neighbourhood in Nieuwegein
Gaarden
2,765 residents · postal code 3436 · Part of Batau Zuid, Nieuwegein
Well-off, but not carefree
Almost every home in Gaarden is owner-occupied, and the wealth figures match right across the board: property value above the national middle, more than one and a half times as many high incomes as nationally, fewer low incomes, hardly any social assistance and next to no vacancy. A 9.1 that does not rest on a single item.
Safety lags behind at a 6.3, and that comes from vandalism. It sits more than double the national middle here, while violence, burglary and theft are all below it. The total number of reports is above the median without there being more violence or burglary than elsewhere — what happens here is damage, not threat.
The 6.9 for quiet & nature is a compromise between opposing readings. The greenery around the area is above the national middle and tree canopy almost double it, but noise sits five decibels above the Dutch median. The station is nearly eight kilometres away; everything you need day to day is within a kilometre.
- no. 740 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 1 of 34 in Nieuwegein
How Gaarden scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
Is Gaarden a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Gaarden comes out at 30 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is more than in most Dutch neighbourhoods.
The figures ⌄Safety
Registered crimes per 1,000 people present per year: residents plus business activity. Figures for small neighbourhoods are smoothed.
In 2025, 116 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Nieuwegein →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Nieuwegein →
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 Gaarden looks much like that of the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1517%
NL median 14%
- 15–2511%
NL median 11%
- 25–4524%
NL median 22%
- 45–6525%
NL median 28%
- 65+24%
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
23% — fewer than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
41% — more than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
3,362 — 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 Gaarden a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Gaarden comes out at 30 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is more than in most Dutch neighbourhoods. One caveat: the figure counts per person present, not per resident. In a neighbourhood with many visitors — a centre, a station, a shopping area — it therefore comes out higher than residents experience. The figure is about what the police record, not about the people who live there.
How much crime is there in Gaarden?
In Gaarden the police recorded 116 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (30 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 Gaarden calculated?
Gaarden scores 9.6 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 Gaarden 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 Nieuwegein
Same total grade, same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Nieuwegein.
Lowest grades
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