Riverdale

Riverdale, at the city's far southern edge, contains Altgeld Gardens, one of the country's oldest public housing developments and the community where Hazel Johnson founded the environmental justice movement, plus the vast open land around Lake Calumet. It is Chicago's least-populated community area and its most isolated.

Transit is the neighborhood's central challenge, served by long bus routes to the 95th Street Red Line, which is precisely what the Red Line extension to 130th Street is being built to fix. Housing costs are the lowest in Chicago. Riverdale suits residents connected to the far South Side's industrial employers and watchers of the extension, which will end the isolation that defined the area for 80 years.

Riverdale offers moderate transit access: a single car per household is usually sufficient. One car typically covers the gap that transit leaves.

With a Walk Score of 52, Riverdale is "Somewhat Walkable": some errands can be done on foot, but many trips need transit or a car.

At roughly $12,000/year for 1 car, transportation is a moderate line item in Riverdale's true cost. The neighborhood is served by the Red line.