Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
6,036 residents make their home in this town in Essex, East of England. 57% of households own their home with no mortgage.
Homes are dear: the median home sold for £344,750, 7.7 years of area income. Kirby Cross ranks #65 of 81 in Essex, with a C overall. On that grade it does better than just over a quarter of UK towns. Recorded crime is low (A−): 17.6 violent and sexual offences and 5.3 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The local economy is weaker than most: households earn a mean £42,779 a year, and 3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its other grades sit near the middle: C+ for health and B− for walkability.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Kirby Cross is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Kirby Cross does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 12 buildings inside Kirby Cross’s built-up area.
5% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1908.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kirby Cross.
21% of adults hold a degree, below Essex’s towns (27%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. Under-15s account for 13% of the population. The middle age in Kirby Cross is 55.2. Young adults of 15 to 24 are nearly a tenth of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
| Kirby Cross | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 35% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.9% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
At the town’s 2 primary schools, 62% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Secondary results at the one secondary school within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 40.6, with 35% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Kirby Cross’s two primaries have 600 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift HamfordLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 393 | B+ |
Renting privately is how 13% of households live. 4% live in social housing, lower than both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). 429 standard sales inside Kirby Cross’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £344,750.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £390,000 | 288 |
| Semi-detached | £282,500 | 115 |
| Terraced | £242,500 | 17 |
| Flat or maisonette | £118,000 | 9 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
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 5% of the total, below both Essex’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (16%). Per 10,000 residents, Kirby Cross counts 20 listed buildings.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 2.3 reports per 1,000, below both Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8). Reported offences in Kirby Cross came to 189 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 15. Of all the crimes, 57% were violence and sexual offences.
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.
Self-reported good health: just over three quarters of Kirby Cross’ residents. 6.5% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, higher than both Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%). There is no GP practice in the town: the nearest is 0.6 miles off.
| Census 2021 | Kirby Cross | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 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.
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.
The car took 84% of commuters, above both Essex’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%). 30% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Kirby Cross counts 0.3 jobs per working resident.
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 Kirby Cross. Best known first.
PierWalton Pier1.7 km outside town, to the east
MuseumWalton Maritime Museum2.5 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumTrevor Bright Railway Museum100 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Essex, England
Kirby Cross is a built-up area of 6,036 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirby Cross | 6,036 | — | C | D− | A− | C+ |
| Kirby-le-Soken | 1,207 | 0.6 | — | D− | C | C+ |
| Frinton-on-Sea | 4,865 | 0.8 | D | D− | B | C |
| Walton-on-the-Naze | 6,980 | 1.5 | D− | D | C− | C− |
| Thorpe-le-Soken | 1,590 | 2.9 | — | D− | C | C+ |
| Little Clacton | 2,458 | 4.1 | — | D− | B | C+ |
| Clacton-on-Sea | 53,190 | 4.5 | D− | D | D− | D |
| Weeley | 1,285 | 5 | — | D− | C+ | C |
Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken, Little Clacton and Weeley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results trail 85% of towns in England, and primary results beat 51% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). Kirby Cross has 2 state schools; places are handled by Essex council.
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.