Is Southwark a good place to live?
Southwark scores 58 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 7th of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on transport (82) and schools (78), and least well on safety (12). The highest-scoring wards are Dulwich Village, Goose Green and Dulwich Hill.
Each part compares Southwark 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 Southwark safe?
Police recorded about 4,554 crimes a month in Southwark from June to August 2026, about 160 per square kilometre, above the London borough median of 63. The most common were violence and sexual offences (22%), anti-social behaviour (19%) and theft from the person (15%).
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 Southwark flood?
About 47% of Southwark'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 46% 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 Southwark?
Southwark has 66 state primary and 20 state secondary schools, plus 8 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 100% are good or outstanding and 27% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include Crampton Primary, John Ruskin Primary School and Language Classes and Boutcher Church of England 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 Southwark?
Southwark has 19 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Jubilee, Northern, Windrush (Overground), Bakerloo and National Rail, in fare zones 1 and 2. About 43% 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 Southwark?
The average home in Southwark cost £564,359 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), up 11% over five years. The average private rent was £2,395 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 5.1%. Homes cost 12.8 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Southwark?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 25 µg/m³ across Southwark 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 Southwark?
OpenStreetMap lists 45 supermarkets, 34 GP surgeries and 48 pharmacies in Southwark, and 97 public parks covering about 236 hectares. About 27% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Southwark?
The typical neighbourhood in Southwark 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 10% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Southwark score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Southwark are in Dulwich Village, Goose Green and Dulwich Hill, and the lowest in Surrey Docks and South Bermondsey. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dulwich Village | 63 | 46 | 62 | 61 | 75 | 62 |
| Goose Green | 63 | 23 | 82 | 89 | 60 | 90 |
| Dulwich Hill | 62 | 43 | 62 | 73 | 66 | 67 |
| Peckham Rye | 61 | 44 | 57 | 60 | 74 | 64 |
| Rye Lane | 61 | 8 | 92 | 87 | 62 | 79 |
| Rotherhithe | 60 | 13 | 92 | 77 | 77 | 84 |
| Chaucer | 60 | 1 | 99 | 88 | 69 | 81 |
| Newington | 59 | 3 | 95 | 84 | 74 | 84 |
| Borough & Bankside | 58 | 1 | 100 | 86 | 60 | 75 |
| Camberwell Green | 58 | 5 | 90 | 83 | 69 | 84 |
| North Walworth | 58 | 1 | 95 | 86 | 74 | 86 |
| St George's | 58 | 0 | 100 | 82 | 72 | 92 |
| St Giles | 58 | 5 | 85 | 79 | 65 | 75 |
| Champion Hill | 57 | 20 | 80 | 68 | 52 | 84 |
| Faraday | 57 | 4 | 83 | 73 | 89 | 85 |
| Peckham | 57 | 3 | 84 | 91 | 54 | 79 |
| Nunhead & Queen's Road | 56 | 13 | 88 | 66 | 53 | 74 |
| Dulwich Wood | 55 | 53 | 53 | 44 | 53 | 51 |
| North Bermondsey | 54 | 4 | 87 | 76 | 53 | 83 |
| Old Kent Road | 52 | 9 | 80 | 73 | 60 | 79 |
| London Bridge & West Bermondsey | 51 | 3 | 99 | 83 | 63 | 70 |
| Surrey Docks | 51 | 19 | 44 | 62 | 62 | 81 |
| South Bermondsey | 50 | 10 | 72 | 77 | 55 | 76 |
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.