district in Utrecht
Oost
Oost has 13 neighbourhoods with 33,745 residents in total.
Oost is academic Utrecht, spanning Oudwijk, Rijnsweerd and the Utrecht Science Park, thirteen neighbourhoods and nearly 34,000 residents. Amenities score 8.9, a figure that betrays the pull of the university and the old centre, and wealth and income hold up at 6.5. Safety stays below the median at 5.1, and quiet and nature get no further than 5.2, partly down to the bustle of campus and nightlife. The overall lands at a respectable 6.9.
no. 4 of the 10 districts of Utrecht
Short answer: Oost scores 6.9 as a district of Utrecht, no. 4 of the 10 districts of Utrecht. Its strongest neighbourhood is Wilhelminapark en omgeving (9.6), the worst Galgenwaard en omgeving (3.1). The district has 13 neighbourhoods with 33,745 residents in total.
Key figures for Oost
- residents
- 33,745
- neighbourhoods
- 13
- km² of land
- 10.8
How Oost 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, 2,123 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
Oost has strikingly many young people aged 15 to 25: 28%, against 11% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–159%
NL median 14%
- 15–2528%
NL median 11%
- 25–4534%
NL median 22%
- 45–6517%
NL median 28%
- 65+11%
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
1.5 — far smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
71% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
13% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
8,122 — 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 Oost, weighted by population.
The best and worst neighbourhoods of Oost
The same total grade, the same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Oost.
Neighbourhoods in Oost
Sorted by total grade
- 1Wilhelminapark en omgeving9.6
- 2Schildersbuurt9.2
- 3Oudwijk8.6
- 4Buiten Wittevrouwen8.5
- 5Abstede, Tolsteegsingel e.o.7.6
- 6Watervogelbuurt7.5
- 7Rijnsweerd6.6
- 8Maarschalkerweerd en Mereveld5.5
- 9L. Napoleonplantsoen en omgeving4.8
- 10Sterrenwijk4.5
- 11Rubenslaan en omgeving3.8
- 12Utrecht Science Park3.1
- 13Galgenwaard en omgeving3.1