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- What it is: a planned post-war district east of the Uppsala centre along Vaksalagatan, a classic folkhem neighborhood of yellow-and-red slab blocks set in open green courtyards.
- Who it suits: people who want a calm, green, affordable home with families and mixed neighbours, and do not mind a short bus or bike ride to the middle of town.
- What it costs: around, or a touch below, the Uppsala norm, roughly 25,000 to 41,000 kr per m² to buy.
- What people complain about: it is a little out, the buildings are plain, and the shopping leans on the mall next door rather than a high street.
First impressions
Sala backe is Uppsala's folkhem made concrete. Laid out from the mid-1940s as the city's first planned satellite district, it sits east of the centre along Vaksalagatan, a calm grid of three to five storey slab blocks in yellow and red brick, set back from the street in open courtyards of lawn and mature trees. City architect Gunnar Leche wanted a place where a mix of incomes could afford to live side by side, with everything from one-room flats to five-room family homes, its own centre and school, and green space on every doorstep.
The result reads exactly as intended, quieter and greener than the inner districts, plain and practical rather than pretty, with generous space between the buildings and children's playgrounds on the lawns. The big Gränby Centrum shopping mall and the sports arenas sit just to the north, and the centre of Uppsala is a short ride or cycle west.
This is a settled, unshowy, well-planned residential neighborhood that does its job without fuss.
Who lives here, and what the streets look like
The mix is broad and deliberate. Sala backe was built so families, older residents and single people could share the same blocks, and it still reads that way, with students from the university part of the picture too. It is a normal, mixed, lived-in district rather than an enclave of any one group.
The streetscape is the post-war plan intact: long lamellhus in yellow and red brick, three to five storeys, standing in open green courtyards rather than on the street edge, with lawns, trees and paths between them. The famous Gröna gatan terrace curves through the middle. To the south, around Johannesbäck, the blocks give way to a pocket of single-family houses. It is calm, green and modest, with ongoing renewal and infill adding new flats between the old.
Getting around
Sala backe leans on the bus and the bike. It is not walkable to the centre the way the inner districts are, but a UL kärnlinje bus or a flat cycle along Vaksalagatan reaches Stora torget in roughly ten to fifteen minutes, and Uppsala is famously easy and flat to ride. Local transit is city buses only, with no tram or metro anywhere in Uppsala, though the central lines along the corridor are frequent.
The bigger picture is the train. From Uppsala Centralstation, a short ride or cycle away, the pendeltåg and regional trains reach Stockholm Arlanda in about eighteen minutes and Stockholm Central in roughly thirty-eight to fifty-five, which is a large part of why people settle out here and commute.se and sj.se.
Typical weekday minutes from Höganäsgatan, with the icon showing how. Times via Google Routes API for a typical weekday ~08:00, measured from the neighborhood centre; the icon shows the fastest sensible way (walk, bike, transit or car), 2026-08.
Daily life
Day to day, Sala backe is comfortable and low-key. Local grocers and the small squares at Brantingstorg and Vaksala torg cover the everyday shop, with a bakery, a pharmacy and a café close to hand, and the huge Gränby Centrum a short step north for a bigger run. The rhythm is a cycle to work, a walk across the courtyards, and a fika at the local konditori. It is thinner on a proper high street than the inner districts, so a night out or specialist shopping still means a ride into the centre. For food delivery, Foodora, Wolt and Uber Eats all cover the area.
Local Places Worth Knowing
Independent and close by, chosen on merit. Nobody pays to appear here. Links are being confirmed.
A long-running stone-oven bakery and konditori in Sala backe, recently refurbished, good for fresh bread, pastries and a classic fika.
A neighborhood Indian restaurant and pizzeria at Gröna gatan 35, serving a daily lunch and evening à la carte.
Uppsala's big regional shopping centre a short step north of Sala backe, with two large supermarkets, some seventy shops and eateries and long opening hours.
The long curving 1950s residential terrace designed by Stig Ancher, roughly 900 flats in what was said to be Europe's longest apartment building when it was finished.
