Placetrics
City · London

Living in Waltham Forest

28 neighbourhoods · 146 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
≈ nat. avg
In line with nat. avg · 87.0 / 1k / yr · #261 of 318 cities
Good schools
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Commute to hub
10 min
#18 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.32
#277 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£1,753/mo
+1.9% YoY · #278 of 314 cities
Council tax
£175/mo
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Waltham Forest

Tap any row or map polygon to drill into that neighbourhood — hovering on desktop will preview the link before you click. Switch the tab strip above the table to focus on Affordability, Schools, Transport, Safety or Wealth — the columns swap and the default sort follows.

28 neighbourhoods · 146 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

South Chingford£1,578+1.9%560
Leyton South£1,582+1.9%1828
Friday Hill£1,631+1.9%3153
Highams Park West£1,632+1.9%5378
Lea Bridge£1,647+1.9%2962
Larkswood£1,675+1.9%4076
Leytonstone North£1,692+1.9%3350
Wood Street£1,714+1.9%2830
William Morris£1,714+1.9%1659
Chingford Mount£1,715+1.9%2560
Chingford Green West£1,719+1.9%1964
Walthamstow Market & South Grove£1,722+1.9%1520
Blackhorse Road£1,724+1.9%3241
Leytonstone South West£1,737+1.9%6575
Leyton North£1,737+1.9%3668
Lloyd Park£1,755+1.9%2236
Higham Hill£1,777+1.9%1573
Walthamstow Central£1,783+1.9%2653
Leytonstone East£1,789+1.9%2218
Fulbourne Road & Walthamstow Forest£1,800+1.9%3263
Chingford Green East£1,809+1.9%4779
Leyton East£1,822+1.9%4076
Baker's Arms£1,831+1.9%2850
Leytonstone South East£1,854+1.9%3362
Markhouse & St James Park£1,855+1.9%3268
Whipps Cross£1,901+1.9%2648
Upper Walthamstow£1,945+1.9%3869
Highams Park East£1,953+1.9%4571

Sources: ONS, MHCLG, DfT, DESNZ, Defra, Police.uk, Ofsted, Ofcom, HM Land Registry. Some columns (salary, council tax, HPI) are published at council-area level.

Section 2 / 8

Where to look in Waltham Forest

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Waltham Forest. Each list is filtered from the same neighbourhood data above — the basis of each shortlist is stated above the list so you know what's been weighted.

Top 5 cheapest

Lowest estimated monthly rent. Rent is the LAD-published ONS PIPR median, scaled per neighbourhood by local sale prices (Land Registry).

  1. 1.South Chingford£1,578/mo
  2. 2.Leyton South£1,582/mo
  3. 3.Friday Hill£1,631/mo
  4. 4.Highams Park West£1,632/mo
  5. 5.Lea Bridge£1,647/mo
Top 5 most desirable

Highest composite liveability — combines safety, schools, transport access and rental affordability into one 0–100 score (higher = more liveable).

  1. 1.Leytonstone South West65/100
  2. 2.Highams Park West53/100
  3. 3.Chingford Green East47/100
  4. 4.Highams Park East45/100
  5. 5.Larkswood40/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Waltham Forest.

Avg rent
£1,753/mo
#278 of 314 cities
Sale price
£530,000
+2.5% YoY
Yrs to deposit
7.0 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£1,392/mo
2 bed£1,713/mo
3 bed£2,008/mo
4 bed£2,556/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£1,041,473
Semi-detached£798,156
Terraced£619,059
Flat£387,430
Affordability
Price-to-earnings14.0×
Rent / take-home55%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)£2,098/yr
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£2,802/mo

Rent: ONS PIPR (council area). Council tax: VOA + MHCLG. Sale prices: HM Land Registry.

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Waltham Forest

Crime in Waltham Forest runs at in line with the national average. Bottom quartile (#261 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 87.0, averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods.

How crime is measured

What's counted. Incidents recorded by territorial police forces and published to data.police.uk each month. Rates use the latest 12 months of data divided by the area's mid-2024 ONS resident population — so the figure is reported incidents per 1,000 residents per year.

Anti-social behaviour is the largest category in most areas and is worth reading carefully — it's a community-reports bucket (noise, rowdiness, nuisance), not "crime" in the legal sense. ASB and shoplifting are weighted lower than violent offences in the safety score on each page.

Caveats. The denominator is residents, so workday and tourist destinations can look worse than they feel for someone living there. Greater Manchester forces stopped publishing to data.police.uk in 2020, so figures for those areas are intentionally blank rather than misleadingly low.

Total crime / 1k / yr
87.0
#261 of 318 cities
Crime detailTop crime types · safest neighbourhoods in this council area
All crime categories
incidents / 1,000 residents / year — sorted high → low
Violent & sexual offences
22.3
Anti-social behaviour
19.6
Vehicle crime
8.5
Other theft
5.7
Drugs
5.0
Criminal damage & arson
4.5
Public order
4.4
Burglary
3.8
Shoplifting
3.1
Theft from the person
2.8
Robbery
1.8
Other crime
1.2
Bicycle theft
1.1
Possession of weapons
0.8
Safest neighbourhoods in Waltham Forest
by safety score (higher = safer)
Chingford Green East79/100
Highams Park West78/100
Leyton East76/100

Source: data.police.uk — incident counts adjusted for population, then averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods. National average = England + Wales population-weighted mean.

