Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 13,902 in Essex, East of England.
Halstead grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 40% of UK towns, and #55 of 81 in Essex. Its strongest subject is cost of living (B): median sale £310,000, 5.2 years of area income; rent £1,213 a month. Its weakest is hazard risk (C−): 3.2% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
The 3 things Halstead 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 Halstead is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 130 buildings inside Halstead’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
19% 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 1904.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Halstead.
For Halstead, that is below both Essex’s towns (27%) and England’s towns (34%). The median resident of Halstead is 42.7 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Halstead | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard de Clare Community AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 370 | D |
| The Ramsey Academy, HalsteadLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 702 | B |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Halstead has 130 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 5 Grade II*. 19% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Women here live to 82.4 on average and men to 78.8 (2019–23). The nearest A&E to Halstead is Colchester General Hospital, 11.4 miles away. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Halstead | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Halstead sits above both Essex’s towns (22.8) and England’s towns (22) on this measure. Police recorded 796 crimes inside Halstead’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 90 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 49% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking.
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
Private renters make up 16% of households, close to Essex’s towns (17%) and below England’s towns (21%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £418,747 | 170 |
| Semi-detached | £315,000 | 213 |
| Terraced | £265,000 | 171 |
| Flat or maisonette | £152,500 | 80 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
That puts Halstead below both Essex’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (27%). 30% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Halstead. Best known first.
CastleHedingham Castle4.7 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumEarls Colne Heritage Museum2.8 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumAlderford Water Mill3.2 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumInformation Kiosk3 km outside town, to the eastCastleCastleStisted Hall4.7 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
130 listed buildings in Halstead, 1 of them Grade I.
Parish Church of St Andrew: Photo: Andrew Hill · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Old Townford Mill: Photo: nick macneill · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Trinity House: Photo: Evelyn Simak · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bird in Hand Public House: Photo: nick macneill · CC BY-SA 2.0
9 notable people were born in Halstead.
George Henry Fowke: Francis Dodd, Public domain · John Coggeshall: Sarnold17 (Uploads), CC BY 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halstead | 13,902 | — | C+ | B | C+ | C+ |
| Gosfield | 1,453 | 1.9 | — | C− | A+ | B |
| Earls Colne | 3,360 | 2.7 | C+ | B | C+ | B− |
| Sible Hedingham | 4,261 | 3.2 | B− | B | B− | B+ |
| Castle Hedingham | 1,045 | 3.7 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Coggeshall | 3,767 | 5.1 | B | C+ | B− | B+ |
| Braintree | 43,179 | 5.4 | C+ | B | C− | C |
| Great Yeldham | 1,824 | 6 | — | B− | B− | A− |
Gosfield, Castle Hedingham and Great Yeldham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.8 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Parish Church of St Andrew.
At the 2021 Census, 10% of Halstead’s 13,902 residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over, against 12% and 18% across England’s towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
About the middle for its size: 38% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Town in Essex, England
Halstead is a built-up area of 13,902 people, in the Braintree 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.