Neighborhoods in Saitama and Chiba prefectures have risen in popularity as preferred places to live in among residents of the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, a survey showed.

But the Yokohama Station area in the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture remained the top spot for the fifth straight year in the survey conducted by Recruit Co., operator of the Suumo real estate information website.

The annual survey started in 2018 and asks people in their 20s through 40s which train station neighborhoods they most want to live in.

According to the 2022 “greater Tokyo area” rankings released on March 3, Yokohama Station was first, the Kichijoji Station district in Musashino, western Tokyo, was second, up one rank from last year, and the Omiya Station area in Saitama, the capital of Saitama Prefecture, made it into the top three for the first time.

The Urawa Station district, also in Saitama city, was the fifth most popular place.

The rankings were called the “Kanto region” edition until last year.

Ten thousand residents of Tokyo and four neighboring prefectures--Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki--answered the online survey between Jan. 4 and 13.

That was 3,000 more responses than the number for last year and improved the “survey precision,” said Yoichi Ikemoto, Suumo’s editor-in-chief.

Kichijoji Station’s increase to second place was its first-ever rise in the survey, while Ebisu Station in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward fell to fourth place after being runner-up for four consecutive years.

The Meguro Station district in Shinagawa Ward fell one rank to sixth place, and the area around Shinagawa Station in Minato Ward dropped two notches and ranked eighth.

The ratio of votes for train station neighborhoods in Tokyo was 82.7 percent among residents in the capital this year, down 5.7 points from 88.4 percent in 2018.

More respondents in Saitama and Chiba prefectures voted for train station areas in their own prefectures, Ikemoto said.

The Yokohama Station area also had high support among people who live outside Kanagawa Prefecture. The district ranked ninth, 10th, 12th and seventh in popularity among residents of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures, respectively.

Nine train station neighborhoods in Saitama Prefecture made it to the top 80.

In addition to No. 3 Omiya Station, Urawa Station moved up from eighth place last year to fifth; Kawagoe Station was 30th; Musashi-Urawa was 57th; and Minami-Urawa placed 78th.

In Chiba Prefecture, Nagareyama Otaka-no-Mori Station, in Nagareyama, jumped from 39th place last year to 16th this year, while Funabashi Station rose from 22nd to 15th.

Those station areas showed the two biggest gains for the 2022 survey.

The Nagareyama Otaka-no-Mori Station district received strong support from women in their 30s, families with small children and dual-income families.

New commercial complexes have popped up outside the station, rich forests have been preserved in the surroundings, and extensive assistance to child care is available in the neighborhood, survey officials said.

“People leave home less often and have fewer opportunities to go to downtown Tokyo during the coronavirus pandemic,” Ikemoto said about the rising popularity of areas outside the capital. “They probably have more opportunities to reappreciate the strong points of the neighborhoods they live in.”

Rankings of most wanted train station neighborhoods to live in

2022 greater Tokyo area edition

1. Yokohama (Yokohama, Kanagawa Pref.) [1]
2. Kichijoji (Musashino, Tokyo) [3]
3. Omiya (Saitama, Saitama Pref.) [4]
4. Ebisu (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo) [2]
5. Urawa (Saitama, Saitama Pref.) [8]
6. Meguro (Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo) [5]
7. Shinjuku (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) [7]
8. Shinagawa (Minato Ward, Tokyo) [6]
9. Ikebukuro (Toshima Ward, Tokyo) [9]
10. Kamakura (Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref.) [12]
11. Shibuya (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo) [11]
12. Naka-Meguro (Meguro Ward, Tokyo) [10]
13. Tokyo (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo) [13]
14. Musashi-Kosugi (Kawasaki, Kanagawa Pref.) [14]
15. Funabashi (Funabashi, Chiba Pref.) [22]
16. Nagareyama Otaka-no-Mori (Nagareyama, Chiba Pref.) [39]
17. Saitama Shin-Toshin (Saitama, Saitama Pref.) [15]
18. Omotesando (Minato Ward, Tokyo) [16]
19. Nakano (Nakano Ward, Tokyo) [18]
20. Kita-Senju (Adachi Ward, Tokyo) [28]

Source: Recruit Co.

In brackets: 2021 rankings

(This article was compiled from reports by Keiichiro Inoue, Shintaro Kato and Sho Hatsumi.)