Orton West & Castor
Peterborough 018 · 5 sub-areas · 9,466 residents
Peterborough 018 is a largely settled, owner-occupied corner of Peterborough, home to around 9,500 people with a noticeably older age profile than the city norm. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £863 a month — well below the UK median for a 2-bed — and three-quarters of residents own their home outright or with a mortgage.
Orton West & Castor is a mid-density neighbourhood of Peterborough in the East of England 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.
Overview
What's it like to live in Orton West & Castor?
2 parks are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; 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 £976 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.
Orton West & Castor in Peterborough
Living in Orton West & Castor
This part of Peterborough reads as established and residential rather than transient. The population skews older — nearly one in four residents is 65 or above, and the 50–64 bracket adds another 22%, making this one of the more mature neighbourhoods in the city. That shapes the feel of the place: quieter streets, high owner-occupation, and relatively low turnover of residents.
On costs, it sits at the affordable end of the national picture. A two-bedroom home runs roughly £863 a month, comfortably below the UK median of around £1,200 for the same size. Even so, with a median resident salary of just under £30,000 a year, renters here are spending close to half their take-home pay on rent — a squeeze that reflects wages more than prices. The deposit hurdle is real too: at six years' worth of saving, buying is achievable but not quick.
Owner-occupation is the dominant tenure by some distance, at 74%. Private renting accounts for around one in six households, and social housing is a small slice at just under 9%. That tenure mix tends to go hand-in-hand with stability — less churn, longer-term neighbours, a community that knows itself.
Getting around relies almost entirely on a car: just under 51% of residents drive to work, and public transport accounts for fewer than 2% of commutes. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 5 km away in a straight line — around a 64-minute walk, so realistically you'd drive or cycle. For those who do commute by rail, London is reachable in around 110 minutes. Working from home is common here too, with nearly 40% of residents doing so.
See the streets and sub-areas below for more on how this neighbourhood breaks down.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Peterborough 018 a nice place to live?
- It's a quiet, settled neighbourhood with relatively low crime and high owner-occupation. The age profile is older, which makes it feel stable rather than lively. It suits people who want affordable housing, good broadband, and a low-churn community — less so those after a younger, busier atmosphere.
- What is the rent in Peterborough 018?
- A one-bedroom home runs around £684 a month, a two-bedroom about £863, and a three-bedroom roughly £1,038. Those figures are estimates scaled from city-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose only around 0.7% year on year — well below the national pace.
- Is Peterborough 018 safe?
- Crime runs at around 64.5 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, which is noticeably below the UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. The area sits in deprivation decile 8 out of 10 (where 10 is least deprived), reinforcing the picture of a stable, lower-risk neighbourhood.
- What's the commute from Peterborough 018 to London?
- By public transport (rail), London takes around 110 minutes. The nearest mainline station is roughly 5 km away, so most residents drive to it. Nearly 40% of residents work from home, which reduces the commute question for a large share of the working population.
- Who lives in Peterborough 018?
- Predominantly older, settled owner-occupiers — nearly half the population is over 50, and 74% own their home. It's less ethnically diverse than central Peterborough, and the private rental share is relatively modest at around 17%. Around 35% hold degree-level qualifications.
- What schools are near Peterborough 018?
- There are 28 schools within typical catchment distance. Around 52% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — below the national share of roughly 89%, so choice of quality provision is more limited than in many parts of England. The nearest Outstanding school is just under 5.8 km away.
- Is Peterborough 018 good for families?
- It has a lot going for it — affordable rents, low crime, and high owner-occupation make it stable ground for families. The trade-off is that fewer than half of nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding, so parents should research catchments carefully before committing.