Is Hackney a good place to live?

Hackney has 258,080 residents, 2% of them in neighbourhoods in England's better-off half, 100% of its inspected schools are rated Good or Outstanding, and recorded crime (13.5 per 1,000 a month) is above the median English town of its size (9.8). Whether it is a good place to live depends on the street: the NestScope area report scores any Hackney postcode.

Hackney recorded 13.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a month inside the town boundary over 2026-06 to 2026-08 (police.uk), against 9.8 for the median English town of this size. The largest category was violent.

How many people live in Hackney?

258,080 people live in Hackney (Census 2021, ONS built-up area), across 18.9 km² — about 13,641 per km².

What are the schools like in Hackney?

There are 105 schools inside Hackney; 100% of those inspected are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. The top-rated include Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy, Mossbourne Community Academy and Clapton Girls' Academy.

NestScope

Town · London · 150 neighbourhoods

Living in Hackney

Hackney is a town in London, England. This guide describes it as one place — who lives there, what sits inside its boundary and how safe it is — from official UK data. For any single street, the NestScope area report covers every Hackney postcode.

Hackney is a town of 258,080 people at 13,641 per km², where 2% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England's better-off half. 64 of its 64 inspected schools are rated Good or Outstanding, and it recorded 13.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a month.

Good schools
14 railway stations
Densely built
Higher crime than most towns
More deprived than most towns
Fewer parks than most towns

258,080Hackney population

13,641people per km²

2%live in England's better-off half

13.5crimes per 1,000 a month

Which part of Hackney?

Or tap a spot on the map, or type a postcode:

Tap any spot to open the map there

schools stations parks18.9 km² · ONS built-up area boundary

01 — What's in Hackney

What's in Hackney: schools, GPs, stations, parks and shops

Counted inside the town boundary. A school or station two streets past it belongs to the next place.

●Schools100% of inspected rated Good or Outstanding105

●GP practices · hospitals48 pharmacies, 39 dentists64 · 1

●Rail stations · bus stopsClapton, Dalston Junction, Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Central, Hackney Downs, Hackney Wick, Haggerston, Homerton, Hoxton, London Fields, Manor House Station, Rectory Road, Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington14 · 480

●Parks & playing fields233.7 ha — (·· ha), (·· ha), (·· ha)66

●Supermarkets53

●Libraries8

02 — Schools in Hackney

Best-rated schools in Hackney

1Mossbourne Victoria Park AcademySecondaryOutstanding 2Mossbourne Community AcademySecondaryOutstanding 3Clapton Girls' AcademySecondaryOutstanding 4Stormont House SchoolOtherOutstanding 5Comet Nursery School and Children's CentreNurseryOutstanding

Ranked by Ofsted grade. All 105 schools → Schools in Hackney

03 — Hackney crime rate

Hackney crime rate

13.5crimes per 1,000 residents a month inside the town boundary · 2026-06 to 2026-08

More than the median English town of this size (9.8) · 3,485 recorded crimes a month in all

Violent

ASB

Shoplifting

Public order

Vehicle

Burglary

England median for a town of this size · full bar = 10 per 1,000 a month · police.uk street-level data

04 — Questions about Hackney

Is Hackney a good place to live?: Hackney has 258,080 residents, 2% of them in neighbourhoods in England's better-off half, 100% of its inspected schools are rated Good or Outstanding, and recorded crime (13.5 per 1,000 a month) is above the median English town of its size (9.8). Whether it is a good place to live depends on the street: the NestScope area report scores any Hackney postcode.
Is Hackney safe?: Hackney recorded 13.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a month inside the town boundary over 2026-06 to 2026-08 (police.uk), against 9.8 for the median English town of this size. The largest category was violent.
How many people live in Hackney?: 258,080 people live in Hackney (Census 2021, ONS built-up area), across 18.9 km² — about 13,641 per km².
What are the schools like in Hackney?: There are 105 schools inside Hackney; 100% of those inspected are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. The top-rated include Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy, Mossbourne Community Academy and Clapton Girls' Academy.
Where is Hackney?: Hackney is a town in London, England, served by Clapton, Dalston Junction, Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Central, Hackney Downs, Hackney Wick, Haggerston, Homerton, Hoxton, London Fields, Manor House Station, Rectory Road, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington railway stations.

Nearby towns

Hackney on NestScope

Go further

This page is NestScope's guide to Hackney as a whole town, built from the same official sources as the area reports: the ONS boundary of the built-up area, Census 2021, the English Indices of Deprivation, police.uk recorded crime and the Department for Education's school register. Counts are of what sits inside the boundary; crime is a three-month average. It is updated as those sources publish.

Sources — ONS built-up areas 2022, Output Area lookups and Census 2021 (OGL v3.0) · English Indices of Deprivation 2019, carried onto 2021 LSOAs · police.uk street-level crime, the town boundary passed as the query polygon · DfE GIAS + Ofsted, NHS ODS, NaPTAN, OS Open Greenspace, Geolytix, Arts Council — every point counted by which 2021 neighbourhood it falls in.