Cotton End, Brackmills & Hardingstone
West Northamptonshire 037 · 5 sub-areas · 11,253 residents
West Northamptonshire 037 is a residential area within West Northamptonshire, home to around 11,250 people. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £940 a month — notably below the UK national median for a 2-bed — making it one of the more affordable parts of the East Midlands. Just over half of residents own their homes, giving the area a settled, mixed feel.
Cotton End, Brackmills & Hardingstone is a green, lower-density part of West Northamptonshire — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters. The rental market is active and turnover is high — people move through rather than stay.
Overview
What's it like to live in Cotton End, Brackmills & Hardingstone?
Greenspace is on the doorstep — a park or playing field is within walking distance of most homes; 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 £1,070 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 5 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Cotton End, Brackmills & Hardingstone in West Northamptonshire
Living in Cotton End, Brackmills & Hardingstone
This part of West Northamptonshire has a distinctly suburban character — predominantly owner-occupied streets, a younger-than-average population, and the kind of day-to-day calm that comes with a low-density residential area. With over half of residents owning their homes and nearly a quarter under 18, it feels more like established family territory than a transient rental market.
On rent, you're in comfortable territory relative to most of England. A 2-bed runs around £940 a month — meaningfully below the UK national median of about £1,200, and a 3-bed comes in at roughly £1,150. That said, rent consumed nearly half of a typical take-home pay here, which reflects the area's moderate local salaries rather than high rents per se. The median annual resident salary sits at around £33,000.
The people who live here skew young: nearly a third of residents are aged 18 to 34, while the 35–49 bracket is slightly smaller than you'd expect for a place with this many families. Ethnically, around 70% of residents were born in the UK, with a diversity index of 33.8 — moderately mixed by national standards. Owner-occupiers make up just over half the area, with private renters at 37%, and social housing accounting for around one in ten households.
For getting around, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 2.3 km away — about a 28-minute walk, though most residents drive (over half use a car to commute). Public transport use is low at around 6%, so a car is close to essential here. Working from home is notably common: over a quarter of residents work remotely, which softens the impact of the limited public transport. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is West Northamptonshire 037 a nice place to live?
- It's a settled, predominantly owner-occupied suburban area with affordable rents and excellent broadband. The trade-off is that you'll need a car for most daily journeys — public transport use is very low at around 6% — and the Ofsted picture for nearby schools is weaker than the national average, with only about 31% of schools within catchment distance rated Good or Outstanding.
- What is the rent in West Northamptonshire 037?
- A one-bed runs around £740 a month, a two-bed about £940, and a three-bed roughly £1,150. These are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose by about 4% over the past year.
- Is West Northamptonshire 037 safe?
- The crime rate is around 128 incidents per 1,000 residents a year — above the UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. That's worth noting, though crime in MSOA-level data can be concentrated in specific streets or commercial zones. Checking Police.uk's street-level map will give you a clearer picture of where incidents actually occur.
- What's the commute from West Northamptonshire 037 to major cities?
- By public transport, London is around 79 minutes away, Birmingham about 89 minutes, and Manchester roughly 148 minutes. The nearest mainline rail station is about 2.3 km away. Most residents drive rather than take public transport — only around 6% travel to work by public transport.
- Who lives in West Northamptonshire 037?
- A mix of young families and owner-occupiers. Nearly a third of residents are aged 18 to 34, and over a fifth of households are couples with children. Just over half own their homes, around 37% rent privately, and about one in ten are in social housing. Over a quarter of residents work from home.
- What schools are near West Northamptonshire 037?
- There are 55 schools within 2 km, so choice isn't the issue. The concern is quality — only about 31% of nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, which is well below the national average of around 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is approximately 2 km away. Check individual school reports on the Ofsted website before committing to a catchment.