Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
23,691 people call this large town in Buckinghamshire, South East home.
On schools it is strong (A−): primary results beat nearly three in five towns in England; secondary results beat 95% of towns in England. With a B overall, Chesham is better than 62% of UK towns and ranks #29 of 39 in Buckinghamshire. Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 22% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. A median £440,000 buys a home here, 6.3 times what households in the Buckinghamshire council area earn in a year. Hazard risk is higher than most (C−): 2.8% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for health and B− for jobs & income.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP.
The 3 things Chesham 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 Chesham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 131 buildings inside Chesham’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
17% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1909.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Chesham.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 38% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.6 jobs in Chesham for each resident in work. Of the commuters living locally, 23% work in the town itself. 35% of commuters travelled under 5 km, below Buckinghamshire’s towns (40%) and England’s towns (45%) alike. The average household earns £64K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Chesham’s six primaries and two secondaries have 3,641 pupils between them. Of its 9 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 57.6, with 62% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brushwood Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 257 | A− |
| Chesham Grammar SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,331 | A+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Chesham’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. 17% of its homes were built before 1919, higher than both Buckinghamshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (16%). Relative to its size, Chesham keeps 55 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence and sexual offences were 45% of the crimes. Violent crime ran at 26.2 per 1,000 residents a year, above Buckinghamshire’s towns (18.3) and England’s towns (22) alike. Police recorded 1,439 crimes inside Chesham’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 221 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.
Social renters account for just over a fifth of households. 797 standard sales inside Chesham’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £440,000. Private rents average £1,475 a month across the Buckinghamshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £760,000 | 153 |
| Semi-detached | £490,000 | 245 |
| Terraced | £410,000 | 245 |
| Flat or maisonette | £251,900 | 154 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
3 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Chesham is Watford General Hospital, 9.9 miles away. A disability affects 15% of people locally.
| Census 2021 | Chesham | Buckinghamshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 86% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.9% | 3.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 14% | 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.
The median resident of Chesham is 41.1 years old. The 15-to-24 age group: 10%, near Buckinghamshire’s towns (11%) and lower than England’s towns (12%). 19% of residents are children under 15.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Chesham | Buckinghamshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.8% | 4.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 39% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Buckinghamshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Chesham. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritageBerkhamsted Castle4.7 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumChesham Museum200 m outside town, to the southeast
MuseumThe Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre4.8 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseLatimer House2.8 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseChenies Manor4.5 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumAmersham Museum3 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
131 listed buildings in Chesham, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St Mary: Photo: Iridescent · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chesham Underground Station including water tower to south and signal box to south-east: Photo: Gordon Joly · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 54 and 56, Church Street: Photo: Stefan Czapski · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Weedon Almshouses: Photo: No Swan So Fine · CC BY-SA 4.0
8 notable people were born in Chesham.
Margaret Mee: Tony Morrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arthur Lasenby Liberty: Arthur Hacker (1858-1919), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chesham | 23,691 | — | B | C+ | C+ | B− |
| Hyde Heath | 1,048 | 2.2 | — | C− | A | A+ |
| Amersham | 17,377 | 2.4 | A+ | C− | B | A+ |
| South Heath | 1,278 | 3.2 | — | C− | A | A+ |
| Bovingdon | 5,313 | 3.4 | A | D | B | A |
| Little Chalfont | 6,506 | 3.6 | A | C− | B− | A+ |
| Berkhamsted | 21,236 | 3.9 | A | D | B | A+ |
| Little Kingshill | 1,471 | 4.1 | — | C− | A+ | A+ |
Hyde Heath, South Heath and Little Kingshill have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.3 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 95% of towns in England. Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 59%.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £440,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £251,900, terraced houses £410,000, semi-detached houses £490,000 and detached houses £760,000.
Large town in Buckinghamshire, England
Chesham is a built-up area of 23,691 people, in the Buckinghamshire 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.