Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
In Essex, East of England, this village has 1,233 residents. It skews young: one resident in 5 is 15 to 24.
Walkability is its strong suit (A) — 27% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is schools (C−) — primary results beat 21% of towns in England. A median £779,000 buys a home here, 11.1 times what households in the Uttlesford council area earn in a year. Its listed buildings number 59, with 2 at Grade I.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS. An overall grade needs 2,500 residents, so Felsted is graded subject by subject only.
The 3 things Felsted 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 Felsted is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
An overall grade needs 2,500 residents, so Felsted is graded subject by subject only.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Felsted’s built-up area.
19% 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 Felsted.
Graduates make up just over a third of adults. Children under 15 make up 16%, below both Essex’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). The 65-and-over age group makes up 24% of residents. At 43.7, the median resident of Felsted sits in the middle of the age range.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
| Felsted | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 20% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 16% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.5% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 39% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
28% of commuters travelled under 5 km, below both Essex’s towns (41%) and England’s towns (45%). Home was the main workplace for 39% of workers at the census. Of the commuters living in Felsted, 23% work in the town itself. The town counts 1.6 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Felsted’s listed buildings include the Church of the Holy Cross, Grade I. Conservation areas cover 38% of the town’s land, higher than both Essex’s towns (3%) and England’s towns (7%). Grade II* covers 6 of them, Grade I 2. Homes from before 1919 make up 19% of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The nearest A&E to Felsted is Broomfield Hospital, 5.9 miles away. 15% of residents in Felsted live with a disability. Seeing a GP means leaving Felsted: the nearest practice is 3.3 miles away. Life expectancy here is 84.3 for women and 82.3 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Felsted | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Reported offences in Felsted came to 47 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 4. Violence and sexual offences were 36% of the crimes. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 3.5 reports per 1,000, below Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
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.
58 standard sales inside Felsted’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £779,000. 63% of households are owner-occupiers. Private rents average £1,289 a month across the Uttlesford council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £947,500 | 36 |
| Semi-detached | £457,500 | 12 |
| Terraced | £335,000 | 7 |
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 Felsted. Best known first.
Historic houseLeez Priory2.5 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumDunmow Maltings4.4 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumFlitch Way Railway Carriage Museum4.3 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felsted | 1,233 | — | — | B− | B+ | A− |
| Little Dunmow | 2,644 | 1 | B+ | B+ | B | A |
| Stebbing | 1,061 | 3 | — | B+ | A+ | A |
| Rayne | 2,169 | 3.2 | — | B− | B | A |
| Great Dunmow | 10,395 | 3.4 | A− | B+ | C+ | A− |
| Great Leighs | 2,968 | 3.7 | A | C+ | B+ | A− |
| Great Notley | 7,659 | 4 | A | C | A− | A |
| Little Waltham | 1,038 | 5.1 | — | C | B− | A− |
Stebbing, Rayne and Little Waltham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £779,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £335,000, semi-detached houses £457,500 and detached houses £947,500. Household incomes are higher than in 89% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B−.
That is 19.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Church of the Holy Cross.
Primary results trail 79% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). Places are handled by Essex council.
Village in Essex, England
Felsted is a built-up area of 1,233 people, in the Uttlesford 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.