Boston has a safety index of 43 out of 100 (Moderate reported crime). This is a relative measure comparing reported crime across Cape Town suburbs, not an absolute safety guarantee. The Bellville precinct recorded approximately 11,888 crimes in the most recent annual period. Absolute crime volume is near the city average.

Is Boston affordable?

Boston sits in the mid-range for Cape Town property values. The median is R2M, placing it in the 57th percentile, broadly in line with the city median. Note that these figures are based on the City of Cape Town General Valuation 2022 and reflect municipal valuations, not necessarily current market prices.

Boston

Safety 43/100 Safer than 50% of Cape Town suburbs (relative) Property 1.5-2M Top 43% Schools 3 98% matric pass rate Healthcare 11 facilities more access than most suburbs Council Above avg complaints 2d median resolution Transport Minibus taxi coverage 4 routes serving the area

Data current as of March 2026

#4 Best Schools

The neighbourhood

What's it like to live here?

Boston is a neighbourhood in Northern Suburbs, Cape Town, where property values sit in the middle-to-upper range for Cape Town. The area's safety profile is below the city average for reported safety. There are several places of worship in the area. The dominant commuter mode is private vehicle. Policing falls under the Bellville SAPS precinct.

How is the area changing?

In Boston, crime is declining based on the most recent quarterly comparison. Property values have broadly tracked inflation between valuation rolls. The suburb is within a City-designated Development Focus Area, signalling future investment and infrastructure priorities.

What should buyers know?

Boston is served by schools within reach, and matric results exceed the city average by a comfortable margin. In this area, service complaints are generally resolved within a few days. The suburb is well-served by nearby healthcare facilities.

Neighbourhood summary generated from StreetSignal data and reviewed by our team.

These statistics describe the suburb as a whole. Conditions vary between streets and neighbourhoods within any suburb.

For home buyers & families

Is Boston safe?

Moderate reported crime

Higher crime Moderate Lower crime

71st percentile among 744 suburbs · relative index, not an absolute safety measure

Moderate Absolute crime volume

11 888 reported crimes per year · city median: 10 468

↑ 1.6% vs Q3 2024

Crime sits in the middle range for Cape Town. Contact crime (assault, robbery) dominates the reported crime profile.

Detailed data

Safety index (resident-adjusted) How is this calculated? 43 / 100

Contact crime rate 648,663 per 100k residents

Station population 78 711

Harm rate (per resident) 43/100

Harm volume (absolute) 44/100

Data period Q3 2025/2026 (Oct–Dec 2025)

Source SAPS via DataFirst · CC-BY 4.0

This data reflects crimes reported to SAPS Bellville precinct, which covers Boston and surrounding suburbs. Reported crime may differ from actual crime levels. Full methodology

Disagree with this score? Challenge the methodology ›

Source: SAPS via DataFirst · Q3 2025/2026

FOR BUYERS & INVESTORS

What do properties cost in Boston?

57th percentile

City of Cape Town Development Focus Area

Boston is within the Belville CBD / Tygervalley development focus area. The City of Cape Town has designated this area as a development priority, signalling committed public investment in infrastructure, services, and economic opportunity.

Source: CCT District Spatial Development Framework (January 2023). Development focus areas indicate City planning intent, not guaranteed timelines.

The median property value in Boston is R2M. Property values have grown by 4.2% per year since 2018.

A 4.2% annual growth rate (CAGR) over the valuation period.

Value band distribution – Boston properties (GV2022)

6-800k

800k-1M

1-1.5M

1.5-2M ◀

2-2.5M

2.5-3M

3-3.5M

Property values are based on the City of Cape Town's 2022 General Valuation roll. GV is an assessed value for municipal rating purposes; transaction prices frequently exceed GV. Recent sales transaction data and rental market data are not available as open data in South Africa.

Median GV2022 R2,000,000

Value growth (CAGR 2018–2022) +4.2% per year ↑ Growing

City-wide value percentile 57th percentile

Dominant value band 1.5-2M

Source CCT GV 2022 · Open Data Policy 27781

Source: City of Cape Town GV2022

FOR PARENTS

How are schools in Boston?

3 schools nearby

Boston has 3 schools within reach. The area matric pass rate is 97.9%, above the city median of 90.0%. Schools include Boston Primary School.

Adjusted pass rate

97.9%

City median: 90.0%

Schools contributing

219 candidates

Median quintile

Q4-Q5

Boston Primary School

Public · Grades R–7 · 671 learners · 20.3:1 learner-educator ratio

Quintile 5School fees applyFavourable class size

Totius Primêre Skool

Public · Grades R–7 · 529 learners · 17.6:1 learner-educator ratio

Quintile 5School fees applyFavourable class size

D.F. Malan Hoërskool

Public · Grades 8–12 · 1,134 learners · 16.2:1 learner-educator ratio

Quintile 5School fees applyFavourable class size

Quintile 5 is the highest government-funding category - fees apply, but these are the best-resourced public schools in South Africa. Rankings set by the WCED against community socioeconomic index. Learner-educator ratio (LER) is from EMIS Q2 2025; under 30:1 is favourable by WCED standards, over 40:1 indicates strained capacity. What quintile means ›

Source: DBE EMIS · Q2 2025

FOR COMMUTERS

How connected is Boston?

Private vehicle dominant

Boston has 4 minibus taxi routes. The most common way people get to work is by private vehicle (93%).

Taxi connectivity

Limited connectivity

4 routes

20th percentile · 3 destinations

Bellville, Du noon, Welgemoed

Based on CCT minibus taxi route data. Routes matched by name and spatial proximity (500m). Methodology ›

Commute mode share

Anyone relocating to Boston needs a car. The 93% private vehicle share is a socioeconomic profile signal, not a walkability score – in working-class Cape Town suburbs the same walking rate indicates structural necessity. Here it is lifestyle choice.

