Ypenburg and Leidschenveen: gardens, two stations and the two lowest crime rates in the city

Average household size in Ypenburg is 2.6 and in Leidschenveen 2.7.

Across The Hague as a whole it is 1.96.

Three quarters of the homes in both districts are houses rather than flats, which in this city is close to unheard of, and 32 and 30 recorded crimes per thousand residents respectively make them the two safest places in this guide by a distance.

What they actually are

Both are Vinex districts, built to the national planning policy of the 1990s that put large new estates on the edges of existing cities.

Ypenburg went up on the former Ypenburg airfield, which operated from 1936 and closed on 20 September 1992, and which was the scene of heavy fighting on 10 May 1940 when German airborne troops seized it.

Building started in 1997 under the name Buitenplaats Ypenburg, to a master plan by the urban designer Frits Palmboom that deliberately traced the lines and contours of the runways.

Leidschenveen is the same generation, a little smaller, with 7,454 homes across four neighbourhoods: De Velden, De Vissen, De Lanen and the Rietbuurt, the last of which and the district centre were finished in 2008.

Neither was part of The Hague when it was designed.

On 1 January 2002 a provincially imposed municipal reorganisation moved both into the city at the expense of Rijswijk, Leidschendam, Pijnacker and Nootdorp, and together they form the eighth Hague stadsdeel, Leidschenveen-Ypenburg.

They still do not feel like The Hague, and residents will tell you so.

Who lives there

Ypenburg had 26,358 residents in 2026 in 10,190 households; Leidschenveen 20,049 in 7,560.

Between them that is nearly 47,000 people, more than the whole of the Archipelbuurt, Willemspark, Statenkwartier and Benoordenhout combined.

The origin split is the interesting one.

Ypenburg in 2025 was 51% Dutch, 10% from elsewhere in Europe and 39% from outside Europe, with 75% of residents born in the Netherlands.

Leidschenveen was 52, 8 and 40.

Read those two figures together and you have the defining fact about these districts: they are very mixed and they are almost entirely Dutch-raised.

This is where second-generation families from the older inner districts moved when they could afford a house with a garden, and it is not an expat destination.

Average income was 38,600 euro per resident in Ypenburg and 39,500 in Leidschenveen in 2024, comfortably above the city’s 35,200 but nowhere near the coastal districts.

Per earner the gap narrows further.

These are two-income households buying with a mortgage, which is a different financial shape from a high salary.

The money

Average WOZ value in 2025 was 516,000 euro in Ypenburg and 510,000 in Leidschenveen, against 383,000 across the city.

Those are the fourth and fifth highest figures in this guide, above Scheveningen, Bezuidenhout and the Zeeheldenkwartier, and they surprise people every time.

The explanation is square metres.

You are buying a modern family house with a garden, parking and often a garage, built between 1995 and 2005, with insulation that actually works.

Compare that with a 1905 upstairs flat and the valuation makes sense immediately.

Ownership is 57% in Ypenburg and 66% in Leidschenveen.

Private rental is thin at 18% and 7%, and social housing is 25% and 27%.

That combination matters enormously if you are renting: there is not much of a private rental market here, what exists is expensive relative to the inner city, and the social stock has a waiting list.

Buying is the realistic route in, and the mechanics are in buying a home in The Hague as a foreigner.

Mortgage brokers in The Hague deal with these two districts constantly.

Getting about

Leidschenveen is served by RandstadRail, which has run through the district since late 2007 with stations at Leidschenveen and Forepark, giving direct connections to the centres of both The Hague and Rotterdam, and by tram 19, which has run between Leidschendam and Delft since 1 July 2010.

Ypenburg has its own railway station, Den Haag Ypenburg, opened in 2005 on the line to Gouda with a half-hourly service in each direction, as well as tram 19 and the RandstadRail corridor.

Fares and season tickets are in trains from The Hague and The Hague trams and buses.

The A4 runs down the western side of Leidschenveen and the A12 along the south, meeting at the Prins Clausplein, and Ypenburg sits directly against that junction.

In a car you are at Rotterdam, Delft, Zoetermeer and the A13 within minutes, which is the single strongest practical argument for living here.

The sea is the opposite story.

These are the two districts furthest from the coast, on the inland edge of the city, and a trip to Scheveningen is an expedition rather than an afternoon.

If the beach is why you came to The Hague, look at Loosduinen and Kijkduin or the Statenkwartier instead.

Saturday, and the rest of the week

Each district has a shopping centre rather than a shopping street, and the difference is the whole character of the place.

Winkelcentrum Leidschenveen and the Ypenburg centre do supermarkets, a chemist, a bakery, a couple of cafes and the services you need weekly.

They close in the evening.

They are not places you go to spend a Saturday.

What there is instead is space.

