z, C and E not far. Former resident, Jun 2026

What to know about SoHo

  • SoHo, short for South of Houston Street, was an artists' neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s and is now one of the city's main shopping districts, with galleries alongside luxury boutiques and independent designers. Source
  • SoHo was made a city historic district in 1973 for its many buildings with cast-iron facades, an ornate and cheaper alternative to granite or marble. The district has about 500 buildings, and a 2010 extension added about 135 more. Source
  • Broadway from Houston to Canal Street is SoHo's commercial spine, with about 1.5 million square feet of shops, 3 million square feet of offices and more than 21,000 workers, according to its improvement district. Source
  • Many SoHo homes are lofts in former factory buildings. In 1971 the city created zoning found only in SoHo and NoHo that let artists legally live in vacant industrial lofts they had already turned into live-work spaces. Source
  • The Haughwout Building at 488 Broadway and Broome Street, built in 1857, is one of the city's best-known cast-iron buildings and had the first commercial elevator installed by Elisha Graves Otis. Source
  • Little Italy, on the guide's eastern edge, grew from Italian immigrants who arrived in the late 1800s. Each September it holds the Feast of San Gennaro, one of the city's oldest street fairs, honoring the patron saint of Naples. Source

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Sources

Facts about SoHo:

Data behind the grades: