Is Lambeth a good place to live?
Lambeth scores 58 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 12th of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on transport (87) and shops and services (74), and least well on safety (14). The highest-scoring wards are Brixton Rush Common, Clapham Town and Stockwell East.
Each part compares Lambeth 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 Lambeth safe?
Police recorded about 4,411 crimes a month in Lambeth from June to August 2026, about 165 per square kilometre, above the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (23%), anti-social behaviour (23%) and other theft (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 Lambeth flood?
About 15% of Lambeth'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 14% 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 Lambeth?
Lambeth has 58 state primary and 16 state secondary schools, plus 5 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 96% are good or outstanding and 27% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include Ashmole Primary School, Granton Primary School and Henry Cavendish 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 Lambeth?
Lambeth has 20 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Victoria, National Rail, Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City and more, in fare zones 1, 2 and 3. About 54% 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 Lambeth?
The average home in Lambeth cost £554,128 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 4.5% over five years. The average private rent was £2,529 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 5.5%. Homes cost 12.3 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Lambeth?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 24 µg/m³ across Lambeth 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 Lambeth?
OpenStreetMap lists 33 supermarkets, 31 GP surgeries and 42 pharmacies in Lambeth, and 98 public parks covering about 196 hectares. About 28% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Lambeth?
The typical neighbourhood in Lambeth 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 9% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Lambeth score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Lambeth are in Brixton Rush Common, Clapham Town and Stockwell East, and the lowest in Streatham St Leonard's and Streatham Common & Vale. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brixton Rush Common | 61 | 12 | 85 | 77 | 82 | 77 |
| Clapham Town | 61 | 8 | 92 | 84 | 65 | 76 |
| Stockwell East | 61 | 5 | 93 | 80 | 60 | 92 |
| Clapham Common & Abbeville | 61 | 15 | 84 | 65 | 75 | 79 |
| Herne Hill & Loughborough Junction | 61 | 15 | 84 | 77 | 69 | 71 |
| Brixton North | 60 | 2 | 94 | 82 | 65 | 82 |
| Oval | 60 | 4 | 95 | 85 | 60 | 86 |
| Myatt's Fields | 60 | 9 | 74 | 76 | 78 | 95 |
| Knight's Hill | 59 | 22 | 69 | 60 | 54 | 79 |
| Brixton Acre Lane | 58 | 2 | 94 | 81 | 42 | 83 |
| St Martin's | 58 | 22 | 89 | 81 | 70 | 62 |
| Stockwell West & Larkhall | 58 | 7 | 93 | 86 | 51 | 84 |
| Brixton Windrush | 58 | 2 | 93 | 74 | 65 | 73 |
| Kennington | 58 | 3 | 98 | 82 | 65 | 89 |
| Streatham Wells | 57 | 17 | 93 | 87 | 53 | 62 |
| Waterloo & South Bank | 56 | 1 | 100 | 86 | 63 | 76 |
| Clapham Park | 56 | 18 | 77 | 67 | 39 | 77 |
| Gipsy Hill | 56 | 21 | 67 | 66 | 66 | 58 |
| Vauxhall | 56 | 2 | 98 | 77 | 74 | 86 |
| West Dulwich | 55 | 32 | 77 | 68 | 36 | 55 |
| Clapham East | 55 | 4 | 95 | 90 | 35 | 70 |
| Streatham Hill East | 55 | 14 | 82 | 68 | 39 | 78 |
| Streatham Hill West & Thornton | 55 | 16 | 83 | 71 | 34 | 62 |
| Streatham St Leonard's | 54 | 18 | 88 | 71 | 76 | 29 |
| Streatham Common & Vale | 54 | 22 | 63 | 67 | 63 | 51 |
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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