Barming
Maidstone 008 · 6 sub-areas · 11,399 residents
Maidstone 008 is a residential neighbourhood within Maidstone, home to around 11,400 people. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £1,179 a month — broadly in line with the UK median for a 2-bed — and the area skews notably family-oriented, with over a quarter of households made up of couples with children. Rail access to London takes under an hour.
Barming is a mid-density neighbourhood of Maidstone in the South East 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 Barming?
2 parks and 5 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; 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 £1,282 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Barming in Maidstone
Living in Barming
This part of Maidstone has a settled, suburban character — mostly owner-occupied streets where families put down roots rather than move on every couple of years. Around 59% of homes are owned outright or with a mortgage, which is higher than the national average and gives the area a noticeably stable feel compared with the more transient rental pockets closer to the town centre.
Rent here sits at a middling level for the South East. A two-bed runs around £1,179 a month — close to the UK median — and a three-bed comes in at roughly £1,442. That's significantly more affordable than equivalent properties in London but still reflects Maidstone's position as a commuter town within striking distance of the capital. Buying is more accessible than in many South East towns: the median price paid is around £309,000, and a typical deposit takes about four and a half years to save on a local salary.
The neighbourhood is noticeably younger than you might expect from its owner-occupied profile. Nearly a quarter of residents are under 18, and the 18–34 and 35–49 cohorts are roughly equal in size. That translates to a place with a lot of families and young working adults — not a retirement suburb. Around a quarter of households are couples with children, and single-person households account for just under a quarter as well.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 1.3 km away — around a 16-minute walk — and rail gets you into London in just under 54 minutes by public transport. Most residents drive rather than commute by train: over half get to work by car, and only around 6% use public transport. Broadband coverage is excellent, with 100% gigabit availability — a genuine asset for the quarter of residents who work from home. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
What you'll need on day one
Compare Barming with
Frequently asked
- Is Maidstone 008 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. It's a settled, family-oriented suburb with high owner-occupation and decent broadband. The commute to London under an hour makes it practical for capital workers priced out of closer-in areas. The trade-off is that a large share of take-home pay goes on rent, and fewer nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding compared to the national picture.
- What is the rent in Maidstone 008?
- A one-bed averages around £908 a month, a two-bed roughly £1,179, and a three-bed about £1,442. These are estimates scaled from council-level ONS data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 4.1% in the past year. Council tax (Band D) adds around £208 a month on top.
- Is Maidstone 008 safe?
- The crime rate runs at around 123 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, which is above the UK national average of roughly 80 per 1,000. It's not an extreme figure, and the area sits around the middle of the national deprivation index, so elevated crime isn't linked to severe economic hardship. Sub-area differences matter — check the street-level breakdown for a clearer picture.
- What's the commute from Maidstone 008 to London?
- By public transport it's just under 54 minutes to London — making this a realistic commuter base. The nearest mainline rail station is around 1.3 km away, roughly a 16-minute walk. Most residents actually drive to work rather than take the train, and around a quarter work from home.
- Who lives in Maidstone 008?
- Mostly families and settled owner-occupiers. Nearly 60% of homes are owned, over a quarter of households are couples with children, and almost a quarter of residents are under 18. It's not a typical young-professional neighbourhood — the population is spread fairly evenly across age groups, with a notable family cohort at its core.
- What schools are near Maidstone 008?
- There are 79 schools within 2 km of typical residents, though only around 33% of those within catchment distance are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national average of about 89%. The nearest Outstanding school is approximately 635 metres away, so at least one strong option is accessible. Check Ofsted's website for the latest inspection results.
- Is Maidstone 008 good for families?
- It has a lot of the hallmarks families look for — high owner-occupation, plenty of nearby schools, accessible greenspace within about 371 metres on average, and a rail link to London under an hour away. The main caveat is school quality: a smaller share of nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding than you'd find nationally, so catchment research matters.