neighbourhood in Zaanstad

Centrum

6,055 residents · postal code 1566 · Part of Assendelft-Zuid, Zaanstad

Top 17% in the Netherlands

Safe streets, thinner wallets

Despite the name, the Centrum in Assendelft-Zuid is not an urban area: a good two thousand people per square kilometre live here and three quarters of the immediate surroundings is green.

Still, quiet & nature gets no further than a 6.3. The noise level is three decibels above the national median and there is little tree canopy — plenty of open green does not automatically mean plenty of shade.

The wealth score is exceptional in its ordinariness. Property value, income distribution, social assistance and vacancy are all close to the Dutch middle here, and that is uncommon: most neighbourhoods deviate sharply on at least one of those points. A 6.1 here is therefore not the result of extremes but a neighbourhood that really is average. The 9.3 for safety comes on top of that: on none of the four types of offence does this neighbourhood exceed the national level.

no. 2,155 of 13,075 neighbourhoods with a grade
no. 11 of 72 in Zaanstad

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Is Centrum a safe neighbourhood?

For 2025, Centrum comes out at 16 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Centrum 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.

Total crime

16.1 per 1,000

Violent crime

1.5 per 1,000

Burglaries

0.4 per 1,000

Property crime

3.2 per 1,000

Vandalism

1.6 per 1,000

In 2025, 123 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).

Tick = Dutch median

The safest neighbourhoods in Zaanstad →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in Zaanstad →

The figures ⌄

Amenities

Average distance to everyday amenities, compared with the Dutch median.

Supermarket

0.6 km

GP practice

0.8 km

Train station

3.9 km

Restaurant

0.5 km

Hospital

3.3 km

Café

1.1 km

Library

4.7 km

Motorway ramp

2.5 km

Tick = Dutch median

Best amenities in Zaanstad →

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.

Property value

€ 433,000

Welfare recipients

9.9 per 1,000

High incomes

20%

Low incomes

36%

Vacancy

Owner-occupied

63%

Social housing

33%

Not counted

Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.

Single-family homes

86%

Built after 2000

10%

Tick = Dutch median

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The figures ⌄

Quiet & nature

How tightly the addresses sit together, how much noise there is, and how much green, trees and water surround it.

Population density

2,165 inw/km²

Noise level

55 dB

Green surroundings

76%

Trees nearby

Water share

Not counted

Part of this score's subject, but not part of the grade.

Addresses per km²

718

Fine particles (PM2.5)

7.9 µg/m³

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

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The figures ⌄

Families

How practical this area is with children: distance to school and childcare, and how many children already live here.

Primary school

1.0 km

Households with children

38%

Childcare

0.6 km

Secondary school

3.6 km

Residents under 15

15%

Tick = Dutch median

The best neighbourhoods for families in Zaanstad →

Who lives here

The age profile of Centrum looks much like that of the average Dutch neighbourhood.

Age profile

0–1515%
NL median 14%
15–2511%
NL median 11%
25–4522%
NL median 22%
45–6529%
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
2.2 — around the average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
32% — around the average
NL median 31%
Households with children
38% — more than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
2,165 — 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 Centrum a safe neighbourhood?

For 2025, Centrum comes out at 16 recorded crimes per 1,000 people present; the national middle is 24. That is low: Centrum 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 Centrum?

In Centrum the police recorded 123 crimes in 2025: theft, burglary, violence and vandalism combined. The comparison figure above (16 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 Centrum calculated?

Centrum scores 8.8 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 Centrum 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.