Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 3,622 residents in Essex, East of England.
Hatfield Peverel’s lowest grade is for cost of living: a typical home costs £475,000 and rent runs £1,213 a month. The town’s overall grade, C+, puts it better than 36% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #60 of 81 in Essex. Safety is weaker too (C) — police record 32.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 12.5 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 24%. Jobs and pay hold up well (B+): the mean household earns £65,158 a year. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for health, B for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Hatfield Peverel 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 Hatfield Peverel is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 23 buildings inside Hatfield Peverel’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
8% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Hatfield Peverel.
The middle age in Hatfield Peverel is 48.5. 25% of residents are 65 or over, above both Essex’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for nearly one in ten residents.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Hatfield Peverel | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.4% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Between them, two primaries teach 451 pupils in Hatfield Peverel. Hatfield Peverel St Andrew's Junior School’s results beat just over four in five schools in England like it. Of its 2 schools, one is shown below, with the reason. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 40.6, and 38% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield Peverel St Andrew's Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 236 | A− |
70% of households are owner-occupiers. 258 standard sales inside Hatfield Peverel’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £475,000. Also worth knowing: the social rented sector houses 18% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £585,000 | 159 |
| Semi-detached | £375,000 | 75 |
| Terraced | £320,000 | 12 |
| Flat or maisonette | £204,375 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police figures for Hatfield Peverel’s built-up area: 227 crimes and 63 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 11 reports per 1,000, above both Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8). Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Hatfield Peverel has more crime per resident than just over three quarters of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for half of recorded crime.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over four in five commuters took the car to work at the census. Of the commuters living in Hatfield Peverel, 7% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 0.6.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Hatfield Peverel is Broomfield Hospital, 5.7 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 78% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 17% of people here had a disability, near both Essex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Hatfield Peverel | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 8% of the total, below both Essex’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (16%). Hatfield Peverel has 23 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 4 Grade II*. The national list protects one ancient monument in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Hatfield Peverel. Best known first.
Historic housePalace of Beaulieu4.9 km outside town, to the west
Park or estate · National TrustBlakes Wood4.5 km outside town, to the southwest
MuseumThe Museum of Power4 km outside town, to the southeastAttractionAttractionAstaria4 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
23 listed buildings in Hatfield Peverel.
The Crown Public House: Photo: Trevor Harris · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Parish Church of St Andrew: Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Hatfield Priory: Photo: JohnArmagh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lovibond Cottages: Photo: Glyn Baker · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield Peverel | 3,622 | — | C+ | C− | C | B− |
| Witham | 27,395 | 2.3 | C | B | C− | C |
| Boreham | 3,561 | 2.6 | A− | B− | C+ | A− |
| Wickham Bishops | 1,923 | 3.2 | — | C | A | A |
| Great Totham | 2,773 | 3.9 | A+ | C+ | A+ | A |
| Danbury | 6,196 | 4 | A | C | B+ | A |
| Maldon | 23,389 | 4.6 | C+ | B | C | B− |
| Silver End | 3,913 | 5.3 | C− | B− | C | C |
Wickham Bishops has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.6 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £475,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £204,375, terraced houses £320,000, semi-detached houses £375,000 and detached houses £585,000.
Town in Essex, England
Hatfield Peverel is a built-up area of 3,622 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.