Is Westminster a good place to live?
Westminster scores 59 out of 100 on our Liveability index, 4th of London's 33 boroughs. It does best on transport (97) and shops and services (83), and least well on safety (3). The highest-scoring wards are Regent's Park, Little Venice and Maida Vale.
Each part compares Westminster 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 Westminster safe?
Police recorded about 6,593 crimes a month in Westminster from June to August 2026, about 320 per square kilometre, above the London borough median of 63. The most common were anti-social behaviour (17%), other theft (17%) and violence and sexual offences (17%).
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 Westminster flood?
About 13% of Westminster'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 13% 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 Westminster?
Westminster has 30 state primary and 9 state secondary schools, plus 27 independent schools. Of the state schools with a current single Ofsted grade, 100% are good or outstanding and 30% are outstanding, against a London borough median of 24% outstanding. Outstanding schools include St Luke's CofE Primary School, St Peter's CofE School and Christ Church Bentinck CofE 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 Westminster?
Westminster has 32 Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR or tram stations on the Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line, Bakerloo, Circle and Hammersmith & City and more, in fare zones 1 and 2. About 89% 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 Westminster?
The average home in Westminster cost £844,095 in March 2026 (HM Land Registry), down 9% over five years. The average private rent was £3,149 a month (ONS, May 2026 release), a gross yield of about 4.5%. Homes cost 20.5 times average local earnings.
What is the air quality like in Westminster?
Nitrogen dioxide averaged 28 µg/m³ across Westminster 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 Westminster?
OpenStreetMap lists 47 supermarkets, 56 GP surgeries and 92 pharmacies in Westminster, and 65 public parks covering about 455 hectares. About 78% of the borough is in a conservation area, where outside changes usually need permission.
How deprived is Westminster?
The typical neighbourhood in Westminster is in decile 6 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England and 10 the least. About 16% of the borough is in the most deprived fifth.
Which parts of Westminster score best?
The highest Liveability scores in Westminster are in Regent's Park, Little Venice and Maida Vale, and the lowest in Pimlico North and Pimlico South. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regent's Park | 63 | 16 | 90 | 73 | 98 | 53 |
| Little Venice | 63 | 6 | 92 | 86 | 54 | 86 |
| Maida Vale | 61 | 7 | 85 | 79 | 66 | 89 |
| Bayswater | 61 | 3 | 96 | 92 | 51 | 67 |
| Harrow Road | 60 | 3 | 90 | 89 | 59 | 92 |
| Hyde Park | 60 | 1 | 98 | 83 | 88 | 48 |
| Knightsbridge & Belgravia | 60 | 12 | 95 | 86 | 89 | 36 |
| Marylebone | 60 | 0 | 99 | 95 | 36 | 70 |
| Church Street | 59 | 2 | 95 | 93 | 43 | 94 |
| Lancaster Gate | 59 | 5 | 95 | 80 | 98 | 40 |
| Queen's Park | 58 | 5 | 90 | 79 | 63 | 73 |
| West End | 56 | 0 | 99 | 92 | 57 | 39 |
| St James's | 56 | 1 | 99 | 81 | 73 | 37 |
| Abbey Road | 55 | 11 | 90 | 82 | 43 | 64 |
| Westbourne | 55 | 2 | 89 | 83 | 50 | 83 |
| Pimlico North | 54 | 3 | 98 | 90 | 40 | 67 |
| Pimlico South | 50 | 2 | 97 | 78 | 67 | 48 |
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.