Which HDB town is best for a heartland community?

In the current snapshot, Outram leads for a heartland community (94.5%), measured by the share of resident population living in HDB flats across its 32 HDB blocks.

Town ranking · by who lives there

The Most HDB Heartland Towns in Singapore

Q: How is this ranking of a heartland community calculated?

Towns are ranked by the share of resident population living in HDB flats (higher is better). Figures are from the 2020 Census of Population (SingStat, via OneMap) and describe who currently lives in the town — a demographic descriptor, not a liveability score.

Towns ranked by the share of residents living in HDB flats — the most quintessentially heartland communities.

Most young families →Largest senior community →Most affluent →Most graduates →Most car-lite →Most singles & couples →

#	Town	HDB share	Liveability
1	Outram	94.5%	82
2	Woodlands	92.5%	65
3	Jurong West	92.0%	71
4	Jurong East	90.6%	70
5	Bukit Merah	90.2%	78
6	Yishun	88.5%	66
7	Punggol	87.4%	66
8	Tampines	87.0%	66
9	Sembawang	86.5%	65
10	Choa Chu Kang	86.2%	69
11	Sengkang	85.9%	71
12	Queenstown	84.4%	78

Ranked by the share of resident population living in HDB flats. Figures are from the 2020 Census of Population (SingStat, via OneMap) and describe who currently lives in the town — a demographic descriptor, not a liveability score. Snapshot 2026-11.

How to use this

A town’s figure summarises the typical block, but individual blocks vary — check the specific block before you commit. Open a town’s Living in… guide for its full picture, weigh a heartland community against everything else on the overall town ranking, and pressure-test a shortlist with the screening framework.