Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 2,757 residents in Cambridgeshire, East of England.
What it saves you on housing, it gives back elsewhere. Its best grade is for cost of living — a typical home costs £365,750 and rent runs £1,057 a month. Buckden grades B overall, better than 62% of UK towns. It ranks #39 of 50 in Cambridgeshire. The trade-off is schools (D): primary results beat one in ten towns in England. Hazard risk is higher than most (D): 5.7% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Its other grades sit near the middle: B for safety, B for health, B for jobs & income and B for walkability.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021.
The 3 things Buckden 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 Buckden is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 63 buildings inside Buckden’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
12% 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 Buckden.
15% are under 15, lower than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Young adults of 15 to 24 are 8.3% of the population. Residents of Buckden have a median age of 51.2. Among adults, 38% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Buckden | Cambridgeshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 30% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 38% | 37% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cambridgeshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Just over half of pupils at the 3 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Below is its only school. 331 pupils attend Buckden’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buckden CofE Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 331 | C |
One in ten households live in social housing. Private renters make up just over one in ten households, lower than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). 138 standard sales inside Buckden’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £365,750.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £452,500 | 60 |
| Semi-detached | £325,000 | 53 |
| Terraced | £277,500 | 18 |
| Flat or maisonette | £270,000 | 7 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 2 of them, Grade I 4. Buckden’s listed buildings include Curtain Wall to Buckden Palace, Grade I. It counts 63 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 4 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. Of the town’s land, 19% lies in conservation areas, above both Cambridgeshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 110 offences in Buckden and 27 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 44% of the crimes. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Buckden has less crime per resident than 69% of them.
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.
One GP practice serves the town; 93% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 18% of residents have a disability, above Cambridgeshire’s towns (16%) and close to England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Buckden is Hinchingbrooke Hospital, 3.3 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Buckden | Cambridgeshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 16% | 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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 41% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Unemployment benefit claims came to 1.9% of 16 to 64s in 2026, below Cambridgeshire’s towns (2.1%) and England’s towns (2.3%) alike. Driving is how 83% of commuters got to work at the census. About 9% of its commuters stay in Buckden for work. Working from home was the norm for 41% of workers at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
63 listed buildings in Buckden, 4 of them Grade I.
Parish Church of St Mary: Photo: Richard Croft · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Inner Gatehouse: Photo: Smb1001 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Forge to South of the George Hotel: Photo: Mick Lobb · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Spread Eagle Public House: Photo: John Sutton · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckden | 2,757 | — | B | A− | B | B |
| Offord D'Arcy and Offord Cluny | 1,385 | 1.7 | — | A | A− | B |
| Brampton | 6,585 | 2.1 | B+ | A− | C+ | B |
| Great Paxton | 1,003 | 2.6 | — | A− | A+ | B+ |
| Little Paxton | 4,031 | 3.2 | A− | A | B | B+ |
| Godmanchester | 7,714 | 3.7 | A− | A− | C+ | B+ |
| Huntingdon | 25,603 | 4.3 | B− | A | D | C− |
| St Neots | 33,262 | 4.8 | B+ | A | C | B− |
Offord D'Arcy and Offord Cluny and Great Paxton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 9.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Curtain Wall to Buckden Palace. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Primary results trail 90% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Cambridgeshire council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Cambridgeshire, England
Buckden is a built-up area of 2,757 people, in the Huntingdonshire 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.