Brentwood’s standout strength is schools — primary results beat 90% of towns in England; secondary results beat 81% of towns in England. The town’s overall grade of A− puts it better than 83% of UK towns, #20 of 81 in Essex. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A): 29% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. The catch is safety: 26.9 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 17 home and vehicle crimes. Only 87% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more have more crime per resident. Homes sell for a median £460,000, about 6.3 years of what households in the Brentwood council area earn. The rest of its grades are middling: B for health and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Brentwood is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Brentwood.
Work & commuteJobs & income grade A
Brentwood is better off than Essex’s towns or England’s towns: households earn £73K a year
29%walk, cycle or ride
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 45% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For nearly a third of commuters, work was under 5 km away. 45% of workers worked mainly from home, above both Essex’s towns (31%) and England’s towns (31%). The car carried 68% of commuters at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
SchoolsA
Brentwood is graded an A for
ASchool Grade
Some 10,690 pupils attend Brentwood’s 13 primaries and five secondaries. Shenfield St. Mary's Church of England Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. 71% of pupils at the town’s 12 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Three of its 20 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 20 schools →
Safety
More crimes per resident in Brentwood than in 71% of UK towns
26.9violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearCSafety Grade
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 accounted for 37% of recorded crime. Brentwood logged 3,982 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 430 complaints of anti-social conduct. There were 7 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than Essex’s towns (4.6) yet lower than England’s towns (7.8).
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 87% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: less crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual1,487
Shoplifting663
Vehicle crime432
Other theft289
Damage & arson285
Public order256
Drugs235
Burglary139
Anti-social430
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.
26.9
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
17
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
7
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
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.
Health
Is Brentwood a healthy place? 86% of its people say their health is good, above Essex’s towns and England’s towns
86%good or very good healthBHealth Grade
The nearest A&E to Brentwood is Queen's Hospital, 7.1 miles away. At the census, 3.7% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below both Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%). Disability touches 14% of the town’s population. 6 GP practices serve the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
HousingCost of living grade C+
Brentwood is graded a C+ for cost of living grade
£460Kmedian sale
Social housing holds 13% of households, below both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Home ownership covers 69% of households. The £460,000 median rests on 2,576 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Brentwood£460K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£845,000
603
Semi-detached
£519,500
668
Terraced
£425,000
557
Flat or maisonette
£275,000
748
69%
of households own their home · England 61%
18%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,620
average private rent a month, Brentwood council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
History
114 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I
114listed buildingsB−History Grade
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 9 of them. The register of parks and gardens lists one in Brentwood. Also worth knowing: homes from before 1919 make up just over a tenth of the total, close to Essex’s towns (11%) and below England’s towns (16%).
Johnny Herbert: Phil Guest, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Stephen Moyer: Larry Richman, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jodie Marsh: Darren171 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Flynn Downes: Egghead06, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sonja Kristina: stuart Burns from Erith, England, CC BY 2.0 · Nicholas Farrell: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
About Brentwood
Large town in Essex, England
Brentwood is a built-up area of 55,339 people, in the Brentwood 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.
Ingrave and Herongate, Kelvedon Hatch, West Horndon and Blackmore have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Brentwood
Are schools in Brentwood good?
GCSE results beat 81% of towns in England, and primary results beat 90% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Is Brentwood safe?
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C.
Is Brentwood expensive to live in?
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £460,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £275,000, terraced houses £425,000, semi-detached houses £519,500 and detached houses £845,000.
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.
