More crime than 83% of East of England's areas, prices down 1.8% in a year, 5 schools within 1.5 km, and a 12-minute typical walk to a station.
Crime
91.0 crimes per 1,000 residents a yearmore crime than 83% of East of England's areas
More crimeLess crime
Prices
£4,900 per m², down 1.8% in a yearpricier than 78% of East of England's areas
CheaperPricier
Schools
5 schools within 1.5 kmprimaries nearby weaker than in 66% of East of England's areas
WeakerStronger
Green space
Not published outside London yet
Commute
12 min walk to a stationtypical walk from homes here · a shorter walk than 93% of East of England's areas
Longer walkShorter
Ranks among East of England's areas. Crime: police.uk, 12 months to August 2026. Prices: HM Land Registry to August 2026, area price bands, never a home's value. Schools: DfE GIAS, Ofsted. Stations: walks along OpenStreetMap paths. How this is worked out
A postcode district is wider than the area. Close Knit doesn't host listings.
Sources
Price per square metre. Rolling 12-month median achieved price per square metre of standard market sales (Price Paid category A), using each home's EPC floor area.
HM Land Registry Price Paid + EPC · 2026-08
Areas with fewer than 20 qualifying sales in the 12 months fall back to their MSOA, then council.
Excludes repossessions, buy-to-let and company sales (category B) and 'other' property types.
Sales without an EPC floor area, under £20,000, or outside 15–1,000 m² or £500–£40,000/m² are excluded.
Land Registry registers sales with a lag of up to a few months, so the latest window is still filling.
Outside London, sales are placed in their postcode's area (ONSPD) and linked to EPC floor areas by address; before 2023 they show one value a year. London's figures come from its address-level build.
Standard sales only (Price Paid category A) of £10,000 or more; repossessions, company and buy-to-let transfers are left out.
Sales reach the register weeks to months after completion, so the newest months are incomplete.
£ per m² uses only sales whose home has an energy certificate with a floor area.
ONS Price Index of Private Rents: Source: Office for National Statistics, Price Index of Private Rents. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Council-wide: every neighbourhood in a council reads the council's rents.
Average (mean) monthly rent of new and existing tenancies; change is from the ONS index, which adjusts for the mix of homes let.
Official statistics in development: ONS may revise recent months.
No City of London figures are published.
Getting around
about 4 min to GarstonShorter walk than 93% of East of EnglandOn map ↗
Typical walk from homes
12 min median to a station · shorter than 93% of East of England
Garston
about 4 min walk · West Midlands Trains
Watford North
about 20 min walk · West Midlands Trains
Watford Junction
about 41 min walk · Lioness, Avanti West Coast, Southern, West Midlands Trains
91 / 1,000 · East of England 80.4More crime than 83% of East of EnglandOn map ↗
Top offences per 1,000 a year · GarstonEast of England
Violence and sexual offences33.1East of England 30.7
Other theft26.7East of England ▲ 5.4
Anti-social behaviour26.6East of England ▲ 12.1
Criminal damage and arson7.0East of England 6.1
Vehicle crime5.6East of England ▲ 4.1
Trend
Stable over 11 months
Road casualties ≤ 500 m
2 in 5 years · 0 children · 0 serious or fatal · On map
Who was hurt
2 pedestrians · 0 cyclists
Per year
0 · 0 · 0 · 1 · 1 (2021–2025)
Period
12 months to Aug 2026
Sources
Crime is counted where it happens, so busy shopping and night-life streets score high.
Rates are per 1,000 residents over 12 months; places with few residents and many visitors read high.
Police.uk open data: the police forces of England and Wales. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Road casualties: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), OGL v3.0. Many slight injuries are never reported to the police.
Recorded crime. Police-recorded offences in the 12 months to the selected month, per 1,000 residents (every police force in England). Excludes anti-social behaviour and British Transport Police.
Police.uk open data · 2026-08
Rolling 12 months: each month shows offences recorded in the year to that month.
Published crime coordinates are deliberately anonymised and never identify a building.