Section 5 / 8

Schools in Waltham Forest

100% of schools serving Waltham Forest are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Best 5% nationally (#1 of 296 cities)

Good or Outstanding
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Good w/in 2 km
29%
#234 of 318 cities
School breakdownOfsted distribution · best neighbourhoods for schools
Ofsted rating distribution
Good100%
Outstanding (count)0
Good (count)1
Requires improvement0
Inadequate0
Best neighbourhoods for schools in Waltham Forest
by school score
Chingford Mount93/100
Larkswood91/100
Friday Hill91/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Waltham Forest

Modelled door-to-door commute from this council area to nearby employment hubs. Closest first.

To London
10 min
Median across local areas
To Birmingham
102 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
114 min
Median across local areas
Transport detailAll city commute times · mode share · best-connected neighbourhoods
Commute to major UK cities
public transport, off-peak typical
London
10 min
Birmingham
102 min
Bristol
114 min
Cardiff
135 min
Sheffield
143 min
Manchester
152 min
Leeds
154 min
Liverpool
162 min
Edinburgh
268 min
Glasgow
297 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car19%Public31%Active9%WFH37%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Waltham Forest
by transport score
Walthamstow Market & South Grove99/100
Leytonstone East98/100
Leytonstone South West97/100

DfT Journey Time Statistics + ONS Travel-to-Work.

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Waltham Forest

Waltham Forest has 0.32 jobs per resident locally. Bottom quartile

Jobs per resident
0.32
#277 of 318 cities
5y jobs growth
+13.0%
Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area
Reachable jobs by mode
Drive — 100 jobs6 min
PT — 100 jobs4 min
Drive — 500 jobs7 min
PT — 500 jobs7 min
Drive — 5,000 jobs12 min
PT — 5,000 jobs23 min
Local job mix by sector
ONS BRES, % of local jobs
Retail & hospitality
20.1%
Health & social care
14.2%
Education
10.7%
Tech & ICT
5.4%
Construction
5.2%
Professional & business svcs
3.7%
Manufacturing
2.9%
Finance & insurance
0.6%

ONS BRES (jobs density) + DfT job-accessibility minutes.

FAQ

Frequently asked about Waltham Forest

Short answers to the questions we get most often. Each answer is anchored in the data above and links onward where you can dig deeper.

What is the average rent in Waltham Forest?
The median monthly rent across Waltham Forest is £1,753, based on ONS Private Rental Prices data. Individual neighbourhoods vary — see the shortlist above for the cheapest and most desirable areas.
Where is the cheapest place to rent in Waltham Forest?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Waltham Forest by estimated median rent is South Chingford at approximately £1,578/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Waltham Forest?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Waltham Forest is Leytonstone South West at 65/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Waltham Forest a safe area?
Waltham Forest has an average safety score of 56/100 across its constituent neighbourhoods (higher is safer). The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted so 100 means the safest 1% of England + Wales.
What is council tax in Waltham Forest?
The most common council tax band in Waltham Forest is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £1,876. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Waltham Forest.
What is the average salary in Waltham Forest?
The median annual resident salary in Waltham Forest is £37,971, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Waltham Forest, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Waltham Forest?
The average property price in Waltham Forest is approximately £525,119 according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Individual neighbourhoods vary — typically ±20% around this council area median.
What's the rental yield in Waltham Forest?
Gross rental yield in Waltham Forest is approximately 3.9% — the council-area level median rent annualised over the council-area level median sale price. Net yield (after agency, void, maintenance and tax) typically runs 30–40% lower.
How long does it take to save a deposit in Waltham Forest?
Saving a 10% deposit at the council area median sale price on the council area median salary, while putting away 10% of takehome pay each month, takes approximately 7.0 years in Waltham Forest. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Waltham Forest?
100% of premises in Waltham Forest are gigabit-capable per Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Coverage is patchier in older terraces and rural fringes — check your specific postcode for service availability.
What's the unemployment rate in Waltham Forest?
6.6% of 16-64 residents in Waltham Forest are on the DWP Claimant Count — Universal Credit while seeking work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. That's the live monthly local indicator. It's narrower than the ONS Labour Force Survey "ILO unemployment rate" (which counts anyone actively job-seeking on a separate denominator) and narrower again than Census 2021's "% unemployed" (which is calculated against all 16+ residents and so isn't directly comparable).
How many neighbourhoods are in Waltham Forest?
Waltham Forest contains 28 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 146 sub-areas (local areas). Browse the full list at the bottom of this page or use the neighbourhood map above to drill into a specific area.
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Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in Waltham Forest

Every local area, ordered by crawl priority. Most readers want the neighbourhood-level view — these are for deep-link cases or external search-engine arrivals.

Showing 80 of 146 sub-areas. Drill into any neighbourhood above for the full sub-area list.