Living in Cambridge: The Complete Area Guide

Against comparable English towns that puts Cambridge in the highest-crime 12% of England, so it sits in the busier third of the country for recorded offences. The largest single category is violent crime, at 32% of the offences we sampled, followed by shoplifting. A violence-weighted mix usually concentrates around night-time economy streets rather than residential roads, so the picture can change sharply a few streets out. We annualised roughly 7,380 recorded offences around the centre to reach that rate, so month-to-month noise is smoothed out but a single busy street can still lift it. Our safety score of 1.9/10 reflects that rate after calibration against England-wide levels.

House prices in Cambridge are down 1.6% over the last year and up 6% over five years (UK House Price Index).

A typical home nearby sold for £2,476,027. The trimmed average of £4,322,945 sits well above the median, which tells you a tail of larger or higher-spec homes is pulling the mean up while typical stock trades lower. Over the last year the local authority House Price Index moved down 1.6%, and up 6% across five years. Steady rather than spectacular movement tends to signal a market driven by local owner-occupiers rather than investor churn. The median is based on 14 recent Land Registry sales in CB2 3, a small sample, so treat it as a guide rather than a valuation.

14 Ofsted-rated schools sit inside the search radius, split 21 primary-phase to 5 secondary-phase. Primary provision heavily outnumbers secondary, which is normal for an English town but means secondary catchment is the tighter competition. 3 of the nearest listed schools currently hold a Good or Outstanding judgement. The closest is Park Street CofE Primary School, about 0.6 km from the centre point we sampled. Nationally, Cambridge schools rate better than 63% of England. Ofsted grades age quickly and admissions are decided by distance in most years, so confirm the current catchment cut-off for the exact street before committing.

Cambridge Rail Station (rail station) is 1.7 km away, about 22 minutes on foot.

Cambridge Rail Station is about 22 minutes' walk away. That is a walkable but committed distance in winter; many households in this band end up driving or cycling to the station. Overall the area is better connected than 30% of England. Access varies street by street: the same postcode district can be a five-minute walk from the platform at one end and a 30-minute one at the other.

Nearest everyday amenity: Sticks 'n' Sushi (Restaurant / cafe), 11 m away.

We mapped 316 everyday amenities inside the walking radius around the centre of Cambridge. Multiple grocery options within walking distance is the single strongest predictor of a genuinely liveable centre, and it holds value in a soft market. Leisure venues are represented alongside food and drink, which usually points to a centre that stays active outside shopping hours. Average Food Standards Agency hygiene rating nearby is 4.7/5, which is strong. Nationally that leaves Cambridge in the best-served 1% of England for amenities.

Flood risk: Flood data unavailable

Flood picture: flood data unavailable. No Environment Agency flood area overlaps the sampled radius, but surface-water risk is separate and still worth a search. Air quality reads 31 on the European AQI (Fair). That is a fair reading, typical of an English town centre with through traffic.

Most common band locally: Band C — a typical bill of £2,193 a year.

A Band D bill of £2,467 works out at roughly £206 a month over ten instalments under Cambridge. That is cheaper council tax than 41% of England. Most homes locally fall in Band C, so the typical household bill differs from the Band D headline that councils publish. Council tax is a fixed annual cost that rarely falls, so it belongs in the affordability calculation alongside the mortgage.