Best Areas to Live in London for Families in 2026: Schools, Safety and Prices
London's best wards for families in 2026, ranked on schools, crime, green space, transport and terraced-house prices to August 2026.
This is the 2026 edition of our London family guide, using house sales and recorded crime for the 12 months to August 2026. The 2025 edition used an older dataset and a different scoring method, so the two rankings are not directly comparable.
If you are moving to London with children, a ward that is strong on one thing is easy to find. A ward that is reasonable on schools, crime, parks, transport and price all at once is harder. This guide ranks 504 London wards on those five measures and gives each an equal say, so the top of the list is made of all-rounders rather than places that are excellent on one measure and weak on the rest.
Quick answer: the top 10 for 2026
| # | Ward (borough) | Family score | Terraced median | Crime excl. ASB per 1,000 | Schools percentile | Green space |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sutton North (Sutton) | 77.0 | £440,000 | 51.5 | 76 | 22.1% |
| 2 | Plashet (Newham) | 76.2 | £500,000 | 55.6 | 91 | 11.9% |
| 3 | North Hanwell (Ealing) | 75.7 | £590,000 | 55.6 | 78 | 31.5% |
| 4 | Ravensbury (Merton) | 74.6 | £475,000 | 60.8 | 89 | 18% |
| 5 | St. Helier (Merton) | 74.1 | £465,000 | 58.8 | 73 | 19% |
| 6 | West Twickenham (Richmond upon Thames) | 74.1 | £655,000 | 36.8 | 86 | 40.4% |
| 7 | Crook Log South East (Bexley) | 73.8 | £450,000 | 47.4 | 75 | 19% |
| 8 | Hampton (Richmond upon Thames) | 73.8 | £673,500 | 45.3 | 94 | 60.4% |
| 9 | Newbury (Redbridge) | 73.0 | £525,000 | 53.6 | 88 | 29.7% |
| 10 | Norbiton (Kingston upon Thames) | 72.5 | £500,000 | 56.8 | 76 | 18.7% |
For scale: England’s recorded crime excluding anti-social behaviour was 78.1 per 1,000 residents over the same 12 months, and the median terraced house in England sold for £245,000. Every ward in the top 10 is below the England crime rate. None is below the England price.
Top 10 London wards for families, 2026 (family score, 0–100)
| neighbourhood | family_score |
|---|---|
| Sutton North (Sutton) | 77 |
| Plashet (Newham) | 76 |
| North Hanwell (Ealing) | 76 |
| Ravensbury (Merton) | 75 |
| St. Helier (Merton) | 74 |
| West Twickenham (Richmond upon Thames) | 74 |
| Crook Log South East (Bexley) | 74 |
| Hampton (Richmond upon Thames) | 74 |
| Newbury (Redbridge) | 73 |
| Norbiton (Kingston upon Thames) | 73 |
What stands out this year
- Outer south London dominates. Five of the top 10 are in Sutton, Merton, Kingston and Bexley. These wards pair terraced medians of £440,000 to £500,000 with crime rates well below the England level, which is a combination few inner boroughs can offer.
- Sutton North comes top because it has no weak spot. It ranks in the top 30% of eligible wards on price, green space, transport and safety, and its schools percentile of 76 is above most of the country.
- Plashet is the exception in east London. Its schools percentile of 91 and transport percentile of 96 carry it to second place, with a terraced median of £500,000 and crime of 55.6 per 1,000 excluding ASB.
- Richmond still earns its place, at a price. West Twickenham and Hampton have some of the lowest crime and the most green space in the top 10, with 40.4% and 60.4% of land in public green space. Their terraced medians of £655,000 and £673,500 hold them back on the price measure.
This is a useful starting point, but the best match depends on your budget, commute and what you value most.
Lowest crime wards
If a calm street matters more than anything else, these are the eligible wards with the lowest recorded crime excluding anti-social behaviour in the 12 months to August 2026. Tudor in Kingston upon Thames recorded 22.1 per 1,000, under a third of the England rate. Wendell Park (26.0) and Cannon Hill (27.4) follow.
Low crime does not always mean a high family score. Tudor’s terraced median is £815,000 and Wendell Park’s is £936,775, so both fall down the overall ranking on price. Sanderstead (31.5 per 1,000) is cheaper at £447,000 but its schools percentile is 38, below the national middle.
