Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Over-65s are only 12% of the population. A town of 18,814 in Bedfordshire, East of England.
Overall, Houghton Regis earns a C−, better than 22% of UK towns. Its weakest is safety: 40.5 violent and sexual offences and 18.4 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Set beside UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, its crime per resident is higher than in 76%. Buying a home costs less than in most towns: the median home sold for £331,250, 5.1 years of area income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Houghton Regis is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Houghton Regis does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 16 buildings inside Houghton Regis’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
1% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →16 listed buildings in Houghton Regis, 1 of them Grade I.
Houghton Hall: Photo: Rob Farrow · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Crown Public House: Photo: Philip Jeffrey · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Houghton Regis.
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 1,580 crimes and 493 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Houghton Regis’s built-up area. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 26 reports per 1,000, higher than both Bedfordshire’s towns (10.2) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences were 48% of the crimes.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
Some 2,878 pupils attend Houghton Regis’s six primaries and one secondary. Of its 9 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Secondary results at the 9 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 43.4, with 42% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thornhill Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 516 | B+ |
| Houstone SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 765 | B+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Relative to its size, Houghton Regis keeps 9 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Bedfordshire’s towns (41) and England’s towns (39). The town’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. Grade II* covers 2 of them, Grade I 1.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 51% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Houghton Regis is Luton and Dunstable Hospital, 2 miles away. 4.9% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, between Bedfordshire’s towns (4.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Houghton Regis | Bedfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 15% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
Private renters make up 15% of households, below Bedfordshire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. The £331,250 median rests on 1,036 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). 59% of households are owner-occupiers.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £440,000 | 266 |
| Semi-detached | £355,000 | 322 |
| Terraced | £290,000 | 314 |
| Flat or maisonette | £221,750 | 134 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 1.1 jobs in Houghton Regis for each resident in work. Of the commuters living in the town, 9% work in the town itself. 20% of workers worked mainly from home at the census. Households had £58K a year before tax, below Bedfordshire’s towns (£68K) and close to England’s towns (£55K).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Degrees are held by just over a quarter of adults. Just over one in ten residents are 65 or over, below both Bedfordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Residents of Houghton Regis have a median age of 36.5.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Houghton Regis | Bedfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 12% | 15% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.6% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Bedfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Houghton Regis. Best known first.
Abbey or prioryDunstable Priory900 m outside town, to the southGardenGarden · National TrustWhipsnade Tree Cathedral4.7 km outside town, to the southPark or estatePark or estate · National TrustDunstable Downs3.3 km outside town, to the southAttractionAttractionMead Open Farm4.6 km outside town, to the westZooZooPenguin Enclosure5 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Bedfordshire, England
Houghton Regis is a built-up area of 18,814 people, in the Central Bedfordshire council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houghton Regis | 18,814 | — | C− | B+ | D | C− |
| Dunstable | 34,498 | 1.7 | B− | A− | C | C+ |
| Toddington | 4,509 | 2.7 | B+ | B | B+ | B− |
| Totternhoe | 1,017 | 2.7 | — | B− | B− | B |
| Hockliffe | 1,068 | 3.4 | — | A− | C+ | B− |
| Luton | 233,524 | 3.6 | C− | D | C− | C− |
| Eaton Bray and Edlesborough | 4,201 | 3.8 | B | C | B+ | A− |
| Caddington | 3,288 | 3.9 | B+ | B− | B+ | B− |
Totternhoe and Hockliffe have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results trail 65% of towns in England, and primary results trail 90% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
