Communities / draft for approval, not indexed
Baka, Katamon, German Colony
The Jewish Link calls Baka one of Jerusalem's strongest family-oriented Anglo communities; Katamon has dozens of shuls.
- 1,050,151
- Jerusalem residents, end of 2024
- 30 min
- fastest train to Tel Aviv
- ₪2,825,500
- median sold price, all of Jerusalem
- ₪5,700
- median rent a month, all of Jerusalem
The First Station. firststation.co.il
Baka, Katamon, German Colony, Jerusalem, in short
Suits
English-speaking families, religious or traditional, who want an established Anglo community and a wide choice of Orthodox shuls with English speakers in them.
Not for
Buyers who need neighbourhood price data before deciding, investors buying for rental yield, and anyone who wants an all-English bubble.
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
These are Jerusalem's city-wide figures.
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 lists Baka, the German Colony, Katamon and the Katamonim among the Jerusalem neighbourhoods olim choose. The Jewish Link's September 2026 guide calls Baka "one of Jerusalem's strongest family-oriented Anglo communities", says the German Colony attracts Modern Orthodox families, professionals and retirees, and describes Old Katamon as longtime Israelis next to young Anglo families, with "a healthy mix of English and Hebrew speakers".
No official source counts English speakers here. A 2014 Jewish Link column by a real estate agent said a quarter of Baka's residents were born in the United States and other English-speaking countries; an undated aliyah blog gives 30 to 40% for Baka and the German Colony and 25 to 35% for Katamon. Wikipedia says the German Colony has a large English-speaking population, families and singles, immigrants and visitors.
In Baka, Kehillat Yedidya, a Zionist, liberal Orthodox community of some 190 households founded in 1980, runs in Hebrew and offers classes in English from time to time; the Nitzanim shul hosts Beit Midrash Boker, a weekly English learning programme with over 50 participants. On Emek Refaim, Shira Hadasha is a Modern Orthodox partnership minyan, and Or Hadash, which began in 2016 as Shir Hadash's German Colony branch, calls itself a home for olim and vatikim with a focus on families with young children. Shir Hadash describes its own building as in the heart of Jerusalem's English-speaking population.
In Old Katamon, Kehillat Eretz Hemdah has about 100 families "from around the globe" and a bilingual site, and Wikipedia describes Yakar as an Anglo and Israeli congregation. A 2023 column says Katamon has dozens of shuls, many with large English-speaking crowds, and names the Shimon Hatzadik synagogue, known as the Young Israel of San Simon. The Baka community centre houses the Jelly library, an English collection for young readers that, a 2023 article says, volunteers and the municipal library created more than 30 years earlier.
7,308
olim from the US
1,178
from the UK
26,288
olim in total
Settling in Baka, Katamon, German Colony, 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 (29 sources)
- yedidya.org.il/about-the-community/?lang=en, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- torahmitzion.org/beit-midrash-boker-in-baka, undated, accessed 2026-10-14 (OU Israel page: search snippet only)
- ouisrael.org/events/searching-jerusalem-candles-jerusalem-torah-rabbi-shai-finkelstein-rav-kehilat-nitzanim-baka, undated, accessed 2026-10-14 (OU Israel page: search snippet only)
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shira_Hadasha, accessed 2026-10-14
- orhadash.org.il/about-us, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- shirhadashjerusalem.com, accessed 2026-10-14
- hamichlol.org.il/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%9E%D7%91%22%D7%9F_(%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F, accessed 2026-10-14 (data as of 2021)
- he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%9E%D7%91%22%D7%9F_(%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F, accessed 2026-10-14 (data as of 2021)
- jta.org/2012/09/11/israel/at-one-jerusalem-shul-prayers-not-three-times-a-day-its-morning-to-night, 11 Sep 2012
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakar, accessed 2026-10-14
- keh.org.il, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- myisraelhome.com/post/why-have-i-never-heard-of-gonen, 13 Aug 2023
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogues_of_Jerusalem, accessed 2026-10-14
- jerusalemfoundation.org/old-project/albert-elba-cuenca-efrata-elementary-school, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelech_(school, accessed 2026-10-14
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartman_High_School, accessed 2026-10-14
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baka,_Jerusalem, accessed 2026-10-14
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelfarb_High_School, search snippet only
- jewishlink.news/discover-the-new-anglo-neighborhoods-you-havent-heard-of-yet, 12 Sep 2024
- nbn.org.il/life-in-israel/community-and-housing/community-guide/jerusalem, updated 29 Jul 2026
- jerusalem.muni.il/en/residents/aliyah, link only
- jewishlink.news/baka-a-great-family-centric-neighborhood, 1 May 2014
- easyaliyah.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-anglo-communities-in-israel, "18 May", year not shown
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Colony,_Jerusalem, accessed 2026-10-14
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamon, accessed 2026-10-14
- 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
- blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-little-library-that-could, 5 Mar 2023
- englishinisrael.com/libraries.html, undated, accessed 2026-10-14
Baka
Where people live
Baka
Wikipedia says Baka mixes religious and secular Jews and is popular with English and French-speaking immigrants; a 2014 column put it at about 60 percent religious, mostly Dati Leumi. The Train Track Park, which Wikipedia calls the longest bike path in Jerusalem, runs along its western edge.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
German Colony
Stone houses along Emek Refaim, the commercial street. Wikipedia counts 1,930 residents in 2017. The Shalom Hartman Institute is on Gedalyahu Alon Street.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
Old Katamon
Wikipedia counts 5,980 residents in Katamon in 2017 and notes that since the 1970s the area, mostly secular and masorti before, has seen a process of Haredization: it is not uniformly Modern Orthodox. A 2023 column calls San Simon Park the neighbourhood's central park.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
The Katamonim
Built in the early years of the state for immigrants from Iraq and Kurdistan. A 2025 real estate site calls them more affordable than Old Katamon, with a younger, more diverse population; it is the only source we found on Anglos there.
