Herzliya vs Raanana vs Kfar Saba for Families: Prices, Community, Commute and the Sea

Three cities in the Sharon, all within half an hour of Tel Aviv, all popular with families, and all expensive. Herzliya, Ra'anana and Kfar Saba often end up on the same shortlist, especially for people moving from abroad. They're more different than they look on a map.

The numbers

Population figures are from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The average prices for Herzliya and Kfar Saba are the bureau's figures for the last quarter of 2025, reported by Ynet. The five-room figures come from a September 2026 comparison by the business site Bizportal: a city median from the government's property site for Ra'anana, and bureau averages for Herzliya and Kfar Saba. Ra'anana falls below the bureau's 100,000-resident cut-off for its city price table.

Herzliya: the sea and the jobs

Herzliya's advantages are the coast and the economy. It's the only one of the three with beaches, a marina and a national park on the sea, and the Herzliya Pituach business district puts thousands of tech jobs within the city limits. The railway station has the best connections of the three, with direct trains to Jerusalem and Ben Gurion Airport.

It's also the most expensive, second only to Tel Aviv in Israel, and the housing is the most uneven. Villas in Pituach sit a few kilometres from older apartment blocks on the east side. For families, the choice of neighbourhood matters more here than in the other two.

Ra'anana: the Anglo town

Ra'anana was founded in 1922 as a settlement by American Jews, and it has stayed the best-known destination in Israel for immigrants from English-speaking countries, alongside large communities from Argentina, France and the former Soviet Union. For a family arriving with little Hebrew, that means English-speaking neighbours, synagogues, sports clubs and services in a way neither of the other two can match.

It's green and planned, with Ra'anana Park, the largest urban park in the Sharon, at its centre: a lake, sports fields, bike paths and a small zoo. Its own industrial park hosts global and Israeli tech companies. A five-room apartment costs about the same as in Herzliya.

Kfar Saba: more space for the money

Kfar Saba is the oldest of the three and the cheapest by a wide margin: a five-room apartment costs roughly a million shekels less than in Ra'anana next door. The Central Bureau of Statistics ranks it 8 out of 10 on its socio-economic scale.

It has the region's main public hospital, Meir Medical Center, a large city park, and an industrial zone on its eastern side that includes a Teva Pharmaceuticals plant and high-tech offices. It has a single railway station, Kfar Saba Nordau, on the Sharon line.

So which one?

If the beach and a short commute to Pituach or Tel Aviv matter most, and the budget can take it, Herzliya. If you want an English-speaking community from day one, Ra'anana. If you want a larger apartment for the same money in a solid, family-oriented city and don't mind the drive, Kfar Saba.

All three sit close enough that you can live in one and work in another, and many people do.

For more on moving to Herzliya, see Relocating to Herzliya and the neighbourhood guide.