Is Havering a good place to live?
Havering scores 49 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 32nd of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on environment (93) and safety (81), and least well on shops and services (20). The highest-scoring wards are Squirrels Heath, St Andrew's and Elm Park.
Each part compares Havering 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 Havering safe?
Police recorded about 2,133 crimes a month in Havering from June to August 2026, about 19 per square kilometre, below the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (32%), 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 Havering flood?
About 13% of Havering'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 10% 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 Havering?
Havering has 59 state primary and 18 state secondary schools, plus 7 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 100% are good or outstanding and 16% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include Clockhouse Primary School, Scotts Primary School and Hall Mead 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 Havering?
Havering has 9 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the District, Liberty (Overground), National Rail and Elizabeth line, in fare zone 6. About 2% 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 Havering?
The average home in Havering cost £441,241 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 12.9% over five years. The average private rent was £1,565 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 4.3%. Homes cost 10.6 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Havering?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 15 µg/m³ across Havering 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 8 µg/m³ against a guideline of 5. Air is usually worst beside main roads.
What are the shops, parks and GPs like in Havering?
OpenStreetMap lists 26 supermarkets, 21 GP surgeries and 28 pharmacies in Havering, and 73 public parks covering about 956 hectares. About 3% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Havering?
The typical neighbourhood in Havering is in decile 7 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England and 10 the least. About 4% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Havering score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Havering are in Squirrels Heath, St Andrew's and Elm Park, and the lowest in Havering-atte-Bower and Rainham & Wennington. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squirrels Heath | 63 | 63 | 52 | 57 | 47 | 57 |
| St Andrew's | 61 | 50 | 71 | 63 | 39 | 50 |
| Elm Park | 60 | 63 | 39 | 54 | 92 | 48 |
| Hacton | 60 | 64 | 40 | 54 | 35 | 62 |
| Hylands & Harrow Lodge | 59 | 54 | 38 | 51 | 68 | 61 |
| Cranham | 58 | 82 | 27 | 34 | 45 | 37 |
| South Hornchurch | 56 | 59 | 28 | 57 | 88 | 42 |
| Marshalls & Rise Park | 55 | 70 | 34 | 30 | 63 | 57 |
| St Alban's | 54 | 15 | 78 | 64 | 48 | 48 |
| St Edward's | 53 | 15 | 86 | 69 | 55 | 40 |
| Mawneys | 53 | 59 | 45 | 35 | 41 | 45 |
| Beam Park | 51 | 48 | 48 | 67 | 45 | 31 |
| Harold Wood | 50 | 91 | 0 | 11 | 64 | 21 |
| Emerson Park | 50 | 80 | 24 | 27 | 35 | 22 |
| Rush Green & Crowlands | 50 | 55 | 35 | 30 | 51 | 44 |
| Heaton | 45 | 39 | 49 | 43 | 32 | 40 |
| Upminster | 44 | 94 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| Gooshays | 43 | 83 | 27 | 12 | 53 | 5 |
| Havering-atte-Bower | 42 | 89 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
| Rainham & Wennington | 40 | 92 | 0 | 12 | 19 | 9 |
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.