Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,216 in Berkshire, South East.
Cookham grades A overall against UK towns: better than 90% of UK towns, and #11 of 30 in Berkshire. Its strongest subject is jobs & income (A+): mean household income £76,784; 1.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its weakest is hazard risk (D): 8.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. The median home sold for £650,000 in the last three years, 9 times what households in the Windsor and Maidenhead council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Cookham 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 Cookham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 54 buildings inside Cookham’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade II*.
27% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1890.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Cookham. Best known first.
MuseumStanley Spencer Galleryin town
Historic house · National TrustCliveden House1.1 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseHedsor House1 km outside town, to the east
Abbey or prioryBisham Abbey1.5 km outside town, to the west
MuseumMaidenhead Heritage Centre3 km outside town, to the south
ZooBerkshire College of Agriculture3.9 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Cookham.
GCSE results at the 4 secondary schools within 3 km: 53% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 51.7. Cookham’s three primaries have 616 pupils between them. 74% of pupils at the town’s 3 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, CookhamLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 210 | A |
| Cookham Dean CofE Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 199 | A |
One GP practice serves the town; 73% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. A disability affects 12% of people in Cookham. At the census, 3.3% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, about level with Berkshire’s towns (3.3%) and below England’s towns (5.2%). Men in Cookham can expect to live to 81, women to 85.7 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Cookham | Berkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 89% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.3% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 12% | 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 3 of them. Homes from before 1919 make up 27% of the total, above Berkshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Historic England’s list names 54 listed buildings in Cookham: 3 Grade II*. For its size, Cookham has 104 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Owners make up 77% of households, above both Berkshire’s towns (63%) and England’s towns (61%). The social rented sector houses one in ten households. Private rents average £1,800 a month across the Windsor and Maidenhead council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,250,000 | 53 |
| Semi-detached | £712,500 | 50 |
| Terraced | £505,000 | 51 |
| Flat or maisonette | £335,000 | 18 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Just over two fifths of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Reported offences in Cookham came to 153 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 28. For its size, Cookham records less crime per resident than 81% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 57% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took just over four in five commuters, above Berkshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%) alike, and 57% of workers did their job mainly from home at the census. Of the commuters living in Cookham, 14% work in the town itself. There are 0.8 jobs in Cookham for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
8.6% of residents are 15 to 24, lower than both Berkshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). People 65 and over make up 22% of the town. At 47.6, the median resident of Cookham sits in the middle of the age range. The under-15s are 17% of the population here.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Cookham | Berkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 15% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 10% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.8% | 4.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 51% | 40% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Berkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
54 listed buildings in Cookham.
Church of Holy Trinity: Photo: Rob Neild · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church Gate House: Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · King's Arms Hotel: Photo: Dapaan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Odney Club: Photo: Sean Davis · CC BY-SA 2.0
17 notable people were born in Cookham.
Stanley Spencer: No answer by website owner, Public domain · Noel Mason-Macfarlane: Imperial War Museum, Public domain · Helen Ferrers: Guy, Cork., Public domain · Thomas Powell: Lovett, Richard, 1851-1904, Public domain · Gilbert Spencer: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookham | 5,216 | — | A | C− | B+ | A |
| Bourne End | 7,166 | 1.7 | B | C | B | A |
| Marlow | 14,641 | 2.3 | A | C | B− | A |
| Maidenhead | 67,391 | 2.5 | B+ | C+ | C | B+ |
| Flackwell Heath and Wooburn Green | 12,438 | 3 | A− | C | B− | A |
| Marlow Bottom | 3,339 | 3.3 | A+ | C | A+ | A+ |
| Hurley | 1,317 | 3.6 | — | C− | B+ | A+ |
| Beaconsfield | 14,142 | 4.9 | A | C− | C+ | A |
Hurley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £650,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £335,000, terraced houses £505,000, semi-detached houses £712,500 and detached houses £1,250,000.
That is 4.2 times the typical UK town for its size.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
GCSE results beat 79% of towns in England, and primary results beat 95% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Town in Berkshire, England
Cookham is a built-up area of 5,216 people, in the Windsor and Maidenhead 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.