district in Utrecht
Zuidwest
Zuidwest has 7 neighbourhoods with 40,960 residents in total.
Zuidwest bundles Kanaleneiland and the Rivierenwijk, seven neighbourhoods and nearly 41,000 residents on Utrecht's southern flank. Amenities reach 8.8, with the city and the Merwede canal close at hand. Against that, safety (4.2) and prosperity (4.9) fall behind, and at 3.8 for quiet and nature this is dense, stony ground. The 5.5 overall belongs to a post-war district deep in renewal but not yet arrived.
no. 6 of the 10 districts of Utrecht
Short answer: Zuidwest scores 5.5 as a district of Utrecht, no. 6 of the 10 districts of Utrecht. Its strongest neighbourhood is Dichterswijk (8.4), the worst Transwijk-Zuid (2.8). The district has 7 neighbourhoods with 40,960 residents in total.
Key figures for Zuidwest
- residents
- 40,960
- neighbourhoods
- 7
- km² of land
- 5.1
How Zuidwest 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, 2,580 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
Zuidwest has strikingly many residents aged 25 to 45: 43%, against 22% in the average Dutch neighbourhood.
Age profile
- 0–1514%
NL median 14%
- 15–2515%
NL median 11%
- 25–4543%
NL median 22%
- 45–6519%
NL median 28%
- 65+10%
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
1.8 — smaller than average
NL median 2.3
Single-person households
54% — far more than average
NL median 31%
Households with children
22% — far fewer than average
NL median 35%
Residents per km²
11,704 — 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 Zuidwest, weighted by population.
The best and worst neighbourhoods of Zuidwest
The same total grade, the same yardstick — from the top to the bottom of Zuidwest.
Neighbourhoods in Zuidwest
Sorted by total grade