neighbourhood in Harlingen

Binnenstad

3,445 residents · postal code 8861 · Part of Harlingen, Harlingen

Bottom 35% in the Netherlands

Everything close by, little space

Harlingen's Binnenstad has one of the highest amenities scores in the country — a 9.9, with station, supermarket, GP and restaurant all within a kilometre. Beneath it sits a 3.3 for wealth & income, and both figures describe the same streets.

Vacancy is the most striking component in that: more than double the national median, in a neighbourhood where property values are already well below the Dutch middle and the social assistance rate well above it. For an old harbour core with plenty of amenities that is an uncomfortable combination.

The families pillar is the easiest one to misread here. A 6.8 sounds like a place where children live, but only seven per cent of residents are under fifteen and more than half of households consist of one person. The figure comes almost entirely from the short distance to the primary school, not from the population.

no. 8,562 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
no. 4 of 11 in Harlingen

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Is Binnenstad a safe neighbourhood?

For 2025, Binnenstad comes out at 23 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is about the same as in an average Dutch 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

22.5 per 1,000

Violent crime

2.4 per 1,000

Burglaries

0.7 per 1,000

Property crime

9.5 per 1,000

Vandalism

2.7 per 1,000

In 2025, 121 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).

Tick = Dutch median

The safest neighbourhoods in Harlingen →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Harlingen →

The figures ⌄

Amenities

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

Supermarket

0.5 km

GP practice

0.6 km

Train station

0.7 km

Restaurant

0.3 km

Hospital

1.9 km

Café

0.3 km

Library

0.5 km

Motorway ramp

1.5 km

Tick = Dutch median

Best amenities in Harlingen →

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

€ 283,000

Welfare recipients

17.4 per 1,000

High incomes

15%

Low incomes

44%

Vacancy

10%

Owner-occupied

58%

Social housing

22%

Not counted

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

Single-family homes

59%

Built after 2000

20%

Tick = Dutch median

The most affluent neighbourhoods in Harlingen →

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

3,561 inw/km²

Noise level

56 dB

Green surroundings

22%

Trees nearby

Water share

Not counted

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

Addresses per km²

1,276

Fine particles (PM2.5)

6.2 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 Harlingen →

The figures ⌄

Families

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

Primary school

0.4 km

Households with children

17%

Childcare

0.5 km

Secondary school

0.9 km

Residents under 15

Tick = Dutch median

The best neighbourhoods for families in Harlingen →

Who lives here

Binnenstad has strikingly many residents aged 65 and over: 35%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.

Age profile

0–157%
NL median 14%
15–2510%
NL median 11%
25–4518%
NL median 22%
45–6530%
NL median 28%
65+35%
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
1.7 — smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
52% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
17% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
3,561 — 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 a safe neighbourhood?

For 2025, Binnenstad comes out at 23 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is about the same as in an average Dutch neighbourhood. The figure is about what the police record, not about the people who live there.

How much crime is there in Binnenstad?

In Binnenstad the police recorded 121 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (23 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 calculated?

Binnenstad 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 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.