County ranking

Best places to live in Greater London

30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.

30 Towns listed of 33 that qualify
77 Top score Merton
70 County median UK median 54
32 Above 65 roughly the UK top eighth

33 towns in Greater London clear our data thresholds: a population over 3,000 and real scores in 8 or more of 9 categories. The top 30 are ranked below. Merton leads on 77/100, two points clear of Richmond upon Thames on 75. Above 65/100, which roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches, Greater London has 32: Merton (77), Richmond upon Thames (75) and Wandsworth (75), among others.

Median score across the 33 towns we rank here is 70/100, 16 points above the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage. Sutton (Sutton) is the cheapest way into the top five, with a median house price of £460,000 against £710,000 in Richmond upon Thames. The listed towns cover ten points in all, from Merton on 77 to City and County of the City of London on 67. See the detailed scores for Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth.

The top 30 places to live in Greater London, ranked by overall score out of 100
# Town Score Strongest categories Population Median price
1 Merton 77 Healthcare 92 Schools 91 208,907 £555,000
2 Richmond upon Thames 75 Healthcare 90 Lifestyle 91 191,674 £710,000
3 Wandsworth 75 Healthcare 95 Schools 94 309,302 £645,000
4 Sutton (Sutton) 74 Healthcare 88 Schools 84 204,356 £460,000
5 Hackney 72 Healthcare 96 Schools 99 239,783 £575,000
6 Hammersmith and Fulham 72 Healthcare 97 Schools 97 178,317 £687,500
7 Kensington and Chelsea 72 Healthcare 98 Transport 96 140,451 £1,037,500
8 Newham 72 Healthcare 96 Schools 97 301,385 £440,000
9 Southwark 72 Healthcare 95 Schools 99 281,444 £535,000
10 Bexley 71 Schools 85 Healthcare 78 241,125 £430,000
11 Greenwich 71 Healthcare 90 Lifestyle 92 253,112 £450,000
12 Islington 71 Healthcare 97 Schools 99 206,901 £650,000
13 Lambeth 71 Healthcare 95 Transport 96 305,748 £541,800
14 Lewisham 71 Healthcare 91 Transport 94 282,869 £480,000
15 Redbridge 71 Healthcare 92 Schools 88 302,023 £530,000
16 Waltham Forest 71 Healthcare 93 Schools 93 266,939 £556,700
17 Bromley 70 Healthcare 82 Transport 79 321,434 £525,000
18 Camden 70 Healthcare 98 Transport 97 202,549 £765,000
19 City of Westminster 70 Healthcare 99 Transport 98 191,848 £799,000
20 Haringey 70 Healthcare 95 Schools 96 255,808 £598,500
21 Kingston upon Thames 70 Healthcare 87 Lifestyle 82 165,336 £562,000
22 Barking and Dagenham 69 Healthcare 92 Schools 91 199,915 £380,000
23 Barnet 69 Healthcare 91 Schools 90 365,598 £585,000
24 Ealing 69 Healthcare 95 Schools 91 359,460 £530,250
25 Harrow 69 Healthcare 91 Schools 84 241,851 £560,000
26 Brent 68 Healthcare 95 Schools 93 316,369 £545,000
27 Croydon 68 Healthcare 90 Schools 90 371,136 £430,000
28 Enfield 68 Healthcare 89 Schools 90 321,269 £485,500
29 Tower Hamlets 68 Healthcare 96 Schools 99 237,167 £478,000
30 City and County of the City of London 67 Healthcare 98 Transport 99 10,701 £740,000

Ranked on the default weighting, out of 100. Strongest categories are the two furthest above the national median for that category, not simply the two highest numbers. Almost every town scores well on safety, so raw highs would say little.

Find your own best place in Greater London

The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 33 qualifying towns around what you actually care about — who's moving, a minimum on one category, a price ceiling for the type of home you'd buy.

Pick a persona or set a filter to re-rank 33 towns in place.

Also in Greater London, below the top 30: HounslowHaveringHillingdon

How this ranking was built

Every settlement in Greater London was scored across 9 categories (safety, schools, healthcare, transport, environment, broadband, lifestyle, economic health and bills) from official sources including Police UK, Ofsted, the CQC, Ofcom, the Environment Agency and MHCLG. Two filters then decide who appears here:

Counties are ceremonial, and a town belongs to the county its postcodes physically sit in, so border towns land where residents would expect them to.

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