neighbourhood in Alkmaar

Binnenstad-West

3,020 residents · postal code 1811 · Part of Centrum, Alkmaar

Bottom 35% in the Netherlands

Everything close by, little space

Binnenstad-West has the maximum 10.0 for amenities: a restaurant a hundred metres away, a supermarket at three hundred, the station within a kilometre. Few places in the Netherlands match that.

The flip side is severe. Reported offences run at almost four times the national median, and that is not only pickpocketing: violence occurs more than five times as often here as in an average Dutch neighbourhood, and violence is the component that pushes the safety pillar down hardest. Hence the 3.6.

Wealth & income is a mixed story with one striking figure: there are in fact few low-income households, but almost a tenth of the homes stand empty — more than double the national level. And with single-person households forming a clear majority, this is not a place where many children grow up, which explains the 5.4 for families despite a school within a kilometre.

no. 8,607 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
no. 51 of 63 in Alkmaar

Compare with…View on the map

Do some of these matter more to you than others?

Is Binnenstad-West a safe neighbourhood?

The figures ⌄

Safety

Registered crimes per 1,000 people present per year: residents plus business activity. Figures for small neighbourhoods are smoothed.

Total crime

93.0 per 1,000

Violent crime

11.8 per 1,000

Burglaries

0.2 per 1,000

Property crime

57.3 per 1,000

Vandalism

5.2 per 1,000

In 2025, 619 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).

Tick = Dutch median

The safest neighbourhoods in Alkmaar →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Alkmaar →

The figures ⌄

Amenities

Average distance to everyday amenities, compared with the Dutch median.

Supermarket

0.3 km

GP practice

0.7 km

Train station

1.0 km

Restaurant

0.1 km

Hospital

1.0 km

Café

0.2 km

Library

0.4 km

Motorway ramp

1.8 km

Tick = Dutch median

Best amenities in Alkmaar →

The figures ⌄

Wealth & income

What the homes are worth, what residents earn and how many homes stand empty. It describes the area, not the people living in it.

Property value

€ 346,000

Welfare recipients

16.6 per 1,000

High incomes

22%

Low incomes

27%

Vacancy

Owner-occupied

37%

Social housing

Not counted

Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.

Single-family homes

18%

Built after 2000

13%

Tick = Dutch median

The most affluent neighbourhoods in Alkmaar →

The figures ⌄

Quiet & nature

How tightly the addresses sit together, how much noise there is, and how much green, trees and water surround it.

Population density

8,314 inw/km²

Noise level

56 dB

Green surroundings

22%

Trees nearby

Water share

10%

Not counted

Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.

Addresses per km²

4,446

Fine particles (PM2.5)

7.9 µg/m³

Not part of the grade: air quality varies mostly between regions, barely between neighbourhoods within one municipality. WHO guideline: 5 µg/m³. Calculated annual mean, RIVM 2024.

Tick = Dutch median

The quietest, greenest neighbourhoods in Alkmaar →

The figures ⌄

Families

How practical this area is with children: distance to school and childcare, and how many children already live here.

Primary school

0.7 km

Households with children

12%

Childcare

0.5 km

Secondary school

0.7 km

Residents under 15

Tick = Dutch median

The best neighbourhoods for families in Alkmaar →

Who lives here

Binnenstad-West has strikingly many residents aged 25 to 45: 44%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.

Age profile

0–156%
NL median 14%
15–2514%
NL median 11%
25–4544%
NL median 22%
45–6522%
NL median 28%
65+14%
NL median 22%

Share of residents per age group (CBS, 2025). All five bars share one scale, so their lengths can be compared with each other.

Average household size
1.5 — far smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
63% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
12% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
8,314 — far more densely populated than average
NL median 2,364

Tick = Dutch median. Households with children counts towards Families, population density towards Quiet & nature; the other figures here get no grade.

Frequently asked questions

Is Binnenstad-West a safe neighbourhood?

For 2025, Binnenstad-West comes out at 93 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is high: Binnenstad-West is among the 20% of Dutch neighbourhoods with the most recorded crimes. One caveat: the figure counts per person present, not per resident. In a neighbourhood with many visitors — a centre, a station, a shopping area — it therefore comes out higher than residents experience. The figure is about what the police record, not about the people who live there.

How much crime is there in Binnenstad-West?

In Binnenstad-West the police recorded 619 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (93 per 1,000) is not simply that count divided by the number of residents: we count residents plus workplaces, so a shopping street or station is not unfairly penalised, and for small counts we pull the figure towards the national average — otherwise a single incident would make a small neighbourhood look unsafe.

How is the grade for Binnenstad-West calculated?

Binnenstad-West scores 5.1 as its total score. That grade is a national position: we weigh five equally heavy scores — safety, amenities, wealth & income, quiet & nature and families — and see where Binnenstad-West lands among every neighbourhood in the Netherlands. So it is not the mean of the five grades, but a place in the queue. All from open data published by CBS and the police.