Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Over-65s are 37% of the population. 1,207 residents make their home in this village in Essex, East of England.
The weak point is cost of living: a typical home costs £315,000 and rent runs £1,053 a month. Elsewhere it is close to typical: C+ for health and C+ for hazard risk. Schools are weaker too (D) — primary results beat a fifth of towns in England; secondary results beat 16% of towns in England. Jobs & income is weaker too: the mean household earns £42,779 a year.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy and income, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency · claimants, DWP. Kirby-le-Soken has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Kirby-le-Soken is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Kirby-le-Soken does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 12 buildings inside Kirby-le-Soken’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
12% 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 1908.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kirby-le-Soken.
23% of adults hold a degree, lower than both Essex’s towns (27%) and England’s towns (34%). The under-15s are 12% of the population here. Kirby-le-Soken has a median age of 56.9 years. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 7.8% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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-le-Soken | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 14% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 37% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.5% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
1% of households rent from a council or housing body. Private renters make up 13% of households, below Essex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. The £315,000 median rests on 65 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £422,500 | 39 |
| Semi-detached | £265,000 | 17 |
| Terraced | £235,000 | 9 |
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 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
86% of commuters drove to work at the census. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 32%, lower than both Essex’s towns (41%) and England’s towns (45%). In 2026, 3.1% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits. About 4% of its commuters stay in Kirby-le-Soken for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Kirby-le-Soken has more crime per resident than 85% of them. Homes see 5.8 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year. Over the year to August 2026, 79 offences were reported locally, along with 8 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 75% of the crimes.
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.
At the census, 77% of people in Kirby-le-Soken called their health good or very good, lower than both Essex’s towns (83%) and England’s towns (82%). 21% of residents in Kirby-le-Soken live with a disability. This Essex town has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Kirby-le-Soken | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.2% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Kirby-le-Soken has 99 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, higher than both Essex’s towns (51) and England’s towns (39). Grade II* covers 1 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Kirby-le-Soken. Best known first.
PierWalton Pier2.3 km outside town, to the east
MuseumWalton Maritime Museum2.7 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumTrevor Bright Railway Museum1.4 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Village in Essex, England
Kirby-le-Soken is a built-up area of 1,207 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-le-Soken | 1,207 | — | — | D− | C | C+ |
| Kirby Cross | 6,036 | 0.6 | C | D− | A− | C+ |
| Frinton-on-Sea | 4,865 | 1.3 | D | D− | B | C |
| Walton-on-the-Naze | 6,980 | 1.5 | D− | D | C− | C− |
| Thorpe-le-Soken | 1,590 | 2.6 | — | D− | C | C+ |
| Little Clacton | 2,458 | 4.1 | — | D− | B | C+ |
| Clacton-on-Sea | 53,190 | 4.8 | D− | D | D− | D |
| Weeley | 1,285 | 4.8 | — | D− | C+ | C |
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.
That is 4.1 times the typical UK town for its size.
GCSE results trail 85% of towns in England, and primary results trail 80% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). Places are handled by Essex council.
Burglary was rare, with 1 report in the year.
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.