Is Brent a good place to live?
Brent scores 53 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 27th of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on transport (72) and environment (70), and least well on area prosperity (22). The highest-scoring wards are Queens Park, Kilburn and Queensbury.
Each part compares Brent 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 Brent safe?
Police recorded about 3,436 crimes a month in Brent from June to August 2026, about 81 per square kilometre, above the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (31%), anti-social behaviour (26%) and vehicle crime (7%).
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 Brent flood?
About 5% of Brent'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 Brent?
Brent has 60 state primary and 18 state secondary schools, plus 9 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 97% are good or outstanding and 17% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include St Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School, Convent of Jesus and Mary RC Infant School and St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary 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 Brent?
Brent has 26 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Piccadilly, Jubilee, Bakerloo, Lioness (Overground), National Rail and Metropolitan and more, in fare zones 2, 3 and 4. About 22% 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 Brent?
The average home in Brent cost £538,452 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 5.5% over five years. The average private rent was £1,990 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 4.4%. Homes cost 14.5 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Brent?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 22 µg/m³ across Brent 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 Brent?
OpenStreetMap lists 42 supermarkets, 25 GP surgeries and 42 pharmacies in Brent, and 63 public parks covering about 318 hectares. About 8% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Brent?
The typical neighbourhood in Brent is in decile 3 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England and 10 the least. About 31% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Brent score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Brent are in Queens Park, Kilburn and Queensbury, and the lowest in Alperton and Welsh Harp. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queens Park | 60 | 17 | 87 | 90 | 56 | 70 |
| Kilburn | 59 | 6 | 90 | 84 | 44 | 82 |
| Queensbury | 59 | 35 | 69 | 58 | 72 | 64 |
| Kenton | 58 | 58 | 72 | 54 | 57 | 56 |
| Kingsbury | 58 | 32 | 64 | 73 | 78 | 65 |
| Wembley Hill | 57 | 13 | 85 | 74 | 50 | 59 |
| Wembley Park | 57 | 10 | 89 | 70 | 63 | 60 |
| Wembley Central | 57 | 16 | 86 | 76 | 63 | 53 |
| Harlesden & Kensal Green | 56 | 12 | 83 | 86 | 48 | 79 |
| Sudbury | 56 | 42 | 61 | 62 | 62 | 49 |
| Preston | 54 | 42 | 77 | 57 | 41 | 61 |
| Willesden Green | 54 | 12 | 84 | 65 | 55 | 71 |
| Brondesbury Park | 54 | 23 | 73 | 71 | 30 | 66 |
| Barnhill | 53 | 34 | 62 | 51 | 68 | 47 |
| Cricklewood & Mapesbury | 52 | 15 | 83 | 76 | 27 | 72 |
| Northwick Park | 52 | 53 | 58 | 38 | 30 | 38 |
| Dollis Hill | 51 | 30 | 60 | 48 | 53 | 65 |
| Roundwood | 51 | 11 | 67 | 61 | 60 | 85 |
| Tokyngton | 48 | 25 | 54 | 53 | 58 | 56 |
| Stonebridge | 48 | 25 | 64 | 43 | 39 | 57 |
| Alperton | 47 | 29 | 59 | 60 | 45 | 40 |
| Welsh Harp | 46 | 50 | 41 | 25 | 71 | 36 |
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.