district in Groningen
Centrum
Centrum has 8 neighbourhoods with 24,980 residents in total.
Groningen's Centrum is the densely populated core of the northern capital, eight neighbourhoods and nearly 25,000 residents from the old town to the Ebbingekwartier. Amenities score 9.9, about the maximum reach a city core can offer. Against that stands the classic flip side: safety 2.6, quiet and nature 3.0 and wealth 2.9, with the overall at 2.9. A pronounced student and nightlife heart, no place for quiet living.
no. 20 of the 20 districts of Groningen
Short answer: Centrum scores 2.9 as a district of Groningen, no. 20 of the 20 districts of Groningen. Its strongest neighbourhood is Stationsgebied (4.3), the worst Binnenstad-West (2.7). The district has 8 neighbourhoods with 24,980 residents in total.
Key figures for Centrum
- residents
- 24,980
- neighbourhoods
- 8
- km² of land
- 2.3
How Centrum scores
Do some of these matter more to you than others?
The figures ⌄Safety
Registered crimes per 1,000 people present per year: residents plus business activity. Figures for small neighbourhoods are smoothed.
In 2025, 4,849 crimes were recorded here. The figures above are per 1,000 people present (residents + businesses).
Tick = Dutch median
The safest neighbourhoods in Groningen →The most dangerous neighbourhoods in 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
Centrum has strikingly many young people aged 15 to 25: 44%, against 11% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–152%
NL median 14%
- 15–2544%
NL median 11%
- 25–4533%
NL median 22%
- 45–6511%
NL median 28%
- 65+9%
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
1.2 — far smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
81% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
4% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
14,133 — 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. Average of the neighbourhoods in Centrum, weighted by population.
The best and worst neighbourhoods of Centrum
The same total grade, the same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Centrum.
Neighbourhoods in Centrum
Sorted by total grade