Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a large town of 33,338 residents in Essex, East of England.
Strong in places, weak in others. Fewer journeys need a car (A+): just over a third of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. With a B overall, Loughton sits #40 of 81 in Essex. On that grade it does better than 58% of UK towns. Housing is expensive: homes sell for a median £495,000, about 7.7 times local household income.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Loughton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Loughton does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 41 buildings inside Loughton’s built-up area.
7% 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 1905.
41 listed buildings in Loughton.
Loughton London Regional Transport Underground Station with associated shops and platforms: Photo: Sunil060902 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin: Photo: Peter Trimming · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Whitaker's Charity Almshouses: Photo: Robin Webster · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Gardeners Arms Public House: Photo: Alex McGregor · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Loughton.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 40% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 1 jobs in Loughton for each resident in work. 62% of commuters drove, below both Essex’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%). The average household earns £65K a year before tax. Work in town: 21% of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Between them, seven primaries and three secondaries teach 6,409 pupils in Loughton. Three of its 11 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 48.4, and 52% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staples Road Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 626 | B |
| Roding Valley High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,473 | C+ |
| Hereward Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 445 | A |
From September 2023 to August 2026, 1,331 homes sold inside Loughton’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £495,000. Nearly two thirds of households own their home, near Essex’s towns (67%) and higher than England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £1,844 a month across the Epping Forest council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £985,000 | 171 |
| Semi-detached | £592,500 | 330 |
| Terraced | £500,000 | 412 |
| Flat or maisonette | £350,000 | 418 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 2,345 offences in Loughton and 289 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violent crime runs at 30.2 per 1,000 residents a year. 40% of the crimes fell under 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.
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 7% of the total. For its size, Loughton has 12 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Essex’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
3 GP practices serve the town; 67% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, 85% of residents of Loughton said they were in good or very good health. 4% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike.
| Census 2021 | Loughton | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
Degrees are held by 35% of adults, higher than Essex’s towns (27%) and near England’s towns (34%). Typical age in Loughton: 40.3, the median. The 15-to-24 age group makes up just over one in ten residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Loughton | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.4% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Loughton. Best known first.
Historic houseCopped Hall3.2 km outside town, to the north
Historic houseHill Hall4.5 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionQueen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge1.6 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumThe Hirsch Family Adventure Gallery2.6 km outside town, to the westWater parkWater parkAqua Action4.9 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumRSA Interpretation Centre4.8 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
21 notable people were born in Loughton.
Arthur Llewellyn Basham: Rkkrupa, CC0 · Diana Kennedy: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 · Joanna Forest: Joannaforest, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large town in Essex, England
Loughton is a built-up area of 33,338 people, in the Epping Forest 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loughton | 33,338 | — | B | C− | C | B |
| Buckhurst Hill | 11,749 | 1.9 | B+ | D | C | A− |
| Theydon Bois | 3,540 | 2.1 | A− | D | B− | A− |
| Abridge | 1,651 | 2.2 | — | C− | B− | B+ |
| Chigwell | 12,251 | 2.4 | B | D | C | B+ |
| Chigwell Row | 2,115 | 2.7 | — | C− | C | B+ |
| Waltham Abbey | 18,645 | 3.6 | D | C | D | C− |
| Epping | 10,693 | 3.9 | B+ | D | C− | B |
Abridge and Chigwell Row have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £495,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £350,000, terraced houses £500,000, semi-detached houses £592,500 and detached houses £985,000.
About the middle for its size: 56% 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.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.