Photo: PAUL FARMER · CC BY-SA 2.0How Essex stacks up
Essex’s standout town is Great Totham, #8 in the UK for safety. Across its towns, 36% of residents live in one of the lowest-flood-risk towns in the UK. All told, Essex grades A−, 16th of 65 graded areas with a score of 77.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
34th of 65B−48/100 About average for crime. Essex records 37.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales. Great Totham is among the ten best towns in the UK for safety (#8).
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 79 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 21st highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Where recorded crime concentrates
At the quiet end sit Doddinghurst (#84), Tollesbury (#102) and Ashingdon (#104) of 2,138 towns. The busiest quarter for recorded crime takes in Basildon, Clacton-on-Sea and Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock. The county-wide rate ranks 21st highest, but town by town it places 26th of 61.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Essex | 33% | 13% |
Town centres and the people who live there
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Essex, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
19th of 90A−80/100 Better results than most of England. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 65% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (6th highest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Kelvedon and Feering its best at #32 of 2,331.
At GCSE, pupils average 46.7 on Attainment 8 (15th highest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Cost of living
83rd of 98C−15/100 Homes cost a lot of income here. A typical home sold for £365,000 over the past year, 6.1 times the average household’s income (11th highest of 98 areas). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Berechurch its best at #465 of 2,515.
The middle home sold for £365,000 over the past year, 8th highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,352 a month (13th highest); Band D council tax £2,292 (36th lowest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Health
22nd of 98A−78/100 Healthy, town after town. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Newport and Billericay are typical. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 66.9 years (men and women averaged), 1.7 years more than the England and Wales figure.
Total life expectancy is 81.5 years (20th longest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Jobs & income
26th of 98B+74/100 Incomes above most areas. Households take in £59,900 a year on average before tax, against £55,600 across England and Wales (11th highest of 98 areas). Its claimant rate, 3.4%, ranks 35th highest, while household income ranks 11th highest. Theydon Bois leads its towns at #12 of 2,156; 36% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.4% of working-age adults (35th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Getting about
25th of 98A−75/100 Easier to get about than most. 4% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 18% in a bottom-quarter one; Broomfield ranks highest. Essex ranks 25th highest for getting to work without a car: 22% of commuters walk, cycle or ride.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 32% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Flood risk
18th of 87A−80/100 Fairly sheltered from flooding. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 6,190 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 0.9% of them. Berechurch leads its towns at #295 of 2,452; 36% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 81 Essex towns.
Growth
20th of 98A−80/100 Healthy growth. Essex grew 11.6% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales. 24% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 15% in a bottom-quarter one; Takeley and Little Canfield ranks highest.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +3.6% (26th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 54 Essex towns. Covers 91% of residents of Essex’s graded towns.
How Essex compares to its neighbours
Against Suffolk, Hertfordshire, London and Cambridgeshire, Essex lands in the middle on every subject.
| Essex | Suffolk | Hertfordshire | London | Cambridgeshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 7716th of 65 | B− 5033rd of 65 | A 945th of 65 | B+ 6623rd of 65 | A 8610th of 65 |
| Safety | B− 4845th official · 33% in top towns | B+ 6917th official · 33% in top towns | A− 7722nd official · 51% in top towns | C 2740th official · 15% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 37% in top towns |
| Schools | A− 806th official · 23% in top towns | D 1141st official · 1% in top towns | A 906th official · 43% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 79% in top towns | B+ 7134th official · 30% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 1588th official · 11% in top towns | C+ 3767th official · 41% in top towns | D− 196th official · 0% in top towns | D 798th official · 6% in top towns | C+ 4362nd official · 57% in top towns |
| Health | A− 7817th official · 41% in top towns | A− 7913th official · 36% in top towns | A 944th official · 62% in top towns | B+ 6929th official · 31% in top towns | A− 8416th official · 54% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B+ 7411th official · 36% in top towns | B− 5423rd official · 7% in top towns | A 944th official · 54% in top towns | B+ 721st official · 43% in top towns | A 889th official · 44% in top towns |
| Getting about | A− 7525th official · 4% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 5% in top towns | A+ 1001st official · 100% in top towns | A 8617th official · 23% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A− 8011th official · 36% in top towns | A− 8116th official · 57% in top towns | A− 8312th official · 54% in top towns | B 5919th official · 21% in top towns | D 753rd official · 12% in top towns |
| Growth | A− 8017th official · 24% in top towns | B− 4842nd official · 4% in top towns | A− 7627th official · 27% in top towns | B+ 7423rd official · 23% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 65% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.