Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,973 in Dorset, South West.
Chickerell grades C overall against UK towns: better than 31% of UK towns, and #19 of 30 in Dorset. Its strongest subject is safety (B+): 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 6.3 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Its weakest is cost of living (D): median sale £327,500, 6.2 years of area income; rent £1,056 a month.
The 3 things Chickerell 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 Chickerell is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 9 buildings inside Chickerell’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
9% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Chickerell. Best known first.
CastleSandsfoot Castle3.3 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumBennetts Water Gardens200 m outside town, to the southeast
MuseumNothe Fort3.5 km outside town, to the east
MuseumTudor House3 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumWeymouth Museum3.1 km outside town, to the southeast
PierStone Pier3.6 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Chickerell.
In the comparison, Chickerell comes below both Dorset’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). 69% of households own their home.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £416,250 | 74 |
| Semi-detached | £336,500 | 48 |
| Terraced | £293,000 | 73 |
| Flat or maisonette | £156,500 | 10 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chickerell Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 420 | C− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Chickerell has 9 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. 9% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
For Chickerell, that is below both Dorset’s towns (31%) and England’s towns (34%). People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.5% of the town. The median resident of Chickerell is 45.3 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Chickerell | Dorset | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.5% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 25% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.7% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 21% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 31% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Dorset and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Police recorded 127 crimes inside Chickerell’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 49 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 54% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking, so it runs higher than U.S. “violent crime”.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 22% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Chickerell sits below both Dorset’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (27%) on this measure. 85% of commuters drove to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Women here live to 85.6 on average and men to 81.5 (2019–23). Chickerell has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 2.1 miles away. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Chickerell | Dorset | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.3% | 5.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
9 listed buildings in Chickerell.
Morn Lodge: Photo: N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Chickerell War Memorial: Photo: Basher Eyre · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chickerell | 3,973 | — | C | D | B+ | B− |
| Weymouth | 55,540 | 1.6 | D | C− | C− | C |
| Fortuneswell | 4,554 | 4.8 | D | C+ | C− | C− |
| Weston | 5,208 | 6 | C− | C | C+ | C |
| Grove | 1,032 | 6 | — | C | D | C− |
| Dorchester | 21,358 | 6.6 | C | D | C+ | C+ |
| Southwell | 1,700 | 6.8 | — | C | A | C+ |
| Charminster | 1,732 | 8 | — | D | A− | B+ |
Grove, Southwell and Charminster have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Band D council tax in Chickerell is £2,729 for 2026–27, more than in 97% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Dorset council.
An older town. At the 2021 Census, 23% of residents were 65 or over and 28% were 45 to 64, against 18% and 25% across England’s towns; 17% were under 15.
It has less crime than most places its size: less crime per resident than 76% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Town in Dorset, England
Chickerell is a built-up area of 3,973 people, in the Dorset 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.
