neighbourhood in Leiden
Zijlwijk-Zuid
2,410 residents · postal code 2317 · Part of Merenwijkdistrict, Leiden
Well-off, and comfortable across the board
Zijlwijk-Zuid ranks in the national top twenty, and the wealth & income pillar shows why: every component points the same way. Property value is a good hundred thousand above the national median, almost four in ten households have a high income, low incomes are scarce, vacancy is minimal and social assistance does not occur.
The safety score of 9.8 rests on the same solidity: violence and burglary both sit at a fraction of the national median and total reported offences at less than half the national middle.
The age structure is striking. Almost a third of residents are 65 or older, while four in ten households have children. So the families score of 9.2 does not come from a young population alone, but above all from the short distance to school.
- no. 20 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 2 of 53 in Leiden
How Zijlwijk-Zuid scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
Is Zijlwijk-Zuid a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Zijlwijk-Zuid comes out at 11 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Zijlwijk-Zuid is among the 20% of Dutch neighbourhoods with the fewest recorded crimes.
The figures ⌄Safety
Registered crimes per 1,000 people present per year: residents plus business activity. Figures for small neighbourhoods are smoothed.
In 2025, 25 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
Zijlwijk-Zuid has strikingly many residents aged 65 and over: 31%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1516%
NL median 14%
- 15–2511%
NL median 11%
- 25–4516%
NL median 22%
- 45–6527%
NL median 28%
- 65+31%
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
2.5 — larger than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
19% — far fewer than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
40% — more than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
7,157 — 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 Zijlwijk-Zuid a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Zijlwijk-Zuid comes out at 11 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Zijlwijk-Zuid is among the 20% of Dutch neighbourhoods with the fewest recorded crimes. The figure is about what the police record, not about the people who live there.
How much crime is there in Zijlwijk-Zuid?
In Zijlwijk-Zuid the police recorded 25 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (11 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 Zijlwijk-Zuid calculated?
Zijlwijk-Zuid scores 10.0 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 Zijlwijk-Zuid 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.
Lowest grades
More about this area
Nearby neighbourhoods
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Merenwijk-Centrum
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Leedewijk-Zuid
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Slaaghwijk
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Leedewijk-Noord
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