Harlesden
Neighbourhood · 19,978 residents
46Fair
Fair · among the lowest-scoring suburbs
Check Local Score out of 100 · 60 is typical for the country
Each arc is a topic, coloured by its score
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- Prices are high for local incomes: affordability scores 21, where 60 is typical
The essentials
Everyday life
The area
Around Harlesden
Map outline: Approximate — electoral ward boundary, used as the nearest surveyed shape
Is Harlesden a good place to live?
Harlesden scores 46/100 overall, which the scorecard rates as fair — 60 is typical for the country.
No topic reaches "very good" (70+); its best is schools (67).
It scores lowest on affordability (21).
Scores come from official data on safety, schools, transport, prices, health, food & drink and the local environment, for Harlesden in London, each measured against the national average.
Summary of Harlesden
Harlesden's high street tells you most of what you need to know before you've read a single statistic: Caribbean bakeries, Portuguese cafes, phone repair shops and church halls sit shoulder to shoulder along Craven Park Road, and the crowd moving between them is properly mixed — young renters, long-settled Caribbean and Irish families, a growing number of Brazilians and Poles. It's a place that has always absorbed people rather than sorted them, and that shows in the texture of the street rather than in any one landmark.
The practical picture is a trade-off between connection and cost of that connection. Willesden Junction gives you both London Overground and mainline options within the area, which is why a 30-something with a Zone 2/3 commute can make this work without a car — the transport grade sits respectably in the B range even if the overall transport score is dragged down by more workaday scoring elsewhere. Schools are a genuine strength: an average Ofsted profile above the national norm, John Keble CofE Primary and Harlesden Primary both rated Good, and St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary carrying an Outstanding rating for those who can get a place. Housing is where it gets complicated. Flats dominate the market — leasehold outnumbers freehold roughly three to two — and at a median of £400,000, Harlesden sits nearly 13% below the Brent borough average and well under the London regional median. That affordability is real, but it sits inside an area ranked in the most deprived decile nationally on both income and multiple deprivation, so the discount and the disadvantage are two sides of the same coin.