Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Essex, East of England, home to 8,678 people.
Housing is expensive: the median home sold for £270,000, 6.1 years of area income. Jobs and pay trail most towns (C): households earn a mean £49,489 a year, and 2.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its strongest subject is walkability — 17% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. The overall grade lands at C−, better than 23% of UK towns. It ranks #69 of 81 in Essex. Hazard risk is weaker too — nearly one in ten homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety, B− for schools and C+ for health.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
The 3 things Brightlingsea 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 Brightlingsea is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 37 buildings inside Brightlingsea’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
26% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1915.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Brightlingsea.
6% live in social housing, lower than both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £1,053 a month across the Tendring council area. 409 standard sales inside Brightlingsea’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £270,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £380,000 | 95 |
| Semi-detached | £270,000 | 177 |
| Terraced | £227,250 | 82 |
| Flat or maisonette | £150,000 | 55 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Its two schools are below. 66% of pupils at the one primary school within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 42.3, and just over two in five pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightlingsea Primary School and NurseryLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 653 | B |
| Colne Community SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,289 | C+ |
The median resident of Brightlingsea is 49.9 years old. Children under 15 make up 15%, below both Essex’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.3% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Brightlingsea | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.3% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 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.
Of Brightlingsea’s land, 13% lies in conservation areas, above Essex’s towns (3%) and England’s towns (7%) alike. Its listed buildings include Jacobes Hall, Grade I. It has 37 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
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.
82% of commuters drove to work at the census. Working mainly from home: 25% of workers, below both Essex’s towns (31%) and England’s towns (31%). Of the commuters living in Brightlingsea, 21% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Brightlingsea has 0.4 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Brightlingsea is Colchester General Hospital, 8.6 miles away. Self-reported good health: nearly four fifths of the town’s residents. 6% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above both Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%). One GP practice serves the town; 86% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Brightlingsea | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 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.
Police recorded 376 crimes inside Brightlingsea’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 30 reports of anti-social behaviour. 58% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Violence comes to 25.1 per 1,000 residents a year.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Brightlingsea. Best known first.
MuseumEast Essex Aviation Society and Museum (Martello Tower A)500 m outside town, to the southTheme parkTheme parkWyvernwood2.4 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumSt Osyth Museum2.9 km outside town, to the southeastAttractionAttractionThorrington Tide Mill1.1 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
37 listed buildings in Brightlingsea, 1 of them Grade I.
Jacobes Hall: Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Brewers Arms Public House: Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St James: Photo: J An · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Whippats: Photo: J An · CC BY-SA 4.0
4 notable people were born in Brightlingsea.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightlingsea | 8,678 | — | C− | D | B− | C+ |
| Point Clear | 1,707 | 1.6 | — | D− | D | C |
| Thorrington | 1,427 | 1.9 | — | D− | A+ | B− |
| St Osyth | 2,249 | 2.5 | — | D | C | D |
| Alresford | 2,462 | 2.9 | — | D− | B+ | B− |
| Great Bentley | 1,746 | 3.3 | — | D− | C+ | B− |
| Wivenhoe | 7,354 | 4.3 | A | B+ | B+ | A |
| Jaywick | 5,080 | 4.4 | D− | C+ | D− | D− |
Point Clear, Thorrington, St Osyth, Alresford and Great Bentley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
That is 1.7 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Jacobes Hall.
Town in Essex, England
Brightlingsea is a built-up area of 8,678 people, in the Tendring 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.