Photo: Steve Daniels · CC BY-SA 2.0How Buckinghamshire stacks up
Only two English counties get more of their pupils to the expected standard at the end of primary school: in Buckinghamshire, 67% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Buckinghamshire ranks 11th overall, with an A− and a score of 84.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
19th of 65B+72/100 Consistently safe. Buckinghamshire records 32.0 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales. Few places anywhere beat Marlow Bottom, #2 of 2,138 towns for safety.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 71 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 30th lowest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Few weak spots, town by town
At the quiet end sit Walter's Ash and Naphill (#20), Seer Green (#74) and Wendover (#149) of 2,138 towns. By population, 39% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and almost none in bottom-quarter ones.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Buckinghamshire | 39% | 0% |
Town centres and the people who live there
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
15th of 90A−84/100 Strong results in the classroom. 67% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard (3rd highest), and GCSE pupils average an Attainment 8 score of 50.9 (5th highest). Few places anywhere beat Little Chalfont, #6 of 2,331 towns for schools.
GCSE: an average Attainment 8 score of 50.9, 5th highest. The grade weighs primary and GCSE results equally.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Cost of living
82nd of 98C−16/100 Homes cost a lot of income here. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £415,000, or 6.2 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Aylesbury ranks highest, at #830.
Typical sale price: £415,000 (8,502 sales, 5th highest).
Private rent £1,430 a month (7th highest); Band D council tax £2,474 (22nd highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Health
12th of 98A89/100 Healthy, town after town. Few places anywhere beat Marlow Bottom, first of 2,515 towns for health. Of a life expectancy of 82.3 years, 68.8 are expected in good health (4th longest among the areas).
Total life expectancy is 82.3 years (8th longest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Jobs & income
23rd of 98A−77/100 Well off, town after town. Incomes and work tell different stories: 5th highest household income, but the 35th highest share claiming out-of-work benefits (3.4%). Buckinghamshire ranks 5th highest for household income, at £67,100 a year before tax. 34% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, almost none in a bottom-quarter one; Marlow Bottom ranks highest.
Claimant rate: 3.4% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 35th highest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Getting about
66th of 98C31/100 Most journeys need a car. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (40th lowest). Even its best town, Amersham, ranks #306 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 40% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Flood risk
24th of 87B+73/100 Lower flood risk than most. Fewer than one in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (10th lowest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Woburn Sands ranks highest, at #285.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 39 Buckinghamshire towns.
Growth
4th of 98A+97/100 Among the fastest-growing areas. Buckinghamshire grew 16.9% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales. Only Bedfordshire and one other area put more town residents in the fastest-growing quarter of towns. Aston Clinton leads its towns at #96 of 1,579; 73% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +4.9% (8th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 25 Buckinghamshire towns. Covers 89% of residents of Buckinghamshire’s graded towns.
How Buckinghamshire compares to its neighbours
It sits mid-table among Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire on every subject.
| Buckinghamshire | Oxfordshire | Hertfordshire | Berkshire | Bedfordshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 8411th of 65 | A 917th of 65 | A 945th of 65 | A 889th of 65 | B− 5331st of 65 |
| Safety | B+ 7223rd official · 39% in top towns | A− 8115th official · 58% in top towns | A− 7722nd official · 51% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 38% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 33% in top towns |
| Schools | A− 843rd official · 19% in top towns | B 6417th official · 13% in top towns | A 906th official · 43% in top towns | A 935th official · 64% in top towns | D 844th official · 0% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 1690th official · 13% in top towns | C− 1887th official · 12% in top towns | D− 196th official · 0% in top towns | D 1489th official · 6% in top towns | C− 2183rd official · 14% in top towns |
| Health | A 894th official · 39% in top towns | A+ 973rd official · 88% in top towns | A 944th official · 62% in top towns | A 934th official · 58% in top towns | B+ 6828th official · 28% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A− 775th official · 34% in top towns | A+ 986th official · 87% in top towns | A 944th official · 54% in top towns | A 893rd official · 80% in top towns | B 6410th official · 30% in top towns |
| Getting about | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | A 949th official · 37% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 5% in top towns | A− 8420th official · 23% in top towns | C+ 4445th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B+ 7310th official · 24% in top towns | C 2937th official · 16% in top towns | A− 8312th official · 54% in top towns | D 650th official · 3% in top towns | B+ 719th official · 18% in top towns |
| Growth | A+ 974th official · 73% in top towns | A 905th official · 40% in top towns | A− 7627th official · 27% in top towns | A+ 9511th official · 68% in top towns | A+ 1001st official · 92% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.