British Transport Police records are excluded.
Anti-social behaviour is excluded from the rate (police.uk lists it separately).
Population denominator: ONS mid-2024 LSOA estimates; council/MSOA rates use summed counts and populations.
City of London and West End rates use resident population; daytime footfall is far higher.
police.uk places each crime at an anonymous snap point; an LSOA with fewer than 20 offences in 12 months and under a tenth of the crimes its MSOA rate predicts shows the MSOA rate instead (marked fallback).
Percentiles compare each area with the others of its region.
No figure where the police force did not publish every month of the 12 (latest window: Greater Manchester, Northumbria, Gloucestershire).
3 well rated: Berrygrove Early Years Centre 304 m · Bright Little Stars Nursery 822 m
Sources
State schools within 1.5 km, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Not a catchment: being close does not guarantee a place.
Top 10%: the school is in the top tenth of East of England's schools on its latest published results and rated Good or better.
Older Ofsted grades and the new report cards are not comparable; each badge says which it is.
Kids, each ranked against East of England's areas: nurseries and pre-schools within 1 km rated well by Ofsted (Good or Outstanding, or a report card with no area below Expected standard; childminders are not included), Ofsted Early Years management information, Open Government Licence v3.0. Road safety: pedestrians and cyclists hurt within 500 m in police-reported collisions over five years, DfT road safety data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0. Cycle lanes: km of protected track and TfL Cycleway within 1 km, TfL Cycling Infrastructure Database (surveyed 2017–19) and Cycleways, Powered by TfL Open Data (London only).
Local places
Shop 5 minFood hygiene better than 67% of East of EnglandOn map ↗
Shops, pubs, cafés, pharmacies and GP surgeries mapped in OpenStreetMap. Volunteers keep it up to date, so a new or closed place may be missing.
Food hygiene: cafés, restaurants, takeaways and pubs within 800 m with a published rating; exempt places and those awaiting inspection are left out. Food Standards Agency, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Straight-line distances from the middle of the area.
Places come from OpenStreetMap, which volunteers keep up to date; a new shop or a closed pub may be missing.
Distances are straight lines from the area's centre or the home, not walking routes.
Noise: modelled whole-day average (Lden) at 2,624 recorded homes, road or rail; no aircraft noise.
Modelled annual averages at 4 m above ground on a 10 m grid, not measurements.
Levels under 40 dB Lden are not mapped; aircraft noise is not included outside London.
Homes are the addresses in the domestic EPC register, read at their OS Open UPRN point; no single home is shown.
Homes under 40 dB Lden are not mapped; the road median covers mapped homes only.
Defra strategic noise mapping Round 4 (2022), road and rail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Homes: OS Open UPRN and the domestic EPC register (OGL v3).
Straight-line distances from the middle of the area.
Places come from OpenStreetMap, which volunteers keep up to date; a new shop or a closed pub may be missing.
Distances are straight lines from the area's centre or the home, not walking routes.
Air pollution is modelled by the GLA (London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory) for one year on a 20 m grid and averaged over the area's homes; it is not a measurement at any one address.
Summer heat is the GLA's modelled mean midnight air temperature, May to September 2011, on a 250 m grid, averaged over the area's homes: it shows which places stay warmer at night, not a forecast or an indoor temperature.
GP access counts the practices whose surgery postcode is within 1 km of a neighbourhood's centre (for an MSOA or council, inside it): registered patients per full-time-equivalent GP, trainees and locums excluded. People can register with a practice further away; practices outside England are not counted.
GarstonEast of EnglandChip = points against East of England, when 5 or more
Type of home
Detached house: 3% here, 30% in East of England
Semi-detached house38%+7
Flat in a purpose-built block33%+19
Terraced house23%
Detached house3%−26
Other3%
Extending
Conservation 0% · Article 4 not published (Watford) · 2 listed buildings
Gigabit broadband
97% of homes (East of England 87%)
Settled
92% at the same address a year earlier (East of England 90%)
Loading HMOs…
Sources
Shares of this district's households, 2021 Census; the tick on each row is East of England. Neutral context, never rated.
