South Riverside
Cardiff 042 · 4 sub-areas · 7,781 residents
Cardiff 042 is a residential neighbourhood within Cardiff, home to around 7,800 people and sitting at a notably mixed demographic crossroads. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for around £1,070 a month — slightly below the UK national median for a 2-bed and a reasonable entry point into the city. The area stands out for its high proportion of young adults and a significant share of single-person households.
South Riverside is a green, lower-density part of Cardiff — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters. The demographic profile leans family-aged, with a clear share of households with school-age children.
Overview
What's it like to live in South Riverside?
4 parks and 3 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; there's a serious food scene on the doorstep — 62 restaurants and 30 distinct cuisines within a five-minute walk; Recorded crime is higher than the national norm — common for built-up urban areas, but worth weighing if you're looking for a quieter base; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,157 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
South Riverside in Cardiff
Living in South Riverside
Cardiff 042 sits within the city fabric at a density that feels lived-in rather than suburban. Nearly a third of residents are aged 18 to 34, giving the area a younger energy than many Cardiff neighbourhoods, and that youthful profile shapes everything from the pace of the streets to the type of rental stock on offer. Just under a quarter of residents are under 18, so there's a family presence too — it's not exclusively a young-professional enclave.
The cost picture is relatively accessible by Cardiff standards. A two-bedroom home runs around £1,070 a month, and a one-bedroom flat is closer to £890 — both sitting comfortably below the UK national 2-bed median of around £1,200. Rents have ticked up by about 4.8% over the past year, which is steady rather than dramatic. The median property sale price is around £227,000, and the estimated time to save a deposit works out at roughly 3.4 years on local incomes — one of the more achievable figures across Welsh cities. That said, rent-to-take-home stands at just under 56%, which is a meaningful share of income and worth factoring into any budget.
The population skews noticeably toward single-person households — around four in ten homes are occupied by one person — which reflects both the younger age profile and the mix of rental flat stock. Around a third of residents hold a degree-level qualification, and the ethnic diversity index sits at 64.5, indicating a genuinely mixed community with just under 62% of residents born in the UK.
On a practical note, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 660 metres away — about an eight-minute walk — which makes car-free living viable. Greenspace is close too, with the nearest accessible green area within about 275 metres. Broadband coverage here is full gigabit across the area with no below-USO connections recorded, which is useful for the 28% of residents who work from home. See the streets and sub-areas below for more on how the neighbourhood breaks down locally.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Cardiff 042 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. The neighbourhood has a young, mixed community, decent rail access and genuinely affordable rents by UK standards. The trade-off is a crime rate that runs well above the national average, and nearby schools currently rated below the Good or Outstanding threshold. It suits renters who want city living at a reasonable price more than families prioritising school catchments.
- What is the rent in Cardiff 042?
- A one-bedroom flat runs around £894 a month, a two-bedroom around £1,068, and a three-bedroom around £1,186. These are estimates scaled from city-level data using local sale prices. Rents have risen about 4.8% over the past year. All three sizes sit close to or slightly below the UK national median for equivalent properties.
- Is Cardiff 042 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 178 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, which is more than twice the UK national average of roughly 80. Urban neighbourhoods typically run higher than that national figure — which blends in rural and suburban areas — but this rate is still on the higher end. Check Police.uk for street-level breakdowns before deciding.
- What's the commute from Cardiff 042 to Cardiff city centre?
- The nearest mainline rail station is about an eight-minute walk (around 664 metres straight-line distance), making the city centre accessible without a car. Despite that, only around 8% of residents use public transport as their primary commute mode; 33% drive and 28% work from home, suggesting many find local journeys easier by car.
- Who lives in Cardiff 042?
- Mostly younger adults — nearly a third of residents are aged 18 to 34 — alongside a meaningful share of families with children under 18. Around 40% of households are single-person. The community is ethnically diverse, with about 38% of residents born outside the UK, and roughly a third hold a degree-level qualification.
- What schools are near Cardiff 042?
- There are four schools within roughly 2 kilometres of typical residents. Currently, none of those nearby schools hold a Good or Outstanding rating — note that schools in Wales are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, so inspection frameworks differ. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is around 26 kilometres away. Check Estyn's website and Cardiff Council's catchment maps for the most current information.
- How affordable is buying a home in Cardiff 042?
- The median sale price is around £227,000. On local earnings, it takes an estimated 3.4 years to save a typical deposit — one of the more achievable figures for a Welsh city. The bigger ongoing pressure is rent: at nearly 56% of take-home pay, monthly rental costs are a significant commitment for most residents.