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Neighbourhood guide

Living in Kensington Market, Toronto

Fishmongers, cheese shops, vintage stores and bars in the front rooms of Victorian houses, with flats upstairs and Chinatown a block away. Here is what renting in Kensington Market is actually like, how you get around, and the trade-offs locals talk about.
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Market streets Flats over shops Students and artists Car free Sundays
4 rentals available in Kensington Market
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What's it like to live in Kensington Market?

Kensington Market fills the blocks between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street, from College Street down to Dundas. Its narrow streets, Augusta, Kensington and Baldwin, were lined with Victorian row houses that a century of immigrant families turned into shops, so today the ground floors sell fish, cheese, spices, produce and vintage clothes, and people live above them. It was designated a National Historic Site in 2006, and on Pedestrian Sundays in the warmer months the streets close to cars.Housing here is mostly old and mostly small. The City counts Kensington with Chinatown, Grange Park and the Alexandra Park towers as one neighbourhood, Kensington-Chinatown, where 59% of homes are in buildings of five or more storeys and 30% in low rise buildings, and close to half are studios or one bedrooms. Inside the market itself the towers give way to flats over shops, rooms in shared houses and the occasional walk up, many of them older and noisier than a condo, and usually cheaper.It is a neighbourhood of renters. Close to seven in ten households rented in 2021, the median resident was 35, and about a quarter of tenant households were in subsidised housing. In the 2021 census the median tenant household paid $1,530 a month for rent and utilities, close to the $1,500 across Toronto.Daily shopping is the point of living here: Natural Foods, Oxford Fruit, Seven Seas Fish Market and Global Cheese are all within a couple of minutes of Augusta and Baldwin, alongside cafés, bakeries, taquerias and bars. Bellevue Square Park is the market's living room, Scadding Court has a pool and gym, and the Sanderson library branch is on Bathurst.Transit is streetcars rather than subway. The 510 Spadina runs north to Spadina Station in about seven minutes and south to Union, the 505 Dundas reaches TMU Station in about eleven, and the 506 Carlton and 511 Bathurst run along the north and west edges. U of T and St Patrick Station are about 17 minutes away on foot. The trade-offs are noise, late nights on Augusta, and crowds of visitors at weekends.

Best suited for

  • Students at U of T and OCAD
  • Renters without a car
  • Cooks who shop every day
  • Artists and musicians
  • –Light sleepers
  • –Renters who want in suite laundry

Quick facts

  • Population18,100
  • Renter households68%
  • Median age35
  • Studios and one bedrooms48%

Getting around

Streetcars on all four sides, Spadina Station a short ride north, and U of T and downtown within a walk.

98/100

WalkabilityGroceries, cafés and campus all on foot

84/100

Transit accessFour streetcar lines around the edges, no subway station

88/100

CyclingFlat and central, with bike lanes on College
Chinatown, Spadina and Dundas5 min walk
TMU Station, Line 111 min by streetcar
U of T, Robarts Library17 min walk
Spadina Station, Lines 1 and 27 min by streetcar
Union Station22 min by streetcar
St Patrick Station, Line 117 min walk
510 Spadina
505 Dundas
511 Bathurst
506 Carlton

Kensington Market on the map

The neighbourhood outline, and the places listed further down the page.

Schools and childcare

Kensington Community School is on College at the market's edge, and Ryerson and Lord Lansdowne are a few minutes away. Which school serves an address is set by the board, so check the TDSB and TCDSB school locators. Walk times are measured from Augusta Avenue and Baldwin Street.
SchoolTypeWalk time
Kensington Community School
Public · Elementary6 min
Ryerson Community School
Public · Elementary6 min
Lord Lansdowne Junior and Senior Public School
Public · Elementary8 min
Heydon Park Secondary School
Public · Girls secondary9 min
Central Technical School
Public · Secondary17 min
Westside Montessori School
Independent · Montessori4 min

Around the neighbourhood

Walk times from Augusta Avenue and Baldwin Street. Grange Park and the library sit just outside the market.

