Kerava is a cosy city of just over 38,000 residents in Central Uusimaa. Kerava is a good place to live. Everything is a short distance away, and a wide range of services is easily reachable on foot and by bike. Kerava has fast connections to neighbouring municipalities and the Helsinki metropolitan area by train and by car. The train ride to Helsinki is only 20 minutes, and Tampere can be reached in 90 minutes.
In addition to the cosy atmosphere, residents of Kerava enjoy high-quality culture, art, sports experiences and green spaces. Here, the lush green nature is always close by, as Kerava has many recreational areas. One of the priorities of the Kerava city strategy is a healthy green city, and to achieve this, the city is committed to further expanding its green spaces.
A vibrant city is also built around diverse urban events. In Kerava, the annual Kerava Day is celebrated on the weekend before Midsummer. The festivities take place in the city’s parks, streets and marketplaces and, naturally, residents’ home streets and yards around the city with pop-up cafes, flea markets and art exhibitions. The annual Circus Market takes over the city in September with high-quality circus performances and many other market day activities.
Kerava is also known as the cricket capital of Finland. The city is home to Finland’s only cricket court that meets international standards, which became known to tens of millions of cricket fans in the summer of 2022 as the venue for the Cricket World Cup qualifiers.
The year 2024 will be one of festivities in Kerava, when the city celebrates its centenary. Stay tuned for more information about the festivities!
Kerava has been inhabited for 9,000 years. Evidence of this include bone fragments found in Pisinmäki that reveal what the area’s inhabitants at the time hunted. In the 1500s, the population of Kerava is estimated to have been a few hundred residents. The oldest farms in Kerava mentioned from that time are Heikkilä, Kerava Manor and Lapila Manor.
In the Middle Ages, Kerava was administratively a part of Sipoo. When Tuusula parish was founded in 1643, Kerava became part of Tuusula. Kerava market town was established by government decree in 1924, with 3,083 residents at the time. Kerava became a city in 1970.
Traffic on the Helsinki ̶ Hämeenlinna railway began in 1862, starting off the industrialisation of Kerava. First to rise were brick factories and Finland’s first cement factory in 1869. By 1880, Kerava had 649 inhabitants and in addition to brick factories, was home to a tilery and fireworks factory.
The golden pattern on the coat of arms of Kerava depicts a dovetail joint. The coat of arms is inspired by the wood industry, which is very important for the development of Kerava. In the early 1900s, Kerava was known as a town of joiners and carpenters, and the Kerava joinery factory was once the largest and most well-known manufacturer of furniture for public buildings in Finland. For example, the furniture in Parliament House was made in Kerava.
Thanks to good transport connections and strong net migration, Kerava began to develop into a modern city with pedestrian streets and parks in the 1970s. During this period, the city’s population almost doubled. In 1974, the Housing Fair in Jaakkola made Kerava known to the general public and put the city in the national spotlight.
