Zoetermeer: one per cent of it was built before 1945

One per cent of the housing in Zoetermeer was built before 1945.

In Voorburg the figure is 35%, in Wassenaar 34%.

Everything you will like and everything you will not like about this town is contained in that one number, and it is the honest starting point for deciding whether to live here.

What it actually is

A village of fewer than 10,000 people that the Dutch state turned into a city on purpose.

Zoetermeer was designated a groeikern, a growth centre, in 1962, to absorb the housing shortage spilling out of The Hague.

It passed 100,000 residents by 1991 and stood at 130,836 at the start of 2026.

It was built in identifiable slabs, and you can date any street in the town by looking at it.

Palenstein in 1965, Driemanspolder in 1966 and Meerzicht in 1969 came first, gallery flats for young families.

Buytenwegh de Leyens in 1974 and Seghwaert in 1976 switched to single-family houses.

The Stadscentrum followed in 1981, a shopping centre with parking, housing and offices stacked into it.

Rokkeveen came in 1987, and Oosterheem from 2000 grew into the largest district of all with 30,000 residents and 8,500 homes.

The Floriade horticultural exhibition was held here in 1992, which is why the parks are better than a new town’s parks usually are.

The money

Average WOZ value 375,000 euro in 2025, just under the Den Haag figure of 383,000.

Fifty-six per cent of homes are owner-occupied, 34% are corporation rental and only 10% are private rental, which is the lowest private rental share of any town around The Hague and the single most important thing to know if you are arriving from abroad and want to rent.

Forty-five per cent of the stock is flats.

Put that next to Delft’s 67% and Voorburg’s 67% and the picture is clear: Zoetermeer is a town of houses with gardens, built at a size and a price that The Hague cannot match.

Households average 2.2 people, the same as Wassenaar, and for a completely different reason.

Average income was 34,700 euro per resident and 42,800 per earner in 2024, a shade below the Den Haag figures.

Ordinary money, ordinary town, more house for it.

Municipal charges are set by Zoetermeer, so the Den Haag waste and sewerage rates in the cost of living article do not apply, and neither does the Den Haag parking regime in the parking permit article.

In practice most of the town has free parking outside the front door, which is worth a real amount of money against a city permit.

Getting to Den Haag, which is better than you expect

Zoetermeer had its own railway ring, the Stadslijn, with twelve stations.

Between 2006 and 2007 it was converted into RandstadRail, which is light rail rather than heavy rail, and it is now plugged straight into the Hague tram network.

RandstadRail line 3 runs from Den Haag Loosduinen to Zoetermeer Centrum West.

Line 4 runs from Den Haag De Uithof to Station Lansingerland-Zoetermeer, with the Oosterheem branch serving Willem Dreeslaan, Oosterheem, Javalaan and Van Tuyllpark.

Line 34 is a peak reinforcement from De Savornin Lohmanplein.

Journey planners put Den Haag Centraal to the Stadhuis stop in central Zoetermeer at about 21 minutes, with departures roughly every five minutes.

Every five minutes is the number that matters.

That is metro frequency, and it is better than large parts of The Hague itself get, as the tram and bus article sets out.

Benoordenhout, one of the most expensive districts in the city, has no tram at all.

There is also national rail, but read it carefully.

Sprinters call at Zoetermeer, Zoetermeer Oost and Lansingerland-Zoetermeer on the Den Haag Centraal to Gouda and Utrecht line, and the service pattern is patchy: one series runs only after 18.00 and at weekends, another only in weekday peaks, and the main weekday service ends at 18.00.

For anywhere south or west, RandstadRail into Den Haag Centraal and a change is usually the answer, which the train article covers.

Who lives there

58,350 households.

Sixty-three per cent of residents were of Dutch origin in 2025, 6.9% of European origin and 31% from outside Europe.

That European share is the lowest of the six towns by a distance, and it tells you something real: Zoetermeer’s international population is largely settled families rather than short-posting expatriates, and there is no English-speaking scene of the kind Wassenaar or Delft have.

If you arrive expecting the networks described in the international networks article to exist locally, they do not, and the honest answer is that they are in The Hague and you will travel to them.

Making a life here works better through the Dutch routes: a sports club, a school gate, the neighbours.

That is not a criticism, but it is a decision, and learning some Dutch pays back faster in Zoetermeer than it does in the city.

Registered crime was 43 per thousand inhabitants in 2025, the second lowest of the six after Wassenaar, against 69 for Den Haag.