Lowest recorded crime excluding ASB per 1,000 residents, 12 months to August 2026
| neighbourhood | crime_ex_asb_per_1k |
|---|---|
| Tudor (Kingston upon Thames) | 22 |
| Wendell Park (Hammersmith and Fulham) | 26 |
| Cannon Hill (Merton) | 27 |
| Coombe Vale (Kingston upon Thames) | 28 |
| Cranham (Havering) | 29 |
| Ickenham & South Harefield South East (Hillingdon) | 30 |
| Sanderstead (Croydon) | 32 |
| Lower Morden (Merton) | 32 |
| Kenton West (Harrow) | 32 |
| Motspur Park & Old Malden East (Kingston upon Thames) | 33 |
Crime per 1,000 is counted against residents, so wards with busy high streets or stations can look worse than they feel to live in. Walk the routes you would use in the evening before ruling a ward in or out.
Good schools and below-average crime for less
This list filters for wards with a schools percentile of at least 75 and crime excluding ASB at or below the England rate of 78.1 per 1,000, then sorts by the terraced median, cheapest first.
- Parsloes (Barking and Dagenham): £390,000, schools percentile 76, crime 68.3 per 1,000.
- Middle Park & Horn Park (Greenwich): £423,000, schools percentile 89, crime 67.6.
- Little Ilford (Newham): £425,000, schools percentile 90, crime 73.7, and 43.9% green space.
- Pollards Hill (Merton): £430,000, schools percentile 79, crime 61.9.
- Beddington (Sutton): £448,500, schools percentile 89, crime 65.6.
Cheapest terraced medians among wards with strong schools and below-England crime
| neighbourhood | terraced_median |
|---|---|
| Parsloes (Barking and Dagenham) | 390,000 |
| Middle Park & Horn Park (Greenwich) | 423,000 |
| Little Ilford (Newham) | 425,000 |
| Charville (Hillingdon) | 427,000 |
| Pollards Hill (Merton) | 430,000 |
| St. Mary Cray (Bromley) | 432,500 |
| Chessington South & Malden Rushett (Kingston upon Thames) | 438,000 |
| Sutton North (Sutton) | 440,000 |
| Beddington (Sutton) | 448,500 |
| Crook Log South East (Bexley) | 450,000 |
Borough prices for a terraced house
A terraced house is the most common family purchase in London, so we use its median as the price measure. These are the 10 boroughs with the lowest terraced median in the 12 months to August 2026.
Lowest terraced medians by London borough, 12 months to August 2026
| borough | terraced_median |
|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 400,000 |
| Bexley | 415,000 |
| Havering | 435,000 |
| Croydon | 435,250 |
| Newham | 475,000 |
| Sutton | 476,750 |
| Enfield | 485,000 |
| Greenwich | 500,000 |
| Hillingdon | 500,000 |
| Bromley | 515,000 |
Over five years, terraced medians rose fastest in Waltham Forest (up 19.9% to £700,000) and Barking and Dagenham (up 16.8% to £400,000). In several central boroughs they fell, including Lambeth (down 6.2%) and Camden (down 4.6%).
Trade-offs to watch
- The score is relative to London. A ward ranked low here may still be better than most of England on schools or transport.
- Price is one fifth of the score. If your budget is fixed, filter by price first and then use the score to choose between wards you can afford.
- Schools percentile is an area measure, not an admission. Check catchments and admissions rules for the specific schools you would use.
- Small wards move around. Wards with few house sales or a small resident population can shift a lot from year to year.
FAQs
What are the best areas to live in London for families in 2026?
On our 2026 family score the top three wards are Sutton North in Sutton, Plashet in Newham and North Hanwell in Ealing, followed by Ravensbury and St. Helier in Merton and West Twickenham in Richmond upon Thames.
Which boroughs are cheapest for a family house?
Barking and Dagenham (£400,000), Bexley (£415,000), Havering (£435,000) and Croydon (£435,250) had the lowest terraced medians in the 12 months to August 2026.
How does this compare with the 2025 guide?
The 2025 guide used older data and scored broadband and family household share instead of transport. This edition uses house sales and crime to August 2026, scores price on terraced houses rather than all sales, and only ranks wards with at least 10 terraced sales.
Methodology & Sources
We include London wards with at least 10 terraced-house sales in the 12 months to August 2026 and at least 3,000 residents: 504 of 699. Each ward is ranked against the others on five measures, each turned into a 0–100 rank: schools percentile (Ofsted, higher is better), transport percentile (higher is better), share of land in public green space (OS Open Greenspace, higher is better), recorded crime excluding anti-social behaviour per 1,000 residents (Police-UK, 12 months to August 2026, lower is better), and median terraced-house price (HM Land Registry standard sales, 12 months to August 2026, lower is better). The family score is the average of the five ranks.
Schools and transport percentiles compare each ward with neighbourhoods nationally and are the same figures shown on our area reports. Prices are medians of recorded sales, not valuations.