neighbourhood in Leiden
Pieterswijk
2,975 residents · postal code 2311 · Part of Binnenstad-Zuid, Leiden
The Pieterswijk in Leiden's old town is a student district through and through: 82 per cent single-person, barely any children and just 22 per cent owner-occupied, densely built at 14,000 residents per square kilometre. Amenities score 9.3, with a restaurant around the corner. Safety stands at 2.8, at 73 crimes per 1,000 people present, well above the median, though old-town footfall inflates that figure.
- no. 11,589 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 46 of 53 in Leiden
How Pieterswijk 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, 378 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
Pieterswijk has strikingly many young people aged 15 to 25: 44%, against 11% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–152%
NL median 14%
- 15–2544%
NL median 11%
- 25–4536%
NL median 22%
- 45–6512%
NL median 28%
- 65+7%
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
1.2 — far smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
82% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
4% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
14,119 — 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 Pieterswijk calculated?
Pieterswijk scores 3.4 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 Pieterswijk 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 Pieterswijk a safe neighbourhood?
Pieterswijk scores 2.8 on safety, based on registered crimes per 1,000 people present (72.9 per year). The national median is around 24.1.
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
Nearby neighbourhoods
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