How safe is my neighbourhood? Check crime rates by address

Using Dutch police figures and CBS data to assess neighbourhood safety before buying a house in the Netherlands.

You're viewing a property that looks perfect: well-maintained, lovely garden, reasonable price. But how safe is the neighbourhood? Safety is one of the most important factors when buying a house, yet it's often overlooked — especially if you're new to the Netherlands. In this article, we explain how to check crime rates in any Dutch neighbourhood using publicly available data.

What crime statistics are available?

In the Netherlands, the police and CBS (Statistics Netherlands) publish detailed crime statistics per neighbourhood. The key categories to look at as a house buyer:

• Burglary — the number of break-ins and attempted break-ins per 1,000 residents
• Vehicle theft — car theft and break-ins into vehicles
• Bicycle theft — particularly relevant in urban areas
• Violent crime — assault, threats and robberies
• Vandalism — property damage and destruction
• Drug-related nuisance — reports of drug dealing and disturbances

Where can you find this data?

There are several sources to check neighbourhood safety:

1. Politie.nl — Crime in View

The Dutch police publish a dataset of registered offences per neighbourhood at data.politie.nl. This data is updated quarterly and provides a good overview of trends over multiple years.

2. CBS Key Figures by District and Neighbourhood

CBS combines police data with demographic information and publishes it as part of its Key Figures by District and Neighbourhood (Kerncijfers wijken en buurten). This allows you to relate crime figures to the number of residents — essential for a fair comparison.

3. Buurtscan — everything in one overview

On buurtscan.com, police and CBS data are automatically combined and displayed per address. You can instantly see how many offences there are per category, how this compares to the national average, and whether the trend is rising or falling.

How do you interpret the figures?

Crime figures are always expressed per 1,000 residents. This is important: a large neighbourhood will naturally have more offences in absolute numbers, but that says little about how safe it is for each resident. Always look at the normalised figure.

Compare the figures for your neighbourhood with:

• The national average — is the area better or worse than the Netherlands as a whole?
• The municipal average — some cities have inherently higher figures
• The trend over 3-5 years — a declining trend is a good sign, even if the absolute figure is still high

What should you pay extra attention to?

Not all crime data tells the full story. Keep these nuances in mind:

• Willingness to report — in some neighbourhoods fewer crimes are reported, which keeps the figures artificially low
• Seasonal patterns — burglaries peak during the dark months (October-February)
• Neighbourhood boundaries — a safe street can border an area with higher crime rates. Always check adjacent neighbourhoods as well
• Commercial activity — areas with lots of hospitality venues or shops tend to have more theft and vandalism, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's unsafe to live there

Combining safety with other data

Safety doesn't exist in isolation. Combine crime statistics with the liveability score from the Leefbaarometer, the WOZ property value trend and the climate risks to get a complete picture of a neighbourhood.

With the Buurtscan Chrome extension, you can see this data right alongside property listings on Funda and Pararius. This lets you instantly assess how safe a neighbourhood is while browsing for your next home.