Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town in Berkshire, South East has a population of 5,417.
Strong across the board. Where it does best is jobs & income: households earn a mean £71,098 a year, and 2.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. School results are strong (A−): primary results beat 71% of towns in England; secondary results beat 87% of towns in England. Homes sell for a median £475,000, about 6.1 years of what households in the Wokingham council area earn. All told, that adds up to an A overall and a rank of #9 of 30 in Berkshire. It comes out better than 93% of UK towns. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for safety, B− for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Shinfield 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 Shinfield is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 8 buildings inside Shinfield’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
4% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Shinfield.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Shinfield’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 4% of the total, below both Berkshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (16%). It has 8 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Attainment 8 at the 4 secondary schools within 3 km averages 51.6, and 61% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. At the 14 primary schools within 3 km, 65% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Shinfield’s three primaries have 707 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Grove Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 404 | – |
10% of residents have a disability, below Berkshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (17%) alike. At the census, 2% of people here described their health as bad or very bad. One GP practice serves the town.
| Census 2021 | Shinfield | Berkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 90% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 10% | 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.
11% live in social housing, below both Berkshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (18%). Home ownership stands at 73% of households. Behind the median of £475,000: 289 standard sales inside Shinfield’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £610,000 | 100 |
| Semi-detached | £455,750 | 116 |
| Terraced | £401,000 | 50 |
| Flat or maisonette | £250,000 | 23 |
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 49% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working from home was the norm for 49% of workers at the census. The car took 85% of commuters, higher than both Berkshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%). 31% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Work in town: 6% of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Young adults of 15 to 24 account for 7.6% of the town; what’s more, 9.9% of residents are 65 or over, below Berkshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Typical age in Shinfield: 35.3, the median. Among adults, 50% have a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Shinfield | Berkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 25% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 37% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 9.9% | 15% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 9.6% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.5% | 4.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 40% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Berkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
44% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Over the year to August 2026, 311 offences were reported in Shinfield, along with 44 incidents of anti-social behaviour. There were 8.3 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Berkshire’s towns (6.2) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Shinfield. Best known first.
Abbey or prioryAbbey Ruins4.6 km outside town, to the north
MuseumMuseum Of English Rural Life3.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumThe Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology2.7 km outside town, to the north
MuseumReading Museum4.9 km outside town, to the north
MuseumCole Museum of Zoology2.4 km outside town, to the north
MuseumRiverside Museum at Blake's Lock4.5 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shinfield | 5,417 | — | A | B+ | B− | B+ |
| Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross | 7,612 | 1.1 | A | A− | B | A+ |
| Arborfield Garrison | 4,311 | 2.6 | A− | B+ | C− | B+ |
| Reading | 203,789 | 3.1 | B− | C | C− | C+ |
| Winnersh | 8,904 | 3.5 | A+ | B+ | B | B+ |
| Woodley | 28,019 | 3.8 | A+ | A− | B+ | B+ |
| Wokingham | 50,320 | 4.5 | A+ | B+ | B | A+ |
| Sonning | 1,615 | 4.5 | — | B− | A | A− |
Sonning has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 87% of towns in England. Primary results beat 71%. Shinfield has 3 state schools; places are handled by Wokingham council.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £475,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £250,000, terraced houses £401,000, semi-detached houses £455,750 and detached houses £610,000. Household incomes are higher than in 90% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B+.
Town in Berkshire, England
Shinfield is a built-up area of 5,417 people, in the Wokingham 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.