Is Hackney a good place to live?
Hackney scores 59 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 3rd of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on transport (84) and shops and services (80), and least well on safety (9). The highest-scoring wards are Brownswood, Haggerston and Hackney Downs.
Each part compares Hackney 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 Hackney safe?
Police recorded about 3,343 crimes a month in Hackney from June to August 2026, about 175 per square kilometre, above the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (23%), anti-social behaviour (22%) 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 Hackney flood?
About 11% of Hackney'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 5% 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 Hackney?
Hackney has 50 state primary and 16 state secondary schools, plus 28 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 100% are good or outstanding and 38% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include Morningside Primary School, Queensbridge Primary School and Sebright 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 Hackney?
Hackney has 14 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Piccadilly, Weaver (Overground), Windrush (Overground), Mildmay (Overground) and National Rail, in fare zones 1, 2 and 3. About 48% 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 Hackney?
The average home in Hackney cost £611,039 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 1.1% over five years. The average private rent was £2,615 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 5.1%. Homes cost 13.9 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Hackney?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 24 µg/m³ across Hackney 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 10 µg/m³ against a guideline of 5. Air is usually worst beside main roads.
What are the shops, parks and GPs like in Hackney?
OpenStreetMap lists 44 supermarkets, 37 GP surgeries and 35 pharmacies in Hackney, and 64 public parks covering about 338 hectares. About 29% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Hackney?
The typical neighbourhood in Hackney 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 45% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Hackney score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Hackney are in Brownswood, Haggerston and Hackney Downs, and the lowest in Springfield and King's Park. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownswood | 62 | 4 | 98 | 80 | 69 | 74 |
| Haggerston | 62 | 3 | 86 | 90 | 67 | 92 |
| Hackney Downs | 62 | 9 | 90 | 86 | 75 | 80 |
| Hackney Central | 61 | 4 | 95 | 86 | 67 | 75 |
| London Fields | 61 | 5 | 86 | 85 | 70 | 85 |
| Stoke Newington | 61 | 11 | 85 | 85 | 62 | 85 |
| Clissold | 60 | 14 | 69 | 83 | 74 | 82 |
| Dalston | 60 | 3 | 94 | 87 | 50 | 85 |
| Homerton | 60 | 4 | 92 | 89 | 52 | 92 |
| Lea Bridge | 60 | 13 | 82 | 69 | 80 | 77 |
| De Beauvoir | 59 | 3 | 87 | 80 | 55 | 77 |
| Woodberry Down | 59 | 12 | 84 | 78 | 72 | 68 |
| Shacklewell | 59 | 3 | 92 | 84 | 41 | 95 |
| Hoxton East & Shoreditch | 58 | 1 | 99 | 85 | 59 | 84 |
| Hoxton West | 58 | 2 | 95 | 91 | 63 | 82 |
| Victoria | 58 | 7 | 86 | 88 | 80 | 87 |
| Cazenove | 56 | 15 | 82 | 79 | 53 | 79 |
| Stamford Hill West | 56 | 14 | 79 | 69 | 56 | 77 |
| Hackney Wick | 55 | 16 | 75 | 71 | 89 | 62 |
| Springfield | 53 | 22 | 61 | 66 | 66 | 78 |
| King's Park | 50 | 31 | 38 | 59 | 96 | 69 |
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.