Checked August 2026. Places close and change, so tell us if something here is out of date.
Schools and families
Sala backe was built for families, and the courtyards and playgrounds still make it easy going with young children. Its nearest municipal year-9 school is Gränbyskolan, which runs grades 6 to 9 in adjacent Gränby and posted a year-9 meritvärde of 206.1 out of 340 (Skolverket via Skolkoll, läsåret 2024/25), below the municipal average. Uppsala has free school choice, so this is the nearest school rather than a fixed catchment, and places at popular schools fill early, so it is worth checking admission and the alternatives before you sign a lease or purchase. Only lower secondary has a clean local outcome, so that is the level we score.
Kids Friendly. Flat, green and pram-friendly, with lawns and playgrounds between the blocks and family facilities in the cafés and at Gränby Centrum nearby; the Vaksalagatan through-road is the one spot that wants care.
Pet Friendly. The open green courtyards, lawns and quiet inner paths of this planned district are easy dog-walking territory, with larger parkland and playing fields nearby; the flats are mostly apartments, so private outdoor space is limited.
Green space, leisure and eating out
Green space is the whole idea here. The open courtyards and lawns between the blocks are the everyday outdoors, with larger parkland, playing fields and the Gränby sports arenas a short walk or ride north. Leisure leans toward the practical and the local, a swim or a match at the arenas, a fika at the bakery, and the courtyards themselves, with the full spread of Uppsala's culture and nightlife a few minutes into the centre. Eating out in the district is modest and local, a neighborhood pizzeria and Indian kitchen rather than a restaurant strip, with far more choice at Gränby Centrum and in town.
What it costs
Sala backe sits around, or a touch below, the Uppsala middle. Recent sold prices run roughly 25,000 to 41,000 kr per m² for flats (Hemnet slutpriser, Sala backe, early 2026), just under the wider Uppsala average of about 40,000 to 50,000 kr per m² (Svensk Mäklarstatistik). You pay for a calm, green, family-friendly home rather than a premium address, and it is more affordable than the central and inner districts. First-hand rents are set city-wide rather than per neighborhood, so no Sala backe figure is published, and there is no clean per-area second-hand average either. As with most bostadsrätter, expect a monthly housing-association fee (the avgift) on top of the price, which varies a lot by building.
Weather and climate
Seasonal averages for Uppsala, one representative month per season. SMHI normals (Uppsala) via Wikipedia climate box.
The honest downsides
It is a little out. The centre is a bus or bike ride rather than a walk, and if you want everything on your doorstep the inner districts will suit you better.
Plain buildings, mall shopping. The post-war blocks are practical rather than pretty, and the everyday retail leans on Gränby Centrum and the small local squares rather than a proper high street.
Crime and safety
Sala backe is an ordinary, settled residential district in a safe city, and daily life here is unremarkable. As in most of Uppsala you may occasionally see someone asking for money by the local shops or Gränby Centrum, mostly low-level, while visible rough sleeping is uncommon on these residential streets. No standalone per-area crime rate is published for Sala backe, with the fuller picture on the Uppsala safety page.
Is this you?
If you want a calm, green, affordable home with space between the buildings, families and mixed neighbours, and a quick train to Arlanda and Stockholm, and you do not mind a short ride to the centre, Sala backe is a sensible, easygoing choice. If you want to walk out of your door into the middle of Uppsala, a proper high street and a newer flat, the inner or central districts will suit you better.
Want to know what homes here are actually worth?
Join the waitlistHow we source this
How we put this together. Gathered on the ground by our local field team and written up by the Apraiz research team. Every figure above carries its own source and date. The scores are not computed by the build; walking and transport will use open map and transit data first, then Apraiz's own model. We update prices quarterly, transport and amenities twice a year, and school data when the source publishes.
Sources: Hemnet (slutpriser), Svensk Mäklarstatistik, Skolverket, via Skolkoll, Uppsalahem / UNT, Brå (National Council for Crime Prevention).
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