Groceries

  • Natural Foods1 min
  • Seven Seas Fish Market1 min
  • Oxford Fruit1 min
  • Global Cheese2 min

Coffee and bakeries

  • Jimmy's Coffee1 min
  • Moonbean2 min
  • Blackbird Baking Co2 min
  • NU Bügel2 min

Food and drink

  • Pancho y Emiliano1 min
  • The Embassy1 min
  • Jumbo Empanadas1 min
  • Pizzeria Via Mercanti1 min

Parks

  • Bellevue Square Park2 min
  • Sonya Parkette3 min
  • Alexandra Park7 min
  • Grange Park13 min

Fitness

  • Hong Luck Kung Fu Club4 min
  • Scadding Court Community Centre6 min
  • Flyt Club9 min
  • Basecamp10 min

Everyday services

  • CAAM United Hardware3 min
  • Emerge Pharmacy5 min
  • Cecil Community Centre5 min
  • TPL: Sanderson Branch6 min

Rent with confidence in Kensington Market

What Ontario tenancy rules protect, and how liv.rent keeps the process safe from first message to signed lease.

Deposits are limited

A landlord in Ontario can ask for a rent deposit of up to one month of rent, and it can only be used for your last month. Damage and pet deposits are not allowed, and the landlord owes you interest on the rent deposit every year.

Rent increases are limited

Most rents can go up once every 12 months, by no more than the provincial guideline, with 90 days of written notice. Units first lived in after November 15, 2018 are exempt from the guideline, though the landlord still has to give that notice.

Every listing is verified

Landlords complete ID verification before they can post, and you can sign the lease and pay rent through liv.rent, so there is no e-transfer to a stranger.
Rooms and flats near the university fill fast every August, and scam listings follow the demand. Never send a deposit before viewing the unit, and never pay outside a platform that keeps a record. A room where you share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner may not be covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, so ask before you sign. The tenancy points above are general information about renting in Ontario, not legal or financial advice. For guidance on your own tenancy, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board.How liv.rent verification works

Kensington Market rental questions

Is Kensington Market expensive compared with the rest of Toronto?

About average, on the census. In 2021 the median tenant household in the City's Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood paid $1,530 a month for rent and utilities, against $1,500 across Toronto, and about a quarter of tenant households there were in subsidised housing. A flat listed today asks more than that median. CMHC's citywide average for an occupied purpose built apartment was $1,916 in October 2025.

Is Kensington Market noisy?

Often. Shops open early, deliveries arrive before that, and the bars on Augusta stay busy late, with crowds of visitors at weekends and on Pedestrian Sundays. Flats above a shop or facing Augusta and Kensington hear it; units on the residential edges, toward Bathurst or College, are quieter.

What should I check before renting a flat above a Kensington shop?

Ask how the unit is heated and who pays for it, whether there is laundry, and whether the shop below runs anything noisy or smelly, like a kitchen or a fish counter. Check smoke alarms and the second way out, since many of these buildings are old. If you would share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner, the Residential Tenancies Act may not cover the arrangement.

Is there a subway station in Kensington Market?

No. The 510 Spadina streetcar reaches Spadina Station in about seven minutes, the 505 Dundas reaches TMU Station in about eleven, and St Patrick Station on Line 1 is about a 17 minute walk east.

Is Kensington Market a good place to live for students?

For U of T and OCAD students it is one of the classic choices: U of T is about a 17 minute walk north, OCAD a little less to the east, and rooms in shared houses are the cheapest way to live this close. Start looking early for a September move.

Is parking included with Kensington Market rentals?

Rarely. The market streets are narrow and busy, most flats have no parking, and the streets close to cars on Pedestrian Sundays. Most renters here do without a car.
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Methodology

Places, parks, schools and transit routes on this page come from OpenStreetMap. Walk times are approximate. Population, age and how many households rent come from Statistics Canada's 2021 Census, as the City of Toronto publishes it for its Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood. Rent and vacancy come from CMHC's Rental Market Survey for October 2025, for the City of Toronto. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Toronto.Listing counts and prices come from liv.rent, so they show what's on the platform rather than the whole city.OpenStreetMap, Statistics Canada, CMHC, Open Government Licence – Toronto. Last updated October 2026.