Is Hillingdon a good place to live?
Hillingdon scores 45 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 33rd of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on environment (78) and safety (67), and least well on schools (28). The highest-scoring wards are Ruislip Manor, Northwood Hills and Eastcote.
Each part compares Hillingdon 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 Hillingdon safe?
Police recorded about 3,301 crimes a month in Hillingdon from June to August 2026, about 29 per square kilometre, below the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (28%), anti-social behaviour (24%) and shoplifting (9%).
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 Hillingdon flood?
About 11% of Hillingdon'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 7% 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 Hillingdon?
Hillingdon has 64 state primary and 22 state secondary schools, plus 8 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 95% are good or outstanding and 16% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include The Breakspear School, Lady Bankes Primary School and Newnham Junior 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 Hillingdon?
Hillingdon has 21 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Elizabeth line, National Rail and Central, in fare zones 5 and 6. About 3% 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 Hillingdon?
The average home in Hillingdon cost £470,887 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 12.3% over five years. The average private rent was £1,553 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 4%. Homes cost 11.8 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Hillingdon?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 20 µg/m³ across Hillingdon 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 Hillingdon?
OpenStreetMap lists 30 supermarkets, 12 GP surgeries and 26 pharmacies in Hillingdon, and 107 public parks covering about 672 hectares. About 7% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Hillingdon?
The typical neighbourhood in Hillingdon is in decile 4 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England and 10 the least. About 14% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Hillingdon score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Hillingdon are in Ruislip Manor, Northwood Hills and Eastcote, and the lowest in Harefield Village and Heathrow Villages. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruislip Manor | 63 | 62 | 68 | 37 | 55 | 52 |
| Northwood Hills | 57 | 66 | 47 | 45 | 45 | 56 |
| Eastcote | 56 | 66 | 31 | 41 | 63 | 54 |
| Hillingdon West | 53 | 61 | 32 | 37 | 64 | 25 |
| Hayes Town | 53 | 32 | 42 | 47 | 74 | 52 |
| Uxbridge | 51 | 33 | 41 | 52 | 47 | 42 |
| Colham & Cowley | 50 | 41 | 51 | 48 | 48 | 38 |
| Hillingdon East | 50 | 70 | 26 | 32 | 46 | 37 |
| Wood End | 50 | 34 | 48 | 33 | 75 | 68 |
| Charville | 49 | 55 | 39 | 35 | 43 | 52 |
| South Ruislip | 49 | 64 | 23 | 26 | 56 | 26 |
| Yeading | 48 | 29 | 34 | 42 | 75 | 61 |
| Belmore | 47 | 32 | 50 | 38 | 46 | 55 |
| Yiewsley | 45 | 30 | 38 | 53 | 34 | 26 |
| Pinkwell | 44 | 40 | 33 | 40 | 44 | 33 |
| West Drayton | 44 | 51 | 29 | 49 | 55 | 36 |
| Northwood | 44 | 83 | 21 | 27 | 2 | 22 |
| Ickenham & South Harefield | 43 | 88 | 0 | 14 | 32 | 21 |
| Ruislip | 43 | 83 | 18 | 13 | 15 | 25 |
| Harefield Village | 41 | 90 | 0 | 12 | 20 | 9 |
| Heathrow Villages | 38 | 64 | 29 | 24 | 12 | 7 |
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.
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