Safety is its weak spot: police record 42.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 15.3 home and vehicle crimes. Set beside UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, its crime per resident is higher than in 74%. Residents’ health trails most towns (C): men here can expect to live to 79, women to 82.3. Homes sell for a median £360,000, about 5.9 years of what households in the Rochford council area earn. Where it does best is walkability: 18% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. The overall grade comes out at C−, #66 of 81 in Essex. Set against the rest, it does better than 24% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for schools and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Rochford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (5)
Southend Pier: Southend_Pier_Autumn_2007.jpg: Damian Dukarski The original uploader was Dammmmian at English Wikipedia. derivative work: SilkTork, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rochford.
Who lives here
Degrees are less common in Rochford than in Essex’s towns or across England’s towns: 22% of adults
The middle age in Rochford is 40.8. Young adults of 15 to 24 are one in ten residents, close to Essex’s towns (11%) and below England’s towns (12%). The share of residents under 15 is 18%.
40.8median age
RochfordEssexEngland
Ages · share of residents
19%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications20%
Apprenticeship6%
A levels or similar19%
Degree level22%
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
WomenEnglandMen
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
SchoolsC+
Exam results at Rochford’s schools trail 55% of towns in England
58% of pupils at the town’s 4 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Rochford Primary and Nursery School’s results beat 79% of schools in England like it. Of its 7 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Between them, five primaries and one secondary teach 2,327 pupils locally.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 7 schools →
Safety
More crimes per resident in Rochford than in 86% of UK towns
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 930 crimes and 113 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Rochford’s built-up area. Violence and sexual offences made up 57% of the total. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 8.3 reports per 1,000, above Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
42.2violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearDSafety Grade
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 26% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: more crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual528
Damage & arson77
Other theft67
Public order60
Vehicle crime51
Drugs48
Burglary28
Other crime26
Anti-social113
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.
42.2
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
15.3
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
8.3
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
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.
Health
Disability is more common in Rochford than in Essex’s towns or across England’s towns: 19% of residents
Women here live to 82.3 on average and men to 79 (2019–23). 81% of Rochford’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, lower than both Essex’s towns (83%) and England’s towns (82%). 2 GP practices serve the town; 82% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
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.
Work & commuteJobs & income grade C+
More people aged 16 to 64 in Rochford claim unemployment benefits than in Essex’s towns or England’s towns: 3.6%
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 31% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 1.2 jobs in Rochford for each resident in work. 12% of commuters who live in Rochford also work there. Households had £52K a year before tax, about level with England’s towns (£55K) and below Essex’s towns (£63K). By car: that was how nearly four in five commuters travelled at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
HousingCost of living grade C+
Private renting is less common in Rochford than in Essex’s towns or across England’s towns: 16%
Half of the 658 standard sales inside Rochford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £360,000. Private rents average £1,300 a month across the Rochford council area. Nearly two thirds of households own their home, near Essex’s towns (67%) and higher than England’s towns (61%).
£360Kmedian sale
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Rochford£360K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£510,000
153
Semi-detached
£365,000
316
Terraced
£316,250
70
Flat or maisonette
£160,000
119
66%
of households own their home · England 61%
16%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,300
average private rent a month, Rochford council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
History
Much of Rochford is a conservation area: 100% of its land, more than in both Essex’s towns and England’s towns
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
At the top of the list, 1 are Grade I and 3 Grade II*. The pre-1919 share of homes is 6%. Rochford’s listed buildings include Rochford Hall and Ruins, Grade I.
Amanda Tapping: Lisa West Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Will Stevens: ThumperGT, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Omar Abdullah: Joel's Goa Pics, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jamie Cullum: Tore Sætre, CC BY-SA 4.0 · James Bourne: BourneosPsychoGirl, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Keith Taylor: Karen Blakeman, CC BY-SA 2.0
Canewdon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Rochford
How many listed buildings are there in Rochford?
That is 2.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Rochford Hall and Ruins. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Is Rochford expensive to live in?
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £360,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £160,000, terraced houses £316,250, semi-detached houses £365,000 and detached houses £510,000.
About Rochford
Town in Essex, England
Rochford is a built-up area of 12,617 people, in the Rochford 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
Population
12,617 (Census 2021)
Council
Rochford
County
Essex
Region
East of England
Area
1.3 sq mi (3.3 km²)
ONS code
E63004763
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.