Source: Buy It In Israel · 25 May 2025
The 1949 line
Wikipedia says Baka was left on the Israeli (western) side of the 1948 dividing line, that Katamon was captured by the Haganah in 1948, and that after 1948 abandoned homes in the German Colony housed new immigrants. All three are within the 1949 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 Baka, Katamon, German Colony, Jerusalem, by stream
243 Haredi
74 State religious
272 State
No school confirms English support on its own site
Ministry of Education data has no language field, and we found no school here that says on its own site it supports English speakers. Ask the municipality's education department for the schools zoned to your address.
Efrata, Baka
A progressive religious public elementary school on Gad Street, serving Baka, Talpiot and Katamonim.
Pelech, Baka
A high school for religious girls, with a junior high (grades 7 and 8) since 2011.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
Hartman High School, German Colony
Orthodox, for boys, grades 7 to 12, 350 students.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
Jelly English library
The English collection for young readers is on the upper floor of the Baka community centre, 3 Yisachar Street.
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
The fast train leaves from the city centre
There is no train station in these neighbourhoods. The direct trains to Tel Aviv on this page leave from Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon: the minutes are station to station, so add the trip to Navon.
By bike or on foot
The Train Track Park runs on the old railway line along Baka's western edge, past the German Colony; Wikipedia calls it the longest bike path in Jerusalem.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
The Train Track Park on a Saturday morning, 2019. Photo by דוידי ורדי, PikiWiki Israel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
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 Baka, Katamon, German Colony, 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
No hard numbers for these neighbourhoods
No official source breaks out Baka, Katamon or the German Colony: the prices, rent, olim and train figures on this page are Jerusalem's. The Anglo shares we found are a 2014 agent's quarter for Baka and an undated blog's 30 to 40% for Baka and the German Colony and 25 to 35% for Katamon.
Source: The Jewish Link · 1 May 2014
Jerusalem 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 city-wide, new and older homes together.
Source: nadlan.gov.il
Low rental yield
nadlan.gov.il computes a gross rental yield of 2.4% for Jerusalem as a whole, before arnona, maintenance, vacancy and tax.
Source: nadlan.gov.il
Light rail works on Emek Refaim
The German Colony's commercial street is under infrastructure work for the light rail, expected to last "likely through most of 2028".
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Not an all-English neighbourhood
Kehillat Yedidya in Baka runs its official activities in Hebrew, and the 2026 guide describes Old Katamon as a mix of English and Hebrew speakers. Families who want everything in English will hear a lot of Hebrew.
Who should pick Baka, Katamon, German Colony, Jerusalem, and who should not
Pick it if you are
- Religious and traditional families who want a family-oriented Anglo community in Baka.
- Modern Orthodox families, professionals and retirees who want the German Colony and Emek Refaim.
- Olim who want English and Hebrew side by side in Old Katamon, an easier way into Israeli life.
Look elsewhere if you are
- Buyers whose budget is near the national median price.
- Investors buying for rental income.
- Anyone who needs a quiet Emek Refaim before 2028.
Questions about Baka, Katamon, German Colony, Jerusalem
Are Baka and Katamon good for English speakers?
The Jewish Link's September 2026 guide calls Baka one of Jerusalem's strongest family-oriented Anglo communities and Old Katamon a healthy mix of English and Hebrew speakers, and Nefesh B'Nefesh lists Baka, the German Colony, Katamon and the Katamonim among the neighbourhoods olim choose. No official source counts English speakers there.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
Is there an English-speaking shul in Baka, Katamon or the German Colony?
Several point that way on their own sites, though none uses the words "English-speaking shul". Kehillat Eretz Hemdah in Old Katamon has about 100 families from around the globe and a bilingual site; Or Hadash on Emek Refaim calls itself a home for olim and vatikim; the Nitzanim shul in Baka hosts Beit Midrash Boker, a weekly English learning programme. Kehillat Yedidya in Baka runs in Hebrew with some classes in English.
What is the difference between Baka, the German Colony and Old Katamon?
The 2026 Jewish Link guide describes Baka as family-oriented, the German Colony as drawing Modern Orthodox families, professionals and retirees near Emek Refaim's shops, and Old Katamon as longtime Israelis next to young Anglo families. The Katamonim next door are described by a 2025 real estate site as more affordable.
Source: The Jewish Link · 18 Sep 2026
How much does an apartment cost in Baka or Katamon?
There is no official price figure for these neighbourhoods alone. Across Jerusalem, the median recorded sale of a 4-room home over the last 12 months was ₪3,169,800, new and older homes together (nadlan.gov.il, 20 Aug 2026).
Source: nadlan.gov.il
How much is rent in Baka or Katamon?
There is no official rent figure for these neighbourhoods alone. Across 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
How long is the train from Baka to Tel Aviv?
There is no station in Baka. 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.
Source: Ministry of Transport GTFS
Are Baka, Katamon and the German Colony beyond the Green Line?
No. Wikipedia says Baka was left on the Israeli (western) side of the 1948 dividing line, that Katamon was captured by the Haganah in 1948, and that after 1948 abandoned homes in the German Colony housed new immigrants.
Source: Wikipedia · accessed 14 Oct 2026
How long do you have to reach a shelter in Baka or Katamon?
90 seconds from the siren, according to the Home Front Command; the time is the same in every Jerusalem alert area.
Source: Home Front Command · 14 Oct 2026
Thinking about Baka, Katamon, German Colony, 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 Baka, Katamon, German Colony, Jerusalem
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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.