South Ely
East Cambridgeshire 004 · 5 sub-areas · 8,596 residents
East Cambridgeshire 004 sits within East Cambridgeshire district in the East of England, home to around 8,600 people. A typical two-bedroom lets for about £937 a month — noticeably below the UK median for a two-bed — and the area skews heavily towards owner-occupation, with nearly two in three households owning their home.
South Ely is a settled residential pocket of East Cambridgeshire. The bigger gravitational centre is London, around 94 minutes away by direct train, but most days don't require leaving — local life is what people are here for. A high share of adults are degree-educated, which often shows up in the kind of jobs people commute to.
Overview
What's it like to live in South Ely?
The area is unusually green for its density — 6 parks and 2 playgrounds sit within five minutes' walk of the centroid; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 11 restaurants and 1 pubs in five minutes; Crime sits around the national average — neither a notable concern nor a notable selling point; Transport links are limited — a car or e-bike is a practical assumption for most regular trips; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,016 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.
South Ely in East Cambridgeshire
Living in South Ely
East Cambridgeshire 004 has a settled, rural-residential feel that sets it apart from the university bustle of the city itself. Almost two in three residents own their home — a tenure split you'd expect from a well-established market-town catchment area rather than a renter-heavy urban neighbourhood. Greenspace is genuinely accessible here: nearly six in ten residents live within easy reach of it, with the average green space under a kilometre away.
On cost, the area is meaningfully cheaper than the wider Cambridge commuter belt. A one-bedroom runs around £715 a month, a two-bed roughly £937, and a three-bed about £1,140. By UK standards, that's below the national two-bed median of around £1,200 — and well below what you'd pay in Cambridge's central neighbourhoods. Council tax sits at approximately £2,485 a year at Band D, which is above the English average and worth factoring in. The median house price is around £347,000, and a typical buyer would need about five years to save a deposit — relatively manageable by southern-England standards.
The people who live here reflect that ownership bias: a broad age mix with a notable share aged 35 and over, and a degree-qualification rate of around 46%, which is well above the national average. It reads as the kind of area where professionals have planted roots rather than passed through. Single-person households make up nearly a third of all homes, so it's not purely a family enclave.
Practically speaking, the nearest rail station is roughly 2.2 km away — about a 27-minute walk, or a short drive. Public transport accounts for under 6% of commutes, while nearly 40% of residents drive to work and a striking 43% work from home, one of the higher remote-working shares in the region. That last number explains a lot about who chooses to live here. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on specific pockets within the neighbourhood.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is East Cambridgeshire 004 a nice place to live?
- It's a settled, predominantly owner-occupied area with good greenspace access and strong broadband — well suited to remote workers and families who don't need to commute daily. The trade-off is that public transport is limited, the London rail commute takes around 100 minutes, and the share of nearby schools rated Good or Outstanding is significantly below the national average.
- What is the rent in East Cambridgeshire 004?
- A one-bedroom runs around £715 a month, a two-bed roughly £937, and a three-bed about £1,141. These are estimates scaled from district-level data using local sale prices. Rents were flat year-on-year, so there's no immediate upward pressure.
- Is East Cambridgeshire 004 safe?
- The crime rate is around 114 per 1,000 residents annually, above the UK national rate of roughly 80. However, the area sits in the least deprived 20% of neighbourhoods nationally, and crime in rural-suburban market-town catchments tends to skew towards lower-severity offences. It's not an area with significant violent crime concerns.
- What's the commute from East Cambridgeshire 004 to the nearest major city?
- The rail commute to London takes around 100 minutes by public transport. The nearest mainline station is roughly 2.2 km away — about a 27-minute walk or a short drive. With 43% of residents working from home, many locals sidestep the commute question entirely.
- Who lives in East Cambridgeshire 004?
- Mostly settled, degree-educated homeowners in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Nearly two in three households own their home, the 35–64 age group dominates, and around 46% of residents hold a degree. It's not a typical renter-heavy area — single-person households make up about a third of homes despite the family-ownership profile.
- What schools are near East Cambridgeshire 004?
- There are 16 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 5% are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding school is approximately 9.2 km away. If schools are a priority, check current Ofsted ratings and East Cambridgeshire's admissions team for up-to-date catchment information.
- Is East Cambridgeshire 004 good for working from home?
- Yes — it's one of the stronger remote-working areas in the East of England. Around 43% of residents already work from home, broadband gigabit coverage reaches about 86% of premises, and no households fall below the minimum speed standard. The combination of relatively affordable rents and fast connectivity makes it a practical choice for remote workers.