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Municipality

Living in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is built on soft soil of peat and clay. The canal belt and many pre-war neighbourhoods stand on wooden piles driven deep into the ground. Foundation repair has long been an issue here, especially in the old city and the 19th-century ring.

After 1970, concrete piles became the norm. Areas such as Nieuw-West, Zuidoost and IJburg were largely built after that. Whether a home is at risk therefore depends strongly on the neighbourhood and construction year.

Check an address in Amsterdam

Amsterdam in numbers

Residents
941,927
figure from 2026
Average home value (WOZ)
€518,000
Netherlands: €398,000figure from 2025
Owner-occupied homes
31%
Netherlands: 57%figure from 2025
Households with children
23%
Netherlands: 31%figure from 2026
Distance to GP
0.6 km
Netherlands: 1.1 kmfigure from 2025
Distance to large supermarket
0.6 km
Netherlands: 1 kmfigure from 2025

Foundations in Amsterdam

60% of the 182,020 buildings in Amsterdam were built before 1970. In the west and north of the Netherlands, homes from that period often stand on wooden piles.

60% of the buildings are on soft soil or in an urban area in the west or north and date from before 1970. For those, our check shows ‘Needs attention’.

Soil under the buildings

  • Soft soil (peat, clay)

    18% of buildings · 5% of those from before 1970

  • City, soil not classified

    82% of buildings · 72% of those from before 1970

Foundation map of Amsterdam

Indicative areas of concern for foundation problems: the share of buildings from before 1970 per postcode area, coloured by soil type. Zoom in or out to explore.

Noise in Amsterdam

In half of the 424 neighbourhoods, daytime noise is 53 dB or less. In 36% of neighbourhoods it is 55 dB or more, a level many people find annoying.

Quietest neighbourhoods

  1. Ed Pelsterparkbuurt44 dB
  2. Holysloot45 dB
  3. Aetsveldsepolder46 dB

Noisiest neighbourhoods

  1. Bedrijventerrein Van Houten74 dB
  2. Gooise Kant72 dB
  3. Frederik Hendrikbuurt-Zuidoost70 dB

Air quality in Amsterdam

Half of the neighbourhoods have a nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) level of 17.7 µg/m³ or less. The WHO guideline is 10; the European limit from 2030 is 20.

Cleanest air

  1. Holysloot11.3 µg/m³
  2. Gein 311.4 µg/m³
  3. Aetsveldsepolder11.6 µg/m³

Most nitrogen dioxide

  1. Rapenburg24.6 µg/m³
  2. Scheepvaarthuisbuurt23.8 µg/m³
  3. IJsbaanpad e.o.22.9 µg/m³

Noise and air quality per neighbourhood are taken at the centre point of the neighbourhood. Next to busy roads in the same neighbourhood it can differ. Check an address for the value at that spot.

Sources: RVO/KCAF (2019), RIVM noise (2022) and air quality (2024), CBS Kerncijfers wijken en buurten. Aggregated on October 12, 2026.