Wide verges, water everywhere, playgrounds on most blocks, cycle paths that are separated rather than painted, and the kind of street where children are outside unsupervised.

Families move here for exactly that and they are not wrong.

Saturday night is at home, or in the centre of The Hague, or in Delft.

There is no nightlife in either district and nobody pretends there is.

The other side of that argument is in Centrum and the Chinatown end, and the case for the liveliest residential option is in the Zeeheldenkwartier.

Schooling is a genuine draw.

Both districts have a full complement of Dutch primary schools within walking distance, which is a real advantage over the inner city, though the international schools in The Hague are mostly at the other end of town.

If your child is going into the Dutch system, a Dutch state school with an international child is the page you need.

The honest drawbacks

They are dull, and that is not a criticism so much as a specification.

Vinex districts were designed to be pleasant, safe and legible, and they are all three.

What they are not is surprising.

Streets repeat, the architecture is of one decade, and there is no old centre to walk to.

People who need a city around them find these districts unbearable within a year.

Motorway noise is real.

The Prins Clausplein is one of the busiest junctions in the country and the A4 and A12 form two sides of the built area.

Noise barriers do a lot and they do not do everything.

Visit any address you are considering on a weekday at five in the afternoon.

You will end up with a car.

The rail and tram links are good, but the districts are laid out for driving, the shopping centre assumes a boot, and most households here run at least one vehicle.

Budget for it: the running costs are in the cost of living in The Hague, and if you are exchanging a foreign licence, converting a foreign driving licence explains the deadline you are already running against.

And you are a long way out.

The Binnenhof is not a walk, the Grote Markt is not a cycle, and the international institutions are on the far side of the city.

For a family with children and two incomes, that is a price worth paying for a garden.

For anyone else, which district suits which life probably points somewhere else.

Sources

• AlleCijfers, wijk Ypenburg (gemeente Den Haag): 26,358 inhabitants in 2026; 10,190 households and average household size 2.6 in 2025; origin 51% Netherlands, 10% Europe, 39% outside Europe in 2025 with 75% born in the Netherlands; average WOZ value 516,000 euro in 2025; 57% owner-occupied, 25% corporation rental, 18% private rental; 24% flats, 73% built between 1995 and 2005 and under 1% before 1945; average income 38,600 euro per resident and 49,800 euro per earner in 2024; population density 5,893 per km2; 860 registered crimes in 2025, 32 per 1,000 inhabitants; buurten Tedingerbroek, De Venen, Bosweide, Morgenweide, Singels, Waterbuurt and De Bras
• AlleCijfers, wijk Leidschenveen: 20,049 inhabitants in 2026; 7,560 households and average household size 2.7; origin 52% Netherlands, 7.9% Europe, 40% outside Europe in 2025; average WOZ value 510,000 euro in 2025; 66% of 7,457 dwellings owner-occupied, 27% social rental and 7% private rental; 25% flats and 56% built between 1995 and 2005; average income 39,500 euro per resident and 50,900 euro per earner in 2024; population density 5,845 per km2; 606 registered crimes in 2025
• AlleCijfers, gemeente Den Haag: 569,468 inhabitants in 2026, average household size 1.96, average WOZ 383,000 euro in 2025, average income 35,200 euro per resident in 2024, 69 registered crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2025
• Dutch Wikipedia, Ypenburg (wijk in Den Haag): the airfield operating from 1936 until 20 September 1992; construction of the Vinex district from 1997 aimed at around 30,000 residents; 26,825 residents in 9,734 homes as at 2023; the 2002 provincial municipal reorganisation transferring land from Rijswijk, Leidschendam, Pijnacker and Nootdorp; the six neighbourhoods De Bras, Singels, Waterbuurt, Bosweide, De Venen and Morgenweide; Den Haag Ypenburg station opened in 2005 on the Gouda line with a half-hourly service in each direction
• Omroep West and Den Haag FM, on thirty years since the airfield closed: the transformation begun in 1997 under the name Buitenplaats Ypenburg, with urban planner Frits Palmboom incorporating the lines and contours of the airfield into the master plan; heavy fighting at the airfield on 10 May 1940
• Dutch Wikipedia, Leidschenveen: a Vinex location in the municipality of Den Haag with 7,454 homes across the neighbourhoods De Velden, De Vissen, De Lanen and Rietbuurt, the Rietbuurt and the centre completed in 2008; part of the Hague stadsdeel Leidschenveen-Ypenburg since 1 January 2002; the A4 on the west and A12 on the south meeting at the Prins Clausplein; RandstadRail running through the district since late 2007 with stations Leidschenveen and Forepark and direct connections to the centres of Rotterdam and The Hague; tram 19 between Leidschendam and Delft since 1 July 2010; Winkelcentrum Leidschenveen