Centrum

Centrum is the innermost of Amsterdam's seven city districts (stadsdelen). It covers about 8 km² and had about 90,400 residents on 1 January 2026, out of roughly 941,900 people in the whole city at the start of 2026 (City of Amsterdam, Research and Statistics).

Much of the district lies within the protected cityscape "Amsterdam within the Singelgracht", and the seventeenth-century canal ring (grachtengordel) has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010. For statistics and planning, Centrum is divided into ten areas (wijken): the two halves of the medieval core (Burgwallen-Oude Zijde and Burgwallen-Nieuwe Zijde), the western and southern canal ring (Grachtengordel-West and -Zuid), the Jordaan, the Haarlemmerbuurt, Nieuwmarkt/Lastage, De Weteringschans, Weesperbuurt/Plantage and the eastern islands with Kadijken (Oostelijke Eilanden/Kadijken).

Like every stadsdeel, Centrum has a directly elected district committee (stadsdeelcommissie) and a small executive board that deal with local matters such as public space, parks and permits. Address registration, the citizen service number (BSN) and most other services are handled by the City of Amsterdam as a whole (see our registration guide).

Centrum combines Amsterdam's best-known sights with ordinary residential streets, and the two can feel very different within a few hundred metres.

• The medieval core (Burgwallen, around the Dam and the oldest canals, postcode area 1012) draws the most visitors. From 2007 to 2018 the city ran "Project 1012" to reduce crime and change the mix of businesses there; the city's audit office later concluded that it had some successes but did not bring the hoped-for economic upgrading.
• The canal ring (grachtengordel): seventeenth-century canal houses, many of them listed monuments, used as homes, offices, hotels and museums.
• The Jordaan and the Haarlemmerbuurt to the west: a former working-class quarter with markets, galleries, specialist shops and small flats (see the separate Jordaan profile).
• The Plantage in the east: the only nineteenth-century residential area inside the Singelgracht and noticeably greener, around Artis zoo (opened 1838) and the Hortus Botanicus (founded 1682), with the Wertheimpark and the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a former theatre that is now a Holocaust memorial.
• The islands: the Western Islands (Westelijke Eilanden) and the Eastern Islands (Oostelijke Eilanden) were built for harbour and shipbuilding activity and are now mainly residential.

In 2013 households in Centrum had the second-highest average income of the city's districts, after Zuid.

Centrum is the hub of the city's transport network, and most trips start or end here.

• Train and metro: Centraal Station is the main railway station. It is the terminus of the north–south metro 52 (which also stops at Rokin and Vijzelgracht) and of metro lines 51, 53 and 54, which run east and south-east via Nieuwmarkt, Waterlooplein and Weesperplein.
• Trams: lines 2, 4, 14, 17, 24 and 26 start at Centraal Station; lines 1, 5, 7, 13 and 19 cross the district at Leidseplein and/or Weesperplein. Since the network change of 29 March 2026, line 3 no longer exists and line 24 runs via the Leidsestraat rather than the Vijzelgracht.
• Ferries: free ferries for pedestrians and cyclists cross the IJ to Amsterdam-Noord from behind Centraal Station: F2 to IJplein, F3 to Buiksloterweg (also at night) and F4 to the NDSM wharf.
• Roadworks: works on the Rozengracht/Raadhuisstraat axis mean lines 13 and 17 run on diversions into 2027, and several other lines have temporary changes. Check the GVB or 9292 journey planner before relying on a route.

Distances inside the district are short, and many residents walk or cycle for everyday trips.

Almost all homes in Centrum are flats in older buildings: canal houses divided into apartments, narrow seventeenth- to nineteenth-century buildings in the Jordaan and on the islands, and some post-war and newer infill. Because much of the district is a protected cityscape and many buildings are listed monuments, alterations are tightly regulated.

There is no official rent figure for Centrum alone. According to I amsterdam, the official welcome service of the Amsterdam Area, rents in Amsterdam are among the highest in the Netherlands, most internationals rent in the private sector, and waiting times for social housing are typically 8 to 18 years. Under the national points system (woningwaarderingsstelsel), homes with up to 186 points have a capped maximum rent, so it is worth checking an offer before you sign (see our tenant rights guide). In the Jordaan, more than a quarter of homes are social rentals managed by a housing association.

Centrum has relatively few families and many small households. In the Jordaan, for example, only about 13% of households included children in 2011, while 69% were single-person households.

Green space is limited: the Wertheimpark is the only park within the district, and families also use Artis and the Hortus Botanicus (both with paid entry) and the large parks just outside the Singelgracht, such as the Westerpark in West, the Vondelpark in Zuid and the Oosterpark in Oost.

Register early for primary school: I amsterdam notes that many schools keep waiting lists and that you can compare nearby schools by postcode on Scholen op de Kaart. Our schools and childcare guides explain the Dutch system.