Communities / draft for approval, not indexed
Living in Jerusalem
Shuls from Haredi to Masorti, English-speaking organisations and libraries, and a 30 minute train to Tel Aviv.
- 1,050,151
- residents, end of 2024
- 30 min
- fastest train to Tel Aviv
- ₪2,825,500
- median sold price, all homes
- ~30,000
- North American olim since 2002
The Western Wall, March 2015. Photo by Maarten van der Bent, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Jerusalem, in short
Suits
English-speaking families of any religious affiliation who want an established Anglo community with its own shuls, organisations and libraries, and can pay well above the national price.
Not for
Buyers on a budget near the national median price, or investors buying for rental yield.
A 4-room home sold for a median ₪3,169,800 over the last year, new and older homes together. Train to Tel Aviv: 30 min fastest on a weekday. Train to Jerusalem: the city's own station.
The numbers that decide it
2 of 10
Socio-economic cluster
Rank 25 of 255 authorities, 1 is lowest. CBS, 2021.
1.2%
Population growth in 2023
1,050,151 residents at the end of 2024. CBS.
₪2,825,500
Median sold price, all homes
Last 12 months, +2.7% on the year. nadlan.gov.il.
₪5,700
Median rent a month
Recorded rents, -2.2% on the year. nadlan.gov.il.
2.4%
Gross rental yield
As nadlan.gov.il computes it, before arnona, upkeep, vacancy and tax.
6,104
Homes started in 2023
2,724 completed the same year. CBS city profile.
What do these numbers mean for your budget?
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The English-speaking community
Nefesh B'Nefesh describes Jerusalem as having a large English-speaking population across all religious affiliations, with some neighbourhoods homogenous. Its figures, published by the Jerusalem Post in May 2026, count nearly 30,000 North American immigrants settling in the city since 2002, 1,128 of them in 2025.
Nefesh B'Nefesh lists Arnona, Baka, the German Colony, Har Nof, Katamon, Katamonim, Kiryat Moshe, Nachlaot, the Old City, Pisgat Zeev, Rehavia and Romema among the neighbourhoods olim choose.
Beit Knesset Hanassi in Rehavia, a Modern Orthodox shul on the Young Israel model, gives its shiurim and announcements in English too; the Fuchsberg Center in Rehavia serves English speakers in the Masorti movement. AACI has its national headquarters on HaRav Kook Street, and the Baka library's English youth collection was set up by volunteers more than 30 years ago. Encore!, an English-language theatre company founded in 2006, stages musicals and Gilbert and Sullivan.
7,308
olim from the US
1,178
from the UK
26,288
olim in total
Settling in Jerusalem, 2014 to 2023. Canada, South Africa and Australia are not counted separately, and the figures stop before most of the recent growth.
Source: Ministry of Aliyah, 2014 to 2023
Where this section comes from (22 sources)
- bkhanassi.com, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- mizrachi.org/hamizrachi/mizrachi-and-young-israel-launch-exciting-new-initiative, per candidates doc
- nbn.org.il/masorti-kehillot, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- nbn.org.il/life-in-israel/community-and-housing/community-guide/jerusalem, updated 29 Jul 2026
- aaci.org.il/contact-us, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- ouisrael.org/about, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- jerusalem.muni.il/en/residents/aliyah, NBN page updated 29 Jul 2026
- data.gov.il/api/3/action/datastore_search?resource_id=52ddda08-3205-40ee-bc37-bf203a1cf0b2&filters=%7B%22city_1%22:%22JERUSALEM%22%7D, fetched 2026-10-14
- jpost.com/aliyah/article-896056, 13 May 2026
- jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-881784, Dec 2025
- jpost.com/aliyah/article-908049, 9 Sep 2026
- data.gov.il/api/3/action/datastore_search?resource_id=d735ad06-8bde-41aa-8350-a15a36bac18f, published 2024-03-12
- jewishlink.news/finding-your-place-in-the-holy-city, 18 Sep 2026
- buyitinisrael.com/news/top-7-jerusalem-neighborhoods-loved-by-anglos, 25 May 2025
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har_Nof, accessed per candidates doc
- jewishaction.com/jewish-world/israel/aliyah/anglos-israel, 2014
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisgat_Ze%27ev, per candidates doc
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramot,_Jerusalem, per candidates doc
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Talpiot, accessed 2026-10-14
- blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-little-library-that-could, 5 Mar 2023
- englishinisrael.com/libraries.html, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-838915, 26 Jan 2025
Har Nof
Har Nof, March 2023. Photo by Hagai Agmon-Snir, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where people live
Baka
Called "one of Jerusalem's strongest family-oriented Anglo communities", with English "commonly heard throughout the neighborhood".
