Swiss Cottage
Camden 017 · 4 sub-areas · 7,472 residents
Camden 017 sits within one of London's most central boroughs, home to around 7,500 people within a five-minute public-transport hop of the capital's core. A typical two-bedroom flat runs about £2,465 a month — noticeably below the Camden borough median — though rents here fell around 6.5% in the past year, making it one of the more interesting pockets for renters watching the market.
Swiss Cottage is a workplace corner of Camden — daytime population swells with commuters, the streetscape leans busy and built-up rather than residential, and most residents who do live here rent rather than own. The rental market is active and turnover is high — people move through rather than stay; 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 Swiss Cottage?
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 43 restaurants and 1 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 sit firmly in the upper bracket nationally, with a typical home letting at around £2,654 a month; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Swiss Cottage in Camden
Living in Swiss Cottage
Camden 017 is a dense, walkable slice of inner London where the majority of residents — over six in ten — hold a degree-level qualification, and more than six in ten work from home. That last figure shapes the neighbourhood's rhythm: quieter on weekdays than you might expect for somewhere this central, with a daytime population that's largely at a laptop rather than on a platform. The nearest underground or overground station is under 400 metres away, so when residents do go out, they don't go far on foot to reach it.
On rent, this is an area where prices have actually moved in renters' favour recently. The median two-bedroom comes in at around £2,465 a month — well below what you'd expect for similarly central London postcodes, and down roughly 6.5% year-on-year. One-beds average closer to £1,930. The catch is affordability in the broader sense: at a median resident salary of around £44,000 a year, rent-to-take-home ratios are stretched to the point where many residents will need a second income or a significant proportion of savings to make it work comfortably.
The people here are a fairly mixed spread by age — around 28% are 18–34, with another 24% in the 35–49 bracket — but what stands out is the tenure split. Just under a third own their home, while 45% rent privately and 21% are in social housing. That's a wider social-housing share than many inner-London neighbourhoods at this price point, which reflects Camden's long history of council housing sitting alongside expensive private stock.
Practically, the neighbourhood scores well on connectivity and greenspace access. The nearest green space is roughly 525 metres away — walkable. Broadband is 100% gigabit-capable across the area. Council tax at Band D runs about £2,208 a year. 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 Camden 017 a nice place to live?
- It depends on what you're after. It's extremely well-connected — central London in under five minutes by public transport — with a highly educated, internationally mixed population and improving rents. The crime rate is high by national standards, though that's typical for inner-London neighbourhoods at this density. It suits people who want urban convenience and don't mind the cost.
- What is the rent in Camden 017?
- A one-bedroom flat averages around £1,930 a month, a two-bedroom around £2,465, and a three-bedroom closer to £2,875. Rents fell roughly 6.5% in the past year, making this a slightly better moment to negotiate than recent years. Note these are estimates scaled from borough-level data using local sale prices.
- Is Camden 017 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 189 incidents per 1,000 residents annually — more than double the UK national average. That's a high number, though inner-London neighbourhoods routinely record elevated rates because visitor and commuter activity inflates reported crime relative to the resident count. The area's deprivation score sits in the upper half nationally, suggesting relative stability.
- What's the commute from Camden 017 to central London?
- Around five minutes by public transport to the nearest major hub — among the shortest commutes of any residential area in England. The nearest underground or overground station is under 400 metres away. That said, 62% of residents work from home, so for many people the commute question is effectively moot.
- Who lives in Camden 017?
- A mixed population of around 7,500 people — roughly 28% aged 18–34, another 24% in the 35–49 bracket. Over 62% hold a degree, and just 44% were born in the UK, making this one of the more internationally diverse neighbourhoods in the borough. Tenure splits fairly evenly between private renters (45%), owners (32%), and social housing tenants (21%).
- What schools are near Camden 017?
- There are 130 schools within 2 km of typical residents in this neighbourhood, though only around 57% are rated Good or Outstanding — below the national share of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is approximately 1.2 km away. With this much variation in quality, it's worth checking individual Ofsted reports and admissions policies rather than relying on proximity alone.
- How does rent in Camden 017 compare to the rest of Camden?
- Camden 017's median two-bedroom rent of around £2,465 a month sits below the wider Camden borough average for similarly central locations, and rents here fell about 6.5% over the past year — one of the sharper drops in inner London. It's still expensive in absolute terms, but the direction of travel has been relatively favourable for renters recently.