neighbourhood in Midden-Groningen
Harkstede
3,035 residents · postal code 9617 · Part of Harkstede, Scharmer en Woudbloem, Midden-Groningen
Safe, but everything is a drive away
Harkstede is among the safest neighbourhoods in the Netherlands: violence, burglary, theft and vandalism all four sit below the national median, burglary at virtually nil. That comes with a 9.8, and on its own it pulls the overall score up.
Property values sit exactly on the national median, while more high-income households live here than nationally and fewer low-income ones. So that 6.7 for wealth & income comes not from the houses but from the residents — a combination you see more often in villages than in cities.
It is also markedly quiet: noise is more than six decibels below the national median. What you give up is the train, which stops more than seven kilometres away; day-to-day amenities are within a kilometre.
- no. 1,404 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 3 of 69 in Midden-Groningen
How Harkstede scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
Is Harkstede a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Harkstede comes out at 10 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Harkstede 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, 30 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Midden-Groningen →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Midden-Groningen →
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
The age profile of Harkstede looks much like that of the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1517%
NL median 14%
- 15–2510%
NL median 11%
- 25–4519%
NL median 22%
- 45–6530%
NL median 28%
- 65+23%
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
2.4 — around the average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
24% — fewer than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
39% — more than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
1,604 — far less 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 Harkstede a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Harkstede comes out at 10 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Harkstede 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 Harkstede?
In Harkstede the police recorded 30 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (10 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 Harkstede calculated?
Harkstede scores 9.2 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 Harkstede 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 Midden-Groningen
Same total grade, same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Midden-Groningen.
Highest grades
More about this area
Nearby neighbourhoods
Scharmer
Midden-Groningen
Harkstede GN
Groningen
Scharmer Buitengebied
Midden-Groningen
De Zeilen
Groningen
Woudbloem
Midden-Groningen
Engelbert
Groningen