Population density is 3,772 per square kilometre.

What there is to do

More than the reputation suggests, and most of it is indoor and commercial.

SnowWorld runs an indoor ski slope, the SilverDome is a skating hall and event venue, the Stadshart has been extended six times, and Westerpark and the Noord Aa lakes carry the outdoor half.

The Floriade legacy means the green space is planned rather than left over.

What it does not have is a centre with three hundred years of accidents in it.

There is no old church on a market square, no canal with crooked houses, no street that grew.

For a weekend of that, the answer is a 21-minute ride to the centre of The Hague or a slightly longer one to Delft.

The honest drawbacks

It looks like what it is.

Large parts of Zoetermeer are competently designed 1970s and 1980s housing laid out along cycle paths and green wedges, and people either find that calm and practical or find it soulless within a month.

There is no middle position and no amount of visiting on a sunny Sunday will tell you which one you are.

The rental market is thin.

Ten per cent private rental in a town of 58,350 households is not many homes, and most of them are let through agents rather than portals, so the approach in renting in The Hague needs adapting: register directly with estate agents covering Zoetermeer and expect to wait.

Buying is the normal route here, and buying a home as a foreigner explains the mechanics, including the point that there is no nationality condition on owning a Dutch house.

And the distance is real even if the journey time is not.

Twenty-one minutes each way is forty-two minutes a day before you have walked to the stop, and everything spontaneous in the city becomes a plan.

So is it worth it

Yes, for families who want a house with a garden, a parking space, quiet streets and a genuinely frequent service into The Hague, and who do not need the city to be on the doorstep.

On value for space it beats every other town on this list, and the RandstadRail connection is better than the map suggests.

No, for anyone whose reason for moving to the Netherlands was to live somewhere old and dense, for anyone who needs an English-speaking social scene close by, and for anyone renting on a short timescale.

Those people belong in the city, and which district suits which life is the faster route to the right answer.

Rijswijk is the compromise most people end up making between the two.

Sources

• AlleCijfers, gemeente Zoetermeer (CBS and Kadaster data): 130,836 inhabitants in 2026; 58,350 households at an average of 2.2 persons; average WOZ value 375,000 euro in 2025; 56% owner-occupied, 34% corporation rental, 10% private rental; 45% flats; 1.0% built before 1945; average income 34,700 euro per resident and 42,800 per earner in 2024; population density 3,772 per km2; 43 registered crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2025; origin 63% Netherlands, 6.9% Europe, 31% outside Europe in 2025
• AlleCijfers, gemeente Den Haag: average WOZ 383,000 euro in 2025, average income 35,200 euro per resident and 43,900 per earner in 2024, 69 registered crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in 2025
• Dutch Wikipedia, Zoetermeer: designated a groeikern in 1962; growth from a village of fewer than 10,000 residents to more than 100,000 by 1991; 130,850 inhabitants at 1 January 2026 at 3,798 per km2; Palenstein 1965, Driemanspolder 1966, Meerzicht 1969, Buytenwegh de Leyens 1974, Seghwaert 1976, Stadscentrum 1981, Rokkeveen 1987 and Oosterheem from 2000, the largest district with 30,000 residents and 8,500 homes; the Floriade of 1992; the Zoetermeer Stadslijn ring of twelve stations converted to RandstadRail in 2006 and 2007; stations Zoetermeer, Zoetermeer Oost and Lansingerland-Zoetermeer; the Stadshart extended in six phases, the SilverDome, SnowWorld, Westerpark and the Noord Aa
• Dutch Wikipedia, RandstadRail: line 3 Den Haag Loosduinen to Zoetermeer Centrum West, line 4 Den Haag De Uithof to Station Lansingerland-Zoetermeer with the Oosterheem branch serving Willem Dreeslaan, Oosterheem, Javalaan and Van Tuyllpark, and line 34 from De Savornin Lohmanplein
• Dutch Wikipedia, Station Zoetermeer: Sprinter series 6000 (after 18.00 and Friday to Sunday only), 6800 (weekday peaks Monday to Thursday) and 6900 (weekdays until 18.00) between Den Haag Centraal, Gouda and Utrecht
• Rome2Rio journey planner, September 2026: Den Haag Centraal to the Stadhuis stop in Zoetermeer by RandstadRail line 4, about 21 minutes, with departures roughly every five minutes
• AlleCijfers, woonplaats Voorburg and gemeente Wassenaar: 35% and 34% of housing built before 1945 respectively