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
German Colony
Attracts Modern Orthodox families, professionals and retirees; next to Emek Refaim, the commercial street.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Old Katamon
"A healthy mix of English and Hebrew speakers", longtime Israeli residents next to young Anglo families.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Rehavia and Talbiyeh
Central, with a more mixed population than the Anglo enclaves: an English-speaking community among Hebrew-speaking neighbours.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Har Nof
At the city's entrance on the Tel Aviv road, home to "one of Jerusalem's largest American ultra-Orthodox populations".
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Nachlaot
Next to the Machane Yehuda market; popular with younger English speakers, students and creative professionals.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Beyond the 1949 line
Pisgat Zeev and East Talpiot (Armon HaNatziv) lie beyond the 1949 armistice line; Wikipedia describes both as Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Part of Ramot was built across the line.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
Arnona and the line
Wikipedia places the 1949 cease-fire line at Arnona's eastern border; a 2013 Jewish Link column says the line cut off part of the neighbourhood. Check a specific plot against the line.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
51.9%
of households own their home
36.5%
rent
24
median age
3.7
people per household
9.9%
born in the Americas
14.9%
work outside the city
Schools
589 active schools in Jerusalem, by stream
243 Haredi
74 State religious
272 State
No official list of English-speaking schools
Ministry of Education data has no language field. Nefesh B'Nefesh lists the three state streams for Jerusalem but no school-by-school detail.
Ask by neighbourhood
Which school English-speaking children attend depends on the neighbourhood and the family's stream. We name schools on the neighbourhood pages, not here.
Getting around
Direct trains from ירושלים/יצחק נבון station, 1.7 km in a straight line from the city's centre point, on one weekday of the current timetable.
To Tel Aviv HaHagana
30min
fastest; median 31 min, 38 direct trains a weekday
To Tel Aviv Savidor
35min
fastest; median 41 min, 43 direct trains a weekday
To Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon
Here
this is the station
One fast train line, from one station
The direct trains to Tel Aviv on this page leave from Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station. The minutes are station to station: add the trip from your neighbourhood to Navon.
Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station, January 2022. Photo by Hanay, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
What homes sold and rented for
Recorded deals from the Tax Authority, last 12 months. They mix new apartments and older homes, so they are neither the new-build price nor the resale price.
Sold, median price
- 3 rooms₪2,561,100
+11.5% on the year
- 4 rooms₪3,169,800
+2.0% on the year
- 5 rooms₪4,228,600
+2.7% on the year
Latest quarter (to Mar 2026): ₪2,717,100 here against ₪2,058,800 nationally.
Rented, median a month
- 3 rooms₪5,400
-1.8% on the year
- 4 rooms₪7,200
-2.7% on the year
- 5 rooms₪9,150
+2.2% on the year
The CBS rent survey, a different series, puts average free-market rent at ₪5,347 a month (Q2 2026) for Jerusalem.
What else is being built
6,104
homes started in 2023
2,724 completed. CBS.
356
state land tenders since 2000
54 opened since 2023. Israel Land Authority.
52
Dira BeHanacha lotteries
Latest 27 Jan 2025: 232 homes, 28,230 applicants.
Land offered to developers right now (20)
A tender is land, not homes: anything built on it is years away.
Running costs and safety
Arnona, average billed
₪82.0
per square metre a year, 2023. The city’s total residential billing over billed area, not your street’s tariff.
Source: CBS city profile, 2023
Bank of Israel rate
3.25%
The base for mortgage pricing, not a mortgage rate.
Source: Bank of Israel, 13 Oct 2026
Siren warning time
90seconds
to reach a protected space. New buildings must have one: usually a safe room in the apartment (mamad), in some a shared one per floor (mamak). Ask which.
Source: Home Front Command, 14 Oct 2026
The downsides
Prices well above the country
In the quarter ending Mar 2026 the median sold home in Jerusalem went for ₪2,717,100, against ₪2,058,800 nationally. A 4-room home's median over the last 12 months was ₪3,169,800.
