Eldene & Dorcan
Swindon 023 · 6 sub-areas · 8,443 residents
Swindon 023 is a largely residential area within Swindon, home to around 8,400 people. A typical two-bedroom property lets for about £974 a month — noticeably below the UK median for a 2-bed — and the area skews older than much of the town, with a strong owner-occupier base and a significant share of social housing.
Eldene & Dorcan is a mid-density neighbourhood of Swindon in the South West 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 Eldene & Dorcan?
Greenspace is reachable but isn't on the immediate doorstep — most residents walk a few blocks to reach a park; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,082 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.
Eldene & Dorcan in Swindon
Living in Eldene & Dorcan
This part of Swindon is quieter and more settled than you might expect from a town with a reputation for rapid growth. Nearly seven in ten households here own their home outright or with a mortgage, and the age profile leans toward the 50-plus bracket — around 44% of residents are over 50. It's the kind of area where people have put down roots rather than cycled through.
On cost, Swindon 023 sits at the more affordable end of the town's rental market. You'll pay around £974 a month for a two-bedroom place, which is well below what the same property would cost in Bristol or Reading. One-bedroom rentals start at about £809, and a three-bedroom house runs to roughly £1,200. The deposit hurdle is relatively modest too — the median house price is around £259,000, putting the average deposit within reach in under four years on a typical local salary.
Who lives here? Largely established families and older residents. Social housing makes up around one in five tenures — meaningfully higher than much of the South West — while private renters are relatively thin on the ground at around 11%. There's also a degree of diversity, though the neighbourhood is predominantly UK-born (84%). Degree-level qualifications are present in around 22% of residents, which is below the national average and suggests this is less a graduate-professional enclave than a working and middle-income community.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 4.2 km away — about a 52-minute walk, so most people drive: nearly 58% of residents commute by car. Public transport only accounts for about 5% of journeys. The rail connection to London takes just over 99 minutes. For day-to-day life, the nearest greenspace is around 1 km away. 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 Swindon 023 a nice place to live?
- It's a quiet, settled neighbourhood that suits people looking for stability over buzz. Owner-occupation is high at nearly 69%, crime is below the national average at around 55 per 1,000 residents, and rents are affordable by South West standards. The trade-off is limited public transport and a school quality picture that falls well short of the national average.
- What is the rent in Swindon 023?
- A one-bedroom property runs about £809 a month, a two-bedroom around £974, and a three-bedroom roughly £1,200. These are estimates scaled from council-level ONS data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 3.3% in the past year.
- Is Swindon 023 safe?
- Relatively, yes. The crime rate is around 55 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, which is noticeably below the UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. It's not the safest neighbourhood in England, but it's well below average for crime, which is a genuine plus compared with many urban areas.
- What's the commute from Swindon 023 to central London?
- The rail journey to London takes just over 99 minutes by public transport. The nearest mainline station is about 4.2 km away, so most people drive or take a bus to reach it. Around 58% of residents commute by car, and 25% work from home.
- Who lives in Swindon 023?
- Mostly older, settled residents — around 44% are over 50, and nearly 69% own their home. Social housing makes up about 20% of tenures, and private renters are relatively rare at 11%. It's a working and middle-income community, with degree-level qualifications in around 22% of residents.
- What schools are near Swindon 023?
- There are 66 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 39% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — significantly below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 4.3 km away. It's worth researching individual catchment areas carefully given the wide variation in quality.
- How affordable is buying a home in Swindon 023?
- The median house price is around £259,000, and on a typical local salary of roughly £33,000 a year, it takes about 3.9 years to save a standard deposit. That's more achievable than most of the South West, though rent-to-take-home runs at about 50%, which makes saving while renting a stretch.