West End & Westcotes
Leicester 023 · 8 sub-areas · 15,924 residents
Leicester 023 is a densely populated inner-city neighbourhood within Leicester, home to around 15,900 people. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £895 a month — well below the UK national median of around £1,200 for a two-bed, making it one of the more affordable patches in the East Midlands. Nearly half the residents are aged 18 to 34, giving the area a noticeably young character compared to the city as a whole.
West End & Westcotes is a mid-density neighbourhood of Leicester in the East Midlands region. It sits between busier and quieter parts of the local authority and isn't dominated by a single use — there's a mix of workplaces, housing and local services. The population skews young, with a high concentration of 18- to 34-year-olds; the rental market is active and turnover is high — people move through rather than stay.
Overview
What's it like to live in West End & Westcotes?
2 parks and 5 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 23 restaurants and 9 pubs in five minutes; Recorded crime is higher than the national norm — common for built-up urban areas, but worth weighing if you're looking for a quieter base; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,026 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 8 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
West End & Westcotes in Leicester
Living in West End & Westcotes
Leicester 023 is a high-density, predominantly rental neighbourhood in the inner city — the kind of area where young professionals and students make up the bulk of residents. Almost half the population is aged 18 to 34, which shapes everything from the local housing stock to the pace of turnover on the streets. It's not the quietest corner of Leicester, but for renters who want to be close to the city's core without paying city-centre prices, it makes practical sense.
The cost picture is genuinely competitive. A one-bedroom flat runs around £718 a month, a two-bedroom around £895, and a three-bedroom around £1,046. Those figures are well below the UK national two-bed median of roughly £1,200, and they reflect an inner-city area where the housing stock leans heavily towards flats and smaller homes. Rents rose around 4.4% over the past year, which is meaningful but not dramatic. Council tax at Band D comes to about £2,529 a year — worth factoring in alongside rent.
The tenure split tells you a lot about who's here: around 62% of homes are privately rented, against 24% owner-occupied. That ratio — almost two-thirds renters — is unusually high even by urban standards, and it means the neighbourhood functions more like a transit zone than a settled community. Just under 14% of homes are social housing. With a median resident salary of around £27,900 a year, rent-to-income is stretched: renting a typical home here absorbs roughly 55% of take-home pay, which is high and worth planning around.
Deprivation is a real feature of the area. The IMD score of 34.9 puts Leicester 023 in the second deprivation decile nationally — meaning it sits among the more deprived 20% of neighbourhoods in England. That's context, not a deterrent in itself, but it does mean local services and the physical environment can be patchy. For a sub-area breakdown of streets and pockets within Leicester 023, see the streets and sub-areas section below.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Leicester 023 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. It's affordable, young and well-connected to Birmingham and London by rail. The trade-off is a high crime rate — more than double the national average — and deprivation indicators that sit in the bottom 20% nationally. For budget-conscious young renters who want urban access without London prices, it works. For families or those prioritising a quiet, settled environment, it's harder to recommend.
- What is the rent in Leicester 023?
- A one-bedroom flat runs around £718 a month, a two-bed around £895, and a three-bed around £1,046. These are estimates scaled from city-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose about 4.4% over the past year. All figures sit comfortably below the UK national two-bed median of roughly £1,200.
- Is Leicester 023 safe?
- Crime runs high here — around 179 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, compared to a UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. That's more than double the national average, and it's a genuine consideration. The area sits in the second deprivation decile nationally, which correlates with elevated crime. Day-to-day urban precautions apply, but the headline rate is meaningfully above average.
- What's the commute from Leicester 023 to Leicester city centre?
- Leicester 023 is an inner-city neighbourhood, so the city centre is close — walkable or a short bus ride for most residents. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 1.8 km away. From there, Birmingham takes around 70 minutes by public transport and London around 85 minutes. About 44% of residents drive to work and 18% work from home.
- Who lives in Leicester 023?
- Predominantly young renters — nearly half the population is aged 18 to 34. Around 62% of homes are privately rented, which is unusually high even for an urban area. It's one of Leicester's most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods, with just over half of residents UK-born. Single-person households account for 37% of all homes.
- What schools are near Leicester 023?
- There are 161 schools within 2 kilometres, so options aren't scarce in volume. However, only around 39% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — well below the national share of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 822 metres away. Families should check individual school catchment boundaries carefully before committing.
- How affordable is buying a home in Leicester 023?
- The median house price here is around £178,500 — relatively accessible by national standards. At typical local income levels, it takes an estimated 3.2 years of saving to reach a deposit. That's a reasonable timeline compared to many southern cities, though the local median salary of around £27,900 a year does constrain mortgage capacity.