Source: nadlan.gov.il
Low rental yield
nadlan.gov.il computes a gross rental yield of 2.4% for Jerusalem, before arnona, maintenance, vacancy and tax.
Source: nadlan.gov.il
Light rail works on Emek Refaim
Construction for the light rail along Emek Refaim, the German Colony's commercial street, is expected to last "likely through most of 2028".
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
City averages hide the neighbourhoods
Jerusalem as a whole sits in socio-economic cluster 2 of 10 (CBS, 2021). The city's figures on this page cover very different neighbourhoods together, and no official source counts English speakers by neighbourhood.
Source: CBS · 2021
Who should pick Jerusalem, and who should not
Pick it if you are
- Families who want a shul in their own stream with English speakers in it, from Haredi in Har Nof to Modern Orthodox in the German Colony and Masorti in Rehavia.
- Buyers who want an Anglo community with its own organisations, an English youth library and English theatre.
- Anyone working in Tel Aviv who can live near the fast train.
Look elsewhere if you are
- Buyers whose budget is near the national median price.
- Investors buying for rental income.
- Families who want a single neighbourhood where almost everyone speaks English: the city's Anglo life is spread over many neighbourhoods.
Questions about Jerusalem
Where do English speakers live in Jerusalem?
Nefesh B'Nefesh lists Arnona, Baka, the German Colony, Har Nof, Katamon, Katamonim, Kiryat Moshe, Nachlaot, the Old City, Pisgat Zeev, Rehavia and Romema among the neighbourhoods olim choose. Which one fits depends mostly on your religious stream.
How long is the train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv?
On a weekday the fastest direct train from Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon to Tel Aviv HaHagana takes 30 minutes and the median 31 minutes, with 38 direct trains that day (Ministry of Transport timetable fetched 14 Oct 2026). Add the trip to Navon station from your neighbourhood.
Source: Ministry of Transport GTFS
How much does an apartment cost in Jerusalem?
The median recorded sale of a 4-room home in Jerusalem over the last 12 months was ₪3,169,800, new and older homes together (nadlan.gov.il, 20 Aug 2026). Prices vary widely between neighbourhoods.
Source: nadlan.gov.il
How much is rent in Jerusalem?
The median recorded rent over the last 12 months was ₪5,700 a month for all homes and ₪7,200 for 4 rooms (nadlan.gov.il, 20 Aug 2026).
Source: nadlan.gov.il
Which Jerusalem neighbourhoods are beyond the Green Line?
Pisgat Zeev and East Talpiot (Armon HaNatziv) lie beyond the 1949 line, and part of Ramot was built across it. Har Nof is within it. In Arnona, sources disagree on whether the line ran along its eastern edge or cut into it, so check the specific plot.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
How long do you have to reach a shelter in Jerusalem?
90 seconds from the siren, according to the Home Front Command.
Source: Source
Thinking about Jerusalem?
Send us your budget and the size you need. We reply with what is on offer, new-build and resale kept apart.
Get a price alert for Jerusalem
One email when the official numbers on this page update. Nothing else from this form.
Sources and method
- CBS Localities File 2024, 31 Dec 2024
- CBS Census 2022, data.gov.il, 31 Dec 2022
- Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, olim by receiving locality (new-olim-by-cities), data.gov.il, 2014 to 2023
- Ministry of Education institutions (mosdot_edu), data.gov.il, 14 Oct 2026
- Ministry of Construction and Housing, Dira BeHanacha lotteries (mechir-lamishtaken), data.gov.il, 27 Jan 2025
- Home Front Command alert areas (districts_heb.json), 14 Oct 2026
- Bank of Israel interest rate (SDMX BR), 13 Oct 2026
- CBS, Local Authorities in Israel 2023, authority profile (publication 1987), 31 Dec 2023; 2023; 2022; Jun 2024; 2021
- CBS, Characterization and Classification of Geographical Units by Socio-Economic Level, 2021, table 2, 2021
- CBS Price Statistics Monthly, table 4.9, average free-market rent, Q2 2026
- Ministry of Transport GTFS, Israel Railways (agency 2), 14 Oct 2026
- nadlan.gov.il (Tax Authority deal records), site's own summary, 20 Aug 2026
- Israel Land Authority tenders (michrazim), 14 Oct 2026
Official figures fetched 14 Oct 2026. Each date is the period the source covers, or for live lists (schools, tenders, timetable, warning times) the day we fetched it. Page written 14 Oct 2026.