Tel Aviv, Haifa and Netanya took 31.2% of olim from the former Soviet Union in 2015 to 2019 and 46.1% in 2023 to 2025. Tel Aviv rose from 9.4% to 15.8%, Haifa from 12.1% to 16.1% and Netanya from 9.6% to 14.2%.
Over the same years Ashkelon's share halved from 3.8% to 2.0%. Eilat's fell from 2.5% to 1.0%, Petah Tikva's from 3.1% to 1.7%, Be'er Sheva's from 3.2% to 2.1% and Afula's from 1.3% to 0.4%.
Ashkelon, Be'er Sheva and Afula all have long-standing Russian-speaking communities and family rent 26% to 40% below national. Tel Aviv's family rent is 63% above it.
What this does not show
The 2022 to 2023 wave was largely urban professionals from Russia, so the shift partly reflects who came, not only where people chose. The October 2023 war plausibly affected choices in the south, which the file cannot test. Some 2022 and 2023 arrivals registered at temporary addresses and later left Israel. The file cannot follow either.
Method
Each locality's share of the national Russian-speaking flow in each period, from the Ministry record-level file (agg.py). Shares compare each town with the same group's national flow, so periods of different length stay comparable. Rent from CBS Table 4.9, or nadlan.gov.il for Afula.
Sources
- [1]Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, new immigrants by year: record-level open file (data.gov.il). One row per oleh, first absorbing locality and country of origin; years 2015 to 2025; 2025 file modified 23 February 2026. Machine-readable record: https://data.gov.il/api/3/action/package_show?id=new-olim-by-yearsAccessed 15 October 2026
- [2]Central Bureau of Statistics, Table 4.9: average monthly rent by city and rooms. Q2 2026; 3.5 to 4 rooms; national average NIS 5,453.8Accessed 15 October 2026
- [3]Ministry of Construction and Housing, nadlan.gov.il rent file: Afula (indicative). Median of 4 quarters to Jun 2026, 4 rooms; undocumented and not CBSAccessed 15 October 2026