Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 33,038 in Berkshire, South East.
Caversham grades A overall against UK towns: better than 87% of UK towns, and #14 of 30 in Berkshire. Its strongest subject is jobs & income (A+): mean household income £74,939; 2.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its weakest is hazard risk (D−): 13% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. The median home sold for £465,000 in the last three years, 7.4 times what households in the Reading council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Caversham does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Caversham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 72 buildings inside Caversham’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
18% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1890.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Caversham. Best known first.
Historic houseCaversham Parkin town
Abbey or prioryAbbey Ruins800 m outside town, to the south
MuseumMuseum Of English Rural Life1.5 km outside town, to the south
MuseumReading Museum700 m outside town, to the south
MuseumThe Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology2.4 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseMapledurham House2.4 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Caversham.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 53% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working mainly from home: 53% of workers, higher than both Berkshire’s towns (41%) and England’s towns (31%). 54% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. About nearly a fifth of its commuters stay in Caversham for work. At the census, 29% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Between them, nine primaries and one secondary teach 4,125 pupils in Caversham. Below are three of its 12 schools, each with why it was picked. Attainment 8 at the 10 secondary schools within 3 km averages 52.6, and 57% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emmer Green Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 417 | B+ |
| Highdown School and Sixth Form CentreLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,537 | A |
| The Heights Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 353 | A |
17% rent privately, below Berkshire’s towns (22%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. Council and housing-body homes hold 8% of households. The £465,000 median rests on 1,317 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £720,500 | 354 |
| Semi-detached | £520,000 | 392 |
| Terraced | £400,000 | 307 |
| Flat or maisonette | £250,000 | 264 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Self-reported good health: 87% of Caversham’s residents. 2.9% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Berkshire’s towns (3.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. Disability touches 13% of the town’s population. 2 GP practices serve the town; 87% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Caversham | Berkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2.9% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 13% | 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.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence came to 16.7 per 1,000 residents a year, lower than both Berkshire’s towns (20.4) and England’s towns (22). Police figures for Caversham’s built-up area: 1,590 crimes and 140 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Conservation areas cover 1% of Caversham’s land, below Berkshire’s towns (25%) and England’s towns (7%) alike. The pre-1919 share of homes is 18%. Grade II* covers 2 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
9.8% of residents are 15 to 24, below both Berkshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Half of Caversham is older than 41.8, half younger. Children are nearly a fifth of the town.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Caversham | Berkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 15% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 11% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.2% | 4.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 40% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Berkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
72 listed buildings in Caversham.
Church of St Peter: Photo: BabelStone · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Old Grove House: Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Caversham Park: Photo: Yablochko · CC0 · The Red Cow Public House: Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0
9 notable people were born in Caversham.
Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick: John Rous, Public domain · Bernard Collaery: Jack bulldog 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caversham | 33,038 | — | A | D | B+ | A |
| Reading | 203,789 | 2 | B− | C | C− | C+ |
| Sonning | 1,615 | 2.8 | — | B− | A | A− |
| Sonning Common | 5,264 | 3 | A | C | A− | A |
| Woodley | 28,019 | 3.4 | A+ | A− | B+ | B+ |
| Charvil | 3,158 | 3.7 | A+ | B− | A | A+ |
| Lower Shiplake | 1,086 | 4.4 | — | C | A+ | A+ |
| Twyford | 8,072 | 4.7 | A+ | B+ | A− | A+ |
Sonning and Lower Shiplake have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Police recorded 1,590 crimes inside Caversham’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 37% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 85% of towns in England. Primary results beat 71%.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £465,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £250,000, terraced houses £400,000, semi-detached houses £520,000 and detached houses £720,500.
Large town in Berkshire, England
Caversham is a built-up area of 33,038 people, in the Reading 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.