ONS Census 2021 tables TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS012, TS013, TS015, TS021, TS022, TS028, TS030, TS031, TS044, TS054, TS063, TS066, TS067 via Nomis; country of birth (190 categories) and main language (26) via the ONS API. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
ONS mid-2024 Lower layer Super Output Area population estimates (revised November 2025). Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Ofcom Connected Nations, spring 2026 update (January 2026 coverage). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Office for National Statistics, Census 2021 TS019 Migrant indicator, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Article 4 direction areas, planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG, from local planning authorities). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Shares are of the area's land; the council's own maps and planning team are the authority on what needs permission.
Article 4 counts only directions that remove householder rights (extensions, roofs, porches, windows), and only from councils that publish them to planning.data.gov.uk.
Conservation areas outside London are as councils publish them to planning.data.gov.uk; a council that publishes none shows no conservation share (unknown).
Listed buildings are counted by list entry; one entry can be a terrace. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out.
Broadband is availability (a line can be ordered), not take-up or speed in use; full fibre is the council area's figure.
Settledness is from Census day, 21 March 2021, during the pandemic: students and some renters were away.
People
Census 2021
8,575 people (2024)
4,296 people / km² · 12.5× East of England's density
3,273 households
GarstonEast of EnglandChip = points against East of England, when 5 or more
Household
Couple, no children: 18% here, 28% in East of England
Couple with children31%
One person28%
Couple, no children18%−9
Lone parent15%
Other, including shared8%
Age
0 to 1421%
15 to 2411%
25 to 4429%
45 to 6424%
65 and over15%
Ethnic group
White British: 58% here, 78% in East of England
White British58%−21
Other White10%
Indian8%+6
Black African4%
Other21%+10
Country of birth
United Kingdom: 75% here, 85% in East of England
United Kingdom75%−10
Middle East and Asia9%
Africa4%
Romania and Bulgaria4%
Other9%
Religion
Christian50%
No religion28%−12
Muslim7%
Hindu7%+6
Other8%
Sources
Shares of this district's residents and households, 2021 Census; the tick on each row is East of England. Neutral context, never rated.
People per km²: mid-2024 population estimate over the area's land.
ONS Census 2021 tables TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS012, TS013, TS015, TS021, TS022, TS028, TS030, TS031, TS044, TS054, TS063, TS066, TS067 via Nomis; country of birth (190 categories) and main language (26) via the ONS API. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
ONS mid-2024 Lower layer Super Output Area population estimates (revised November 2025). Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Deprivation is the official Index of Multiple Deprivation for the area, not its people.
Living costs
Band D £2,447Watford 2026-27
Council tax 2026-27
Band D £2,447 · A £1,631 … H £4,893
Band D
£2,446.70 = Watford £308.51 + County £1,858.19 + Police £280.00
Renting, Watford average
1 bed £1,266 · 2 bed £1,599 · 3 bed £1,825 · 4+ bed £2,650
Councillor data from Democracy Club (democracyclub.org.uk), CC BY 4.0.
Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
MP data from the UK Parliament Members API. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Price Index of Private Rents. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Questions people ask about Garston
Is Garston safe?
Police recorded about 91.0 crimes for every 1,000 residents in the 12 months to August 2026; more crime than 83% of East of England's areas. Figures run high in busy centres where few people live, so visit at different times of day.
How much do homes cost in Garston?
Homes sold for a typical £4,900 per m² in the year to August 2026, down 1.8% in a year; pricier than 78% of East of England's areas. These are area price bands from recorded sales, never a home's value.
Which schools are near Garston?
5 schools within 1.5 km; primaries nearby weaker than in 66% of East of England's areas. Living nearby doesn't guarantee a place, so check each school's admissions rules.
How far is Garston from a station?
A 12-minute typical walk to a station from the typical home; a shorter walk than 93% of East of England's areas. Walks are timed along mapped paths, not in a straight line.