Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town has 9,302 residents and lies in Essex, East of England.
Tiptree’s schools beat most: primary results beat 79% of towns in England; secondary results beat 64% of towns in England. A median £365,000 buys a home here, 5.9 times what households in the Colchester council area earn in a year. Add health to its strengths (B+): life expectancy 81.5 for men, 85.4 for women. The overall grade comes out at B+, #27 of 81 in Essex. On that grade it does better than 74% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B− for safety, B− for jobs & income, B for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Tiptree does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Tiptree is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 20 buildings inside Tiptree’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 1920.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Tiptree.
Graduates make up nearly a quarter of adults. Children under 15 make up 15%, below both Essex’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Young adults of 15 to 24 account for 10% of the town. Residents of Tiptree have a median age of 48.
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.
| Tiptree | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.4% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 46.5, and 52% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Of its 4 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 3 primary schools: 67% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Luke's Church of England Controlled Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 267 | B |
| Thurstable SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 932 | B |
| Milldene Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 185 | A− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
The pre-1919 share of homes is 7%. Scaled to its population, Tiptree has 22 listed buildings per 10,000 people, below Essex’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The nearest A&E to Tiptree is Colchester General Hospital, 9.2 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 81% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.3% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Tiptree | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.3% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
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.
15% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, lower than both Essex’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (27%). Before tax, the average household brings in £55K a year. Work in town: 21% of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 0.6.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
7% live in social housing, below both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private tenants account for 13% of households. Also worth knowing: half of the 545 standard sales inside Tiptree’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £365,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £451,550 | 239 |
| Semi-detached | £345,000 | 216 |
| Terraced | £296,250 | 64 |
| Flat or maisonette | £173,750 | 26 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Homes see 8.2 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 376 crimes inside Tiptree’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 38 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence came to 26.3 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Essex’s towns (22.8) and England’s towns (22). 51% 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.
20 listed buildings in Tiptree.
Windmill: Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Maypole Public House: Photo: Robin Webster · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Luke: Photo: Angela Tuff · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Anchor Public House: Photo: Angela Tuff · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiptree | 9,302 | — | B+ | B | B− | B+ |
| Tolleshunt Knights | 1,059 | 1.3 | — | C+ | A+ | A− |
| Kelvedon and Feering | 4,771 | 2.5 | A− | C | C+ | B |
| Great Totham | 2,773 | 3.7 | A+ | C+ | A+ | A |
| Wickham Bishops | 1,923 | 4 | — | C | A | A |
| Marks Tey | 1,817 | 4.3 | — | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Copford | 1,794 | 4.8 | — | C+ | B | A− |
| Coggeshall | 3,767 | 4.9 | B | C+ | B− | B+ |
Tolleshunt Knights, Wickham Bishops, Marks Tey and Copford have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Secondary results are closer to the middle, beating 64%.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £365,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £173,750, terraced houses £296,250, semi-detached houses £345,000 and detached houses £451,550.
Town in Essex, England
Tiptree is a built-up area of 9,302 people, in the Colchester 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
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.