Abstract Safe and efficient delivery of therapeutic cells to sites of injury/disease in the central nervous system is a key goal for the translation of clinical cell transplantation therapies. Recently, ‘magnetic cell localization strategies ' have emerged as a promising and safe approach for targeted delivery of magnetic particle (MP) labeled stem cells to pathology sites. For neuroregenerative applications, this approach is limited by the lack of available neurocompatible MPs, and low cell labeling achieved in neural stem/precursor populations. We demonstrate that high magnetite content, self-sedimenting polymeric MPs unfunctionalized poly(lactic acid) coated, without a transfecting component achieve efficient labeling (≥ 90%) of primary neural stem cells (NSCs)—a ‘hard-to-label’ transplant population of major clinical relevance. Our protocols showed high safety with respect to key stem cell regenerative parameters. Critically, labeled cells were effectively localized in an in vitro flow system by magnetic force highlighting the translational potential of the methods used. From the Clinical Editor Utilizing self-sedimenting polymeric magnetic particles, the authors demonstrate an efficient method for magnetically labeling primary neural stem cells for magnetic localization in the central nervous system.