Overview
Outram is a small Central Region planning area of 1.37 square kilometres. It covers Chinatown and the streets around Tanjong Pagar Plaza, Pearl's Hill and Jalan Kukoh, between the Downtown Core and Bukit Merah. Unlike most of the city, it has a sizeable resident population: SingStat recorded 17,010 people living there in June 2026.
An older population
Outram stands out in SingStat's age figures. In June 2026, 29.0% of its residents were 65 or older, the highest share of any planning area with more than 10,000 residents, and only 8.5% were under 15, the lowest share on the same comparison. Nationally the figures were 19.5% and 13.3%. About 1,300 residents were 80 or older, which matters for anyone thinking about lifts, clinics and care services nearby.
Homes
HDB flats housed 14,680 residents, about 86%. A large part of that stock is small: nearly 3,940 people lived in 1- and 2-room flats, a category that includes HDB studio apartments and Community Care Apartments. Condominiums and other apartments housed about 1,900 people, and there were no landed homes on SingStat's count.
Residents by type of dwelling, June 2026 (SingStat). Shares are our arithmetic; “–” means nil or negligible.
| Type of dwelling | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| HDB 1- and 2-room flats | 3,940 | 23.2% |
| HDB 3-room flats | 4,250 | 25.0% |
| HDB 4-room flats | 4,500 | 26.5% |
| HDB 5-room and executive flats | 1,990 | 11.7% |
| Condominiums and other apartments | 1,900 | 11.2% |
| Landed properties | – | – |
| Others | 440 | 2.6% |
| All residents | 17,010 | 100% |
HDB publishes resale medians by town, and Outram is not one of its town names, so we do not quote a median for it.
Getting around
Four stations have exits inside the boundary, and two of them are interchanges.
| Station | Code | Line |
|---|---|---|
| Chinatown | NE4DT19 | North East Line, Downtown Line |
| Outram Park | EW16NE3TE17 | East-West Line, North East Line, Thomson-East Coast Line |
| Telok Ayer | DT18 | Downtown Line |
| Maxwell | TE18 | Thomson-East Coast Line |
Outram Park joins the East-West, North East and Thomson-East Coast lines. Chinatown links the North East and Downtown lines, while Telok Ayer is on the Downtown Line and Maxwell on the Thomson-East Coast Line.
Schools and childcare
MOE lists no school inside Outram on the 2025 boundary. Primary-age children attend schools in neighbouring areas such as Bukit Merah, where Cantonment Primary and Zhangde Primary are on MOE's list. ECDA's June 2024 list places 16 pre-schools in Outram, and its 2026 list adds two kindergartens.
Hawker centres
Outram has the largest hawker centre on NEA's register. Chinatown Complex, at Block 335 Smith Street, has 226 cooked-food stalls. Hong Lim Food Centre at Block 531A Upper Cross Street has 103, People's Park Food Centre at Block 32 New Market Road has 87, and the centre at Block 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza has 52. Kukoh 21 Food Centre on Jalan Kukoh, with 21 stalls, is the smallest of the five.
Parks
NParks lists five small parks: Pearl's Hill City Park, Duxton Plain Park, Tras Link Park, Telok Ayer Green and Ann Siang Hill Park.
Healthcare
There is no polyclinic inside Outram. Outram Polyclinic, despite its name, is on the Singapore General Hospital campus at Second Hospital Avenue, just across the boundary in Bukit Merah, as are Singapore General Hospital and Outram Community Hospital. MOH's June 2024 CHAS list places 16 clinics inside Outram.
Community facilities
The People's Association's June 2024 list has Kreta Ayer CC and Tanjong Pagar CC inside the area. NLB runs library@chinatown, and SportSG lists Yan Kit Playfield.
How Outram compares
With 17,010 people on 1.37 square kilometres, Outram has about 12,400 residents per square kilometre (our arithmetic), comparable to Geylang or Bedok and far denser than the neighbouring Downtown Core. Among the planning areas with more than 10,000 residents, it has the highest share of people aged 65 and over and the lowest share of children. Those two facts shape daily life here as much as the food and the rail do: clinics, lifts and step-free routes matter to a large part of the population.
New launches in Outram
Our new launches index lists nothing inside Outram.
Nearby planning areas
Next to Outram on URA's map: Bukit Merah (full guide), Singapore River, Downtown Core (full guide).
Every planning area has a page on our neighbourhoods index.
Sources
- URA, Master Plan 2025 Planning Area Boundary (No Sea), data.gov.sg (updated 27 February 2026)
- LTA, MRT Station Exit (GEOJSON), data.gov.sg (updated 18 October 2026)
- LTA, Train Station Chinese Names (station codes and lines), data.gov.sg; LTA rail system map
- NEA, Hawker Centres (GEOJSON), data.gov.sg (updated 14 November 2026), checked against NEA's list of hawker centres (17 August 2026)
- People's Association, Community Clubs, data.gov.sg (list dated June 2024)
- NParks, Parks, data.gov.sg (updated 14 November 2026)
- MOH, CHAS Clinics, data.gov.sg (list dated June 2024)
- NLB, Libraries, data.gov.sg (list dated June 2024)
- SportSG, Sport Facilities (GEOJSON), data.gov.sg (updated 13 November 2025)
- SingStat, Resident Population by Planning Area/Subzone, Age Group and Type of Dwelling, June 2026 (released 25 September 2026), singstat.gov.sg
- SLA, OneMap search (venue addresses and locations)
- ECDA, Pre-Schools Location (list dated June 2024) and Kindergartens (updated April 2026), data.gov.sg
Facts checked on 15 November 2026. See our editorial policy.
Last updated