neighbourhood in Heusden
Braken-West
2,740 residents · postal code 5151 · Part of Drunen, Heusden
An exceptional safety score of 9.6 marks Braken-West in Drunen — with 13.7 crimes per 1,000 people present, well below the national median of 24 — despite a train station that sits 13.5 kilometres away. Wealth & income lags at 4.7 in an otherwise solid report, which lands at an overall 8.0. Of the homes, 77 percent are single-family houses and 67 percent are owner-occupied, against an average value of €376,000, slightly below the national median of €422,000. This reads as a car-dependent, safe family neighbourhood.
- no. 3,472 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 9 of 17 in Heusden
How Braken-West scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
The figures ⌄Safety
Registered crimes per 1,000 people present per year: residents plus business activity. Figures for small neighbourhoods are smoothed.
In 2025, 39 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Heusden →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Heusden →
The figures ⌄Amenities
Average distance to everyday amenities, compared with the Dutch median.
Tick = Dutch median
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.
Not counted
Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.
Tick = Dutch median
The figures ⌄Quiet & nature
How tightly the addresses sit together, how much noise there is, and how much green, trees and water surround it.
Not counted
Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.
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 figures ⌄Families
How practical this area is with children: distance to school and childcare, and how many children already live here.
Tick = Dutch median
Who lives here
Braken-West has strikingly many residents aged 65 and over: 29%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1515%
NL median 14%
- 15–258%
NL median 11%
- 25–4522%
NL median 22%
- 45–6525%
NL median 28%
- 65+29%
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
2.2 — around the average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
34% — more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
31% — fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
4,026 — 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
How is the grade for Braken-West calculated?
Braken-West scores 8.0 as its total score. That grade is a national position: we weigh four equally heavy scores — safety, amenities, wealth & income and quiet & nature — and see where Braken-West lands among every neighbourhood in the Netherlands. So it is not the mean of the four grades, but a place in the queue. All from open data published by CBS and the police.
Is Braken-West a safe neighbourhood?
Braken-West scores 9.6 on safety, based on registered crimes per 1,000 people present (13.7 per year). The national median is around 24.1.
The best and worst neighbourhoods of Heusden
Same total grade, same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Heusden.
Highest grades
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More about this area
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