neighbourhood in Utrecht
Watervogelbuurt
2,260 residents · postal code 3582 · Part of Oost, Utrecht
Everything close by, little space
Crime in Watervogelbuurt has a clear profile. Property offences run at more than twice the national median, but violence lies far below it — less than a third of what is reported in the average neighbourhood. That is the pattern of a busy urban district where bikes and belongings go missing, not of a place where you would rather stay in after dark. The 5.8 for safety says too little about that in one number.
With the station four hundred metres away and restaurant, supermarket and GP all within seven hundred, the amenities pillar reaches a 9.6. That fits the population living here: almost two thirds of households are single-person and fewer than a tenth of residents are under fifteen.
On wealth & income, a 6.4, the picture only half holds. The share of high incomes lies well above the national middle and so do property values, but social assistance runs up to almost three times the median.
- no. 4,383 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
- no. 33 of 107 in Utrecht
How Watervogelbuurt scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
Is Watervogelbuurt a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Watervogelbuurt comes out at 34 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, 122 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Utrecht →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Utrecht →
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
Watervogelbuurt has strikingly many residents aged 25 to 45: 47%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–159%
NL median 14%
- 15–2516%
NL median 11%
- 25–4547%
NL median 22%
- 45–6519%
NL median 28%
- 65+8%
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
1.6 — far smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
63% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
14% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
8,528 — 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 Watervogelbuurt a safe neighbourhood?
For 2025, Watervogelbuurt comes out at 34 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 Watervogelbuurt?
In Watervogelbuurt the police recorded 122 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (34 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 Watervogelbuurt calculated?
Watervogelbuurt scores 7.5 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 Watervogelbuurt 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 Utrecht
Same total grade, same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Utrecht.
Highest grades
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