Private vehicle

93%

Walking

Minibus taxi

Cape Town transport context: In South African cities, transport mode is a socioeconomic proxy – high private vehicle = affluent, high minibus taxi = working class, high walking = structural necessity not preference. StreetSignal reports modal share rather than a walkability index, which would misrepresent SA urban mobility. Methodology ›

Dominant mode Private vehicle (93%)

Source CCT Household Survey 2024

Source: City of Cape Town Open Data · 2024

FOR RESIDENTS

What are living conditions in Boston?

Full municipal services

Boston has a service delivery index of 99.4 out of 100, above the city median of 84.5. 98% of dwellings are formal structures.

Computed from the City of Cape Town 2024 Household Survey , Bellville survey group (45 households). Indicative: nearest survey group used.

Home fibre internet reaches 88% of households

› Monthly accommodation expenditure (R4,323) is 2.6× the city median of R1,674.› High digital connectivity: 88% of households have home internet access.

Access to basic services

99 City median: 85

Piped water

100.0%

Flush toilet

97.4%

Weekly refuse

100.0%

Grid electricity

100.0%

Housing & tenure – Mixed tenure community

98 City median: 68

Formal dwellings

98.2%

Owner-occupied

46.2%

Rented

41.7%

Environmental risk – Moderate risk exposure

13 risk index · higher = greater risk · City median: 26

Flooding risk

2.3%

Fire risk

0.0%

Violent crime

6.0%

Non-violent crime

3.2%

Economic structure – Moderate material pressure

Food spending share

24.7%

Share of income spent on food
City median: 35.3%
Comfortable, moderate discretionary income · 87th percentile

Hardship dimensions

Areas of material need (out of 8)

Grant income share

12.0%

of households receiving grants

Monthly savings

R881

Weighted mean per household

Spending priorities – top priority: Food

Food

90.7%

of households prioritise

Petrol/transport

74.0%

of households prioritise

Electricity

70.7%

of households prioritise

Rent/bond

33.3%

of households prioritise

School fees

14.5%

of households prioritise

Digital inclusion – Fibre-connected suburb

Home fibre

88.5%

City median: 46.5%

Mobile only

8.0%

No access

1.5%

Food security

Adult food insecurity

2.5%

City median: 18.3%

Child food insecurity

2.5%

City median: 13.0%

Food insecurity prevalence

6.9%

City median: 22.3%

Demographics & community

Avg household size

2.9 people

Avg children per household

0.6

Asset ownership

Computer access

67.1%

Fridge ownership

95.9%

Property ownership

2.1%

Geyser ownership

96.2%

Borehole access

11.2%

Home-based economy

Home-based business

12.6%

of households operate a home-based business

WFH full-time

3.6%

WFH part-time

14.4%

How Boston compares

Food insecurity 86% below the city average for adult food insecurity

Material hardship 73% below the city average for material hardship

Income 4.0× the city average for median household income

Food spend share 30% below the city average for food expenditure share

Source: City of Cape Town 2024 Household Survey. Survey group: Bellville. Indicative: nearest survey group used.

Energy access

Free basic electricity

5.6%

City median

8% of electricity connections in Boston receive free basic electricity under the City's indigent support programme. Free basic electricity is a constitutional entitlement providing a monthly allocation to qualifying households. The proportion reflects the reach of the City's indigent support in this suburb, not a measure of poverty.

Source: CCT prepaid electricity data (2025/11/30 to 2026/01/31). Covers prepaid connections only. Credit-metered households are not included. 5,283 connections.

Source: City of Cape Town household survey · 2024

FOR RESIDENTS

How responsive are municipal services in Boston?

Responsive

The City of Cape Town resolves service requests in Boston in a median of 2 days, compared to the city-wide median of 1 day. This is based on 8,786 service requests to the City of Cape Town.

Computed from City of Cape Town service request data

Below-average municipal responsiveness. A 2-day median resolution is slower than the city median – infrastructure complaints take meaningfully longer to resolve.

Median days to resolve
City median: 1

18th

Percentile
across Cape Town

26%

Resolved
same day

Single street light out (8%)Power outage (7%)Suspect Tampering (6%)Sewerage overflow (6%)Street lights out (6%)

Service requests logged 8 786

Requests resolved 73% (6 420 of 8 786)

75% resolved within 6 days

90% resolved within 20 days

Source CCT service request database

Community & faith

Places of worship

8 registered

Christian

Jewish

Registered places of worship per suburb from City of Cape Town open data. Coverage: 299 of 744 suburbs.

Municipal complaints

Complaints & top issues

Above city average

Complaint rate How is this calculated? 4608.3 per 1,000 households

Total complaints 8 656

Unresolved 27.0%

Top issues: Street Lights - Single Light Out (708), No Power (645), Suspect Tampering (563)

Source: City of Cape Town C3 service requests

FOR FAMILIES

What services are near Boston?

Well served

Healthcare access

11 within 5km

Nearest public Karl Bremmer Hospital · Provincial Hospital · 1.2 km

Nearest private Melomed Bellville · Private Hospital · 0.8 km

Public facilities 7

Private facilities 4

This suburb has access to both public and private healthcare within 5 km.

The nearest fire station to Boston is Bellville, 2.0 km away. The nearest public pool is Bellville Swimming Pool, 1.0 km away. The nearest clinic is Melomed Bellville , 0.8 km away.

Nearest clinic Melomed Bellville · 0.8 km

Nearest library Bellville · 0.9 km

Nearest park / open space Van Niekerk Park · 0.11 km