Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,375 in Bedfordshire, East of England.
Sandy grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 45% of UK towns, and #27 of 33 in Bedfordshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £315,000, 4.8 years of area income; rent £1,250 a month. Its weakest is schools (C−): primary results beat 25% of towns in England; secondary results beat 18% of towns in England.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Sandy is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 27 buildings inside Sandy’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1908.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Sandy.
Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 41.4, and 36% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Sandy’s four primaries and one secondary have 2,232 pupils between them. 56% of pupils at the town’s 4 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Peel Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 386 | B− |
| Sandy Secondary SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,259 | C |
19% live in social housing, above both Bedfordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Behind the median of £315,000: 430 standard sales inside Sandy’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. The owner-occupied share of households is 65%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £425,000 | 121 |
| Semi-detached | £325,000 | 123 |
| Terraced | £272,000 | 152 |
| Flat or maisonette | £160,000 | 34 |
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 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Before tax, the average household brings in £63K a year. 80% of commuters drove, above both Bedfordshire’s towns (77%) and England’s towns (70%). The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 3%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Young adults of 15 to 24 are 11% of residents, below both Bedfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Under-15s account for 18% of the population. The age that splits Sandy in two is 41.9.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Sandy | Bedfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 15% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.2% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Bedfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
At the census, 18% of people here had a disability, above Bedfordshire’s towns (15%) and close to England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Sandy is Bedford Hospital, 7.7 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; nearly two thirds of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Men in Sandy can expect to live to 79.3, women to 82.6 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Sandy | Bedfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.6% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 15% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Violence and sexual offences were 46% of the crimes. Property crime (burglary and damage) runs at 13.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 672 crimes inside Sandy’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 154 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. Homes from before 1919 make up 13% of the total, between Bedfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (16%). Scaled to its population, that is 24 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Sandy.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Sandy. Best known first.
Historic houseMoggerhanger House2.8 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseShortmead House2.8 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseThe Mansion House5 km outside town, to the southwestZooZooKnotts of Tempsford2.8 km outside town, to the northGardenGardenThe Swiss Garden4.4 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
27 listed buildings in Sandy.
Church of St Swithun: Photo: St Swithun's VC Lower School · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Queens Head Public House: Photo: N Avery · CC BY-SA 2.0
8 notable people were born in Sandy.
Ben Tuck: Mitchea99, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy | 11,375 | — | C+ | A− | C | C |
| Blunham | 1,391 | 1.7 | — | B− | D− | B |
| Upper Caldecote | 1,333 | 2.4 | — | B− | B | B |
| Great Barford | 2,254 | 3.1 | — | C+ | B+ | B |
| Potton | 5,229 | 3.2 | B | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Biggleswade | 21,945 | 3.4 | B− | B+ | B− | C+ |
| Gamlingay | 2,920 | 4.4 | B+ | A− | B+ | A |
| Langford | 3,712 | 5.5 | B | B− | B | B |
Blunham, Upper Caldecote and Great Barford 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 82% of towns in England, and primary results trail 75% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
About the middle for its size: 42% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C.
Band D council tax in Sandy is £2,539 for 2026–27, more than in 73% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Town in Bedfordshire, England
Sandy is a built-up area of 11,375 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
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.
