Located in the center of Brooklyn, Kensington continues to attract a growing number of professionals and young families who — alongside newcomers from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Mexico, and the older established Italian and Irish families — have helped made the area one of the city's most diverse neighborhoods.

In Borough Park, to the west, the average family in the predominantly Hasidic Jewish neighborhood has more than six children, putting home life at the center of almost everything. Outsiders sometimes complain that they feel unwelcome in the insular Brooklyn neighborhood, but it's hard to argue with the statistics.

Kensington and Borough Park are the safest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and they rank No. 3 in the city overall for per capita crime in DNAinfo.com's Crime & Safety Report, with just 66 major crimes per 10,000 residents. Covered by the 66th Precinct, the area has never had a serious crime problem, but its already low rates nevertheless dropped 76 percent in the 17 years to 2010, led by a 93 percent plunge in car thefts, to 135 from some 1,825 in 1993. Burglaries fell by 77 percent, to 383 in 2010; robberies were down by 76 percent, to 178.

In recent years, the crime rate has plunged even further, falling 7 percent from 2009 to 2010, as cops and Jewish neighborhood patrols, named "Shomrim," kept a close eye on the streets.