Is Barnet a good place to live?
Barnet scores 55 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 17th of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on environment (80) and green space (61), and least well on shops and services (44). The highest-scoring wards are West Finchley, Whetstone and East Barnet.
Each part compares Barnet with the rest of London, where 100 is the best. The score uses our default weights; on the map you can set your own.
Is Barnet safe?
Police recorded about 3,158 crimes a month in Barnet from June to August 2026, about 37 per square kilometre, below the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (26%), anti-social behaviour (25%) and shoplifting (10%).
Recorded crime follows footfall: busy town centres and transport hubs record more, which says little about quiet residential streets. Check the exact street with an area report.
Does Barnet flood?
About 4% of Barnet's land is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, the Environment Agency's zones for flooding from rivers or the sea, against 13% across London. About 3% sits in Flood Zone 3, the highest risk band. The zones ignore flood defences and do not cover surface water flooding.
Are there good schools in Barnet?
Barnet has 91 state primary and 27 state secondary schools, plus 32 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 99% are good or outstanding and 19% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include Courtland School, Goldbeaters Primary School and Livingstone Primary and Nursery School.
Ofsted stopped giving a single overall grade in September 2024, so recently inspected schools have none. Always check admissions and catchment rules with the school or council.
How good is public transport in Barnet?
Barnet has 20 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Northern and National Rail, in fare zones 2, 3, 4 and 5. About 8% of the borough has good or better access (TfL PTAL 4 to 6b), against 15% of London.
How much does it cost to live in Barnet?
The average home in Barnet cost £588,293 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 10.2% over five years. The average private rent was £1,931 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 3.9%. Homes cost 14 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Barnet?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 20 µg/m³ across Barnet in 2022 (London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory), against a London median of 20 and a World Health Organization guideline of 10. Fine particles (PM2.5) averaged 9 µg/m³ against a guideline of 5. Air is usually worst beside main roads.
What are the shops, parks and GPs like in Barnet?
OpenStreetMap lists 67 supermarkets, 22 GP surgeries and 42 pharmacies in Barnet, and 120 public parks covering about 743 hectares. About 14% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Barnet?
The typical neighbourhood in Barnet is in decile 6 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England and 10 the least. About 8% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Barnet score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Barnet are in West Finchley, Whetstone and East Barnet, and the lowest in Edgwarebury and West Hendon. Every ward is below, with its scores for safety, transport, shops, green space and schools out of 100.
| Ward | Liveability | Safety | Transport | Shops | Green | Schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Finchley | 62 | 32 | 81 | 62 | 61 | 71 |
| Whetstone | 61 | 58 | 59 | 58 | 52 | 78 |
| East Barnet | 59 | 60 | 44 | 38 | 55 | 62 |
| Friern Barnet | 59 | 44 | 57 | 61 | 69 | 64 |
| Woodhouse | 59 | 41 | 52 | 60 | 52 | 78 |
| Barnet Vale | 58 | 55 | 63 | 45 | 67 | 54 |
| Burnt Oak | 58 | 21 | 82 | 50 | 75 | 72 |
| Childs Hill | 58 | 34 | 79 | 68 | 58 | 60 |
| Brunswick Park | 57 | 54 | 46 | 33 | 65 | 66 |
| Edgware | 57 | 47 | 69 | 59 | 40 | 60 |
| Underhill | 57 | 55 | 59 | 58 | 58 | 57 |
| East Finchley | 57 | 48 | 52 | 54 | 57 | 71 |
| Cricklewood | 56 | 30 | 79 | 62 | 59 | 72 |
| Finchley Church End | 56 | 41 | 60 | 54 | 58 | 41 |
| Mill Hill | 56 | 75 | 24 | 39 | 61 | 45 |
| Garden Suburb | 55 | 68 | 41 | 46 | 65 | 34 |
| Golders Green | 55 | 39 | 70 | 66 | 65 | 59 |
| Colindale North | 53 | 16 | 53 | 50 | 67 | 74 |
| Colindale South | 53 | 15 | 65 | 72 | 66 | 53 |
| Hendon | 53 | 27 | 68 | 41 | 65 | 57 |
| High Barnet | 51 | 85 | 25 | 17 | 66 | 18 |
| Totteridge & Woodside | 51 | 86 | 23 | 18 | 56 | 21 |
| Edgwarebury | 48 | 84 | 0 | 24 | 63 | 32 |
| West Hendon | 48 | 33 | 75 | 63 | 57 | 35 |
Nearby areas
Where these numbers come from
- Crime: police.uk street-level crime, June to August 2026, averaged per month.
- Flood zones and conservation areas: Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning and local authority conservation areas, via planning.data.gov.uk.
- Schools: Department for Education Get Information About Schools, with Ofsted grades.
- Transport: TfL stations and PTAL 2023. Air quality: London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2022.
- Prices: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index (March 2026) and ONS private rents (May 2026 release) and affordability ratios.
- Shops, GPs and parks: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Deprivation: English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG).
- Liveability: our score for each ~500 m square of London, built from the sources above; borough and ward figures are medians of their squares.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right. © OpenStreetMap contributors. Powered by TfL Open Data.