Hereford South West
Herefordshire 017 · 5 sub-areas · 7,922 residents
Herefordshire 017 is a largely rural pocket of Herefordshire, home to around 7,900 people and markedly more affordable than most of England. A typical two-bedroom home lets for roughly £770 a month — well under the UK median for a 2-bed — though rents are climbing, up around 4% over the past year. The trade-off is limited public transport and a long journey to any major city.
Hereford South West is a green, lower-density part of Herefordshire — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters. The demographic profile leans family-aged, with a clear share of households with school-age children.
Overview
What's it like to live in Hereford South West?
Day-to-day life sits close to greenery — a park or playing field is within easy walking distance of most addresses; there's effectively nothing within walking distance — eating out, drinking and shopping mean a drive; Crime sits around the national average — neither a notable concern nor a notable selling point; rents are below the national norm, with a typical home letting at around £815 a month; 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.
Hereford South West in Herefordshire
Living in Hereford South West
This part of Herefordshire feels like proper rural England — low density, car-dependent, and a long way from the nearest big city. With greenspace on the doorstep for the vast majority of residents (around 83% live within easy walking distance of open land), the appeal is landscape and quiet rather than urban amenity. It's a corner of the country where you genuinely need a car to get things done: only around 2% of residents commute by public transport, while nearly two-thirds drive to work.
On cost, it's one of the more affordable parts of England. A 2-bed runs roughly £770 a month — substantially below the UK median of around £1,200. The median home sale price is just over £204,000, and it would take a typical buyer around three and a half years to save a deposit, which is well below the national norm. Council tax (Band D) comes to about £2,574 a year. That said, rent-to-take-home sits at around 45%, which is high relative to local wages — the median resident earns roughly £29,400 a year, and that limits how much the headline affordability actually helps renters in practice.
The population skews notably younger than you might expect for a rural area — 26% are under 18 and a further 22% are in the 18–34 bracket. About 43% own their home outright or with a mortgage, but social housing is unusually prominent at 43% of tenure — rare for a rural area and a sign of a concentrated social housing stock somewhere within these boundaries. Single-person households make up just over 30% of the total.
Practically, this is an area that suits people who have already bought in or who are priced out of more connected parts of the Midlands and want more space for less money. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 2.75 km away — about a 34-minute walk, so realistically a short drive. Getting to Birmingham by public transport takes around two hours. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
What you'll need on day one
Compare Hereford South West with
Frequently asked
- Is Herefordshire 017 a nice place to live?
- It depends heavily on what you want. If space, greenery, and low housing costs matter more than city access, it works well — around 83% of residents are within easy walking distance of greenspace. If you rely on public transport or need to reach a major city regularly, the rural isolation and limited connections will feel like a genuine constraint.
- What is the rent in Herefordshire 017?
- A one-bed runs around £590 a month, a two-bed roughly £770, and a three-bed about £950. These are estimates scaled from county-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 4% over the past year.
- Is Herefordshire 017 safe?
- The crime rate is around 86 incidents per 1,000 residents a year — slightly above the UK average of roughly 80. That's a middling result rather than a red flag, and the day-to-day feel of a rural area tends to be calm even where headline rates are pushed up by property and vehicle crime.
- What's the commute from Herefordshire 017 to Birmingham?
- Around two hours by public transport. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 2.75 km away — effectively a short drive rather than a walk. Most residents drive rather than commute by rail: around 64% travel to work by car.
- Who lives in Herefordshire 017?
- A mix of families — the under-18 share is 26%, high for a rural area — alongside a significant social housing community. Tenure splits almost evenly between owner-occupiers and social renters, with private renters a small minority. Around 85% of residents were born in the UK.
- What schools are near Herefordshire 017?
- There are 40 schools within 2 km of typical residents, but only around 37% are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 1,100 metres away. Check the Ofsted school finder for current ratings before committing.
- How affordable is buying a home in Herefordshire 017?
- The median sale price is just over £204,000, and it takes a typical buyer around three and a half years to save a deposit — one of the shorter timelines in England. That said, local wages are modest at roughly £29,400 median, so affordability depends a lot on your income.