Meltham
Kirklees 055 · 5 sub-areas · 9,417 residents
Kirklees 055 is a largely owner-occupied corner of Kirklees in Yorkshire, home to around 9,400 people. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £690 a month — well below the UK average for a 2-bed — and nearly three quarters of residents own their home outright or with a mortgage, giving the area a settled, residential feel.
Meltham is a settled residential pocket of Kirklees. The bigger gravitational centre is Leeds, around 74 minutes away by direct train, but most days don't require leaving — local life is what people are here for. Most homes are owner-occupied, so turnover is low and many residents have been here a long time.
Overview
What's it like to live in Meltham?
Greenspace is on the doorstep — a park or playing field is within walking distance of most homes; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; Transport links are limited — a car or e-bike is a practical assumption for most regular trips; rents are below the national norm, with a typical home letting at around £759 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.
Meltham in Kirklees
Living in Meltham
This part of Kirklees sits firmly in the owner-occupier heartland of West Yorkshire. The overwhelming majority of households own their home — around 75% — which is unusually high compared to most urban areas of the region, and it shows in the pace and character of the streets. It's not a transient neighbourhood; people tend to stay.
Rents are low by any reasonable benchmark. A two-bedroom home runs around £690 a month, and a three-bedroom property averages about £840. For renters priced out of Leeds or Huddersfield town centre, that gap is meaningful. The trade-off is that public transport is limited: only around 3% of residents use it to get to work, and most people drive.
The demographic profile skews noticeably older. Around 45% of residents are over 50, and the neighbourhood has a high share of single-person households — just under 28%. It's not a young professional hub, but it's comfortable, low-crime relative to national rates, and well-connected by car to the wider Kirklees area. Families with children make up just over a fifth of households.
If you're weighing up a move here, the practical picture is: affordable rents, high ownership rates, greenspace within reasonable reach (the nearest is under 500 metres away), and 100% gigabit broadband coverage. The nearest rail station is roughly 4 km away, so you'll almost certainly need a car. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Kirklees 055 a nice place to live?
- It's a settled, affordable and relatively safe part of West Yorkshire. Crime is below the national average, rents are low, and the area is predominantly owner-occupied — which tends to mean well-maintained streets and a stable community feel. The main limitation is car dependency; public transport links are limited, so you'll need a car for most errands and commutes.
- What is the rent in Kirklees 055?
- A one-bedroom property averages around £570 a month, a two-bed around £690, and a three-bed about £840. Rents rose around 10.5% in the past year, but the area remains significantly cheaper than the UK average. Note these are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices.
- Is Kirklees 055 safe?
- Crime runs at around 67.5 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, which is noticeably below the UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. The area sits in the less deprived half of England on standard deprivation measures, which broadly supports that picture.
- What's the commute from Kirklees 055 to the nearest major city?
- Manchester is around 84 minutes by public transport. The nearest major employment hub is roughly 75 minutes away. Most residents drive — around 58% commute by car — because the nearest rail station is about 4 km away and bus frequency is limited.
- Who lives in Kirklees 055?
- Predominantly older, settled owner-occupiers. Around 45% of residents are over 50, and nearly three quarters own their home. It's a family and retiree area more than a young-professional one — the 18–34 cohort makes up under 18% of the population.
- What schools are near Kirklees 055?
- There are 12 schools within typical catchment distance. Around half are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, which is well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is just under 5 km away. It's worth checking individual catchment boundaries if school quality is a priority.
- How affordable is buying a home in Kirklees 055?
- The median house price is around £272,000. On a typical local salary, a deposit is reachable in roughly 4.5 years — relatively accessible by UK standards. Ownership is already the dominant tenure at 75%, which reflects how attainable buying has historically been here compared to city centres.