Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 115,935 in Essex, East of England. Private rents average £1,424 a month.
Basildon grades D overall against UK towns: better than 10% of UK towns, and #77 of 81 in Essex. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 24% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D−): 54.2 violent and sexual offences and 24.2 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 15%. The median home sold for £325,000 in the last three years, 5.5 times what households in the Basildon council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Basildon 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 Basildon is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 21 buildings inside Basildon’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
0% 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 1930.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Basildon.
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 47% of the crimes. Basildon logged 12,837 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 1,579 complaints of anti-social conduct. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Basildon has more crime per resident than 85% of them. There were 12.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8).
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.
Below are three of its 33 schools, each with why it was picked. Lee Chapel Primary School’s results beat 97% of schools in England like it. 61% of pupils at the town’s 25 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Chapel Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 1,062 | A+ |
| Harris Academy KingswoodLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,513 | C+ |
| St Anne Line Catholic Junior SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 250 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working mainly from home: a quarter of workers, below both Essex’s towns (31%) and England’s towns (31%). Basildon counts 1.2 jobs per working resident. 47% of commuters who live in Basildon also work there. Average household income comes to £53K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
14% of residents are 65 or over, below both Essex’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Children are just over a fifth of the town. The median resident of Basildon is 36.6 years old.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Basildon | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
At the top of the list, 1 are Grade I and 3 Grade II*. Basildon’s listed buildings include the Church of St Nicholas, Grade I. Listed buildings per head: 2 for every 10,000 residents of the town. Homes from before 1919 make up 0% of the total, below Essex’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (16%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 5.8% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than both Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%). 18 GP practices serve the town; 73% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Just over four fifths of people in Basildon rate their own health good or very good.
| Census 2021 | Basildon | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.8% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 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.
Private renters make up 15% of households, below both Essex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%). Owners make up 53% of households. Also worth knowing: half of the 3,625 standard sales inside Basildon’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £325,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £525,000 | 528 |
| Semi-detached | £380,000 | 624 |
| Terraced | £320,000 | 1,781 |
| Flat or maisonette | £200,000 | 692 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Basildon. Best known first.
Historic houseThorndon Hall4.8 km outside town, to the west
MuseumBarleylands Farm Museum1.1 km outside town, to the north
MuseumThe Cater Museum3 km outside town, to the northwestZooZooImperial Birds of Prey Academy1.1 km outside town, to the northWildlife parkWildlife parkBarleylands Farm Park1.1 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
21 listed buildings in Basildon, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St Nicholas: Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Moat at Basildon Hall: Photo: MadeInBasildon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of All Saints: Photo: John Salmon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dry Street Farmhouse: Photo: MadeInBasildon · CC BY-SA 4.0
59 notable people were born in Basildon.
James Tomkins: joshjdss, CC BY 2.0 · Stuart Bingham: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Casey Stoney: James Boyes from UK, CC BY 2.0 · Josh Dubovie: Josh_Dubovie_on_pink_carpet_in_Oslo.jpg: Aktiv I Oslo.no from Oslo, Norway derivative work: HOUZI, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Michael Kightly: Moonraker™ at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Alice Kinsella: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basildon | 115,935 | — | D | C+ | D− | D |
| Crays Hill | 1,218 | 2 | — | D | C+ | B+ |
| North Benfleet | 1,765 | 3 | — | D | C− | D |
| Wickford | 27,533 | 3.7 | B | C− | B− | B |
| Stanford-le-Hope | 29,527 | 3.7 | C+ | C | C+ | C+ |
| Billericay | 34,068 | 4.2 | A | D | B+ | A |
| Runwell | 8,086 | 4.2 | C+ | B− | C− | C+ |
| Horndon on the Hill | 1,510 | 4.3 | — | D | A− | B+ |
Crays Hill, North Benfleet and Horndon on the Hill have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results trail 93% of towns in England, and primary results trail 51% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
City in Essex, England
Basildon is a built-up area of 115,935 people, in the Basildon 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.