Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 44,340 in Essex, East of England. Private rents average £1,380 a month.
Grays grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 36% of UK towns, and #61 of 81 in Essex. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 27% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (C−): 37.3 violent and sexual offences and 19.3 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 27%. The median home sold for £360,000 in the last three years, 6.2 times what households in the Thurrock council area earn in a year.
The 2 things Grays 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 Grays is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Grays’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
14% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1915.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Grays. Best known first.
Fort · English HeritageTilbury Fort2.4 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleStone Castle3.5 km outside town, to the southwest
CastleNew Tavern Fort3.3 km outside town, to the southeast
PierGravesend town pier2.8 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumEssex Fire Museumin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Grays.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
49% of commuters travelled under 5 km, higher than both Essex’s towns (41%) and England’s towns (45%). Of the commuters living in Grays, 17% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 0.8.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Between them, eight primaries and five secondaries teach 8,579 pupils in Grays. Quarry Hill Academy’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. At the town’s 8 primary schools, nearly two thirds of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Below are three of its 15 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thameside Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 844 | C− |
| William Edwards SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 984 | C |
| Quarry Hill AcademyTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 501 | A+ |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Police figures for Grays’s built-up area: 4,063 crimes and 534 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Just over two fifths of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 9.9 reports per 1,000, 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Per 10,000 residents, Grays counts 2 listed buildings, lower than both Essex’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39). Homes from before 1919 make up 14% of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Private renters make up 21% of households, above Essex’s towns (17%) and close to England’s towns (21%). 1,300 standard sales inside Grays’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £360,000. 62% of households own their home.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £510,000 | 140 |
| Semi-detached | £420,000 | 438 |
| Terraced | £335,000 | 442 |
| Flat or maisonette | £196,500 | 280 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
8 GP practices serve the town; 77% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Women here live to 82.3 on average and men to 77.9 (2019–23). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.5% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Grays | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 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.
14% of residents are 65 or over, below both Essex’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Aged 15 to 24: 11% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Grays | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
11 listed buildings in Grays.
State Cinema: Photo: Peter Hammond · Public domain · Church of St Mary the Virgin: Photo: Nigel Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The White Hart public house: Photo: David Anstiss · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mecca Bingo Club: Photo: David Anstiss · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grays | 44,340 | — | C+ | C | C− | C |
| Chadwell St Mary | 10,680 | 1.7 | C− | C | D | D |
| Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 23,589 | 1.7 | B | C | D | C+ |
| Tilbury | 14,187 | 2.1 | C− | C+ | D− | D |
| Orsett | 1,428 | 2.3 | — | D | C | B+ |
| South Ockendon | 22,441 | 2.6 | C+ | C | C− | D |
| Southfields | 1,167 | 2.9 | — | C− | A− | A− |
| Swanscombe | 15,462 | 3 | C+ | B− | D | C− |
Orsett and Southfields have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 73% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £360,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £196,500, terraced houses £335,000, semi-detached houses £420,000 and detached houses £510,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Large town in Essex, England
Grays is a built-up area of 44,340 people, in the Thurrock 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.