neighbourhood in Leiden
De Waard
2,230 residents · postal code 2315 · Part of Binnenstad-Noord, Leiden
Everything close by, little space
More than a tenth of De Waard is water, while greenery is scarce: less than half of what an average Dutch neighbourhood has within three hundred metres. That, together with a noise level above the middle, keeps the quiet & nature pillar at a 4.2.
The 5.3 for wealth & income cannot be read in one direction. The top income group is broader here than nationally and the bottom one narrower, but property values stay below the median and the social assistance rate is well above it. Mixed, then, and not primarily well-off or poor.
The primary school is the brake on the families score: it is just over a kilometre away, further than the supermarket, the GP and a restaurant, and school distance is the heaviest component of that pillar. Among offences only vandalism is elevated; violence, burglary and theft all stay below the national median.
- no. 5,013 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 19 of 53 in Leiden
How De Waard scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
Is De Waard a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, De Waard comes out at 24 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.
In 2025, 80 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Leiden →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Leiden →
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
De Waard has strikingly many residents aged 25 to 45: 38%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1518%
NL median 14%
- 15–2510%
NL median 11%
- 25–4538%
NL median 22%
- 45–6522%
NL median 28%
- 65+12%
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
1.9 — smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
47% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
29% — fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
6,387 — 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 De Waard a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, De Waard comes out at 24 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 De Waard?
In De Waard the police recorded 80 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (24 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 De Waard calculated?
De Waard scores 7.1 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 De Waard 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.
The best and worst neighbourhoods of Leiden
Same total grade, same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Leiden.
Highest grades
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More about this area
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