Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 3,175: a town in Essex, East of England. Secondary school results beat 88% of towns in England.
Health outcomes beat most towns: life expectancy 81.7 for men, 86.5 for women. West Bergholt’s overall A+ puts it #4 of 81 in Essex. Nationally, it does better than 97% of UK towns. It also does well on jobs & income: the mean household earns £67,165 a year. A median £397,500 buys a home here, 6.4 times what households in the Colchester council area earn in a year.
Figures: life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · 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 West Bergholt is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things West Bergholt does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside West Bergholt’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in West Bergholt.
Seeing a GP means leaving West Bergholt: the nearest practice is 1.9 miles away. 4% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Essex’s towns (4.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. Self-reported good health: 85% of the town’s residents.
| Census 2021 | West Bergholt | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 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.
64% of pupils at the 14 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Heathlands Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, West Bergholt’s results beat 89% of schools in England like it. GCSE results at the 5 secondary schools within 3 km: nearly three in five pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 53.3. There is one school here; it is shown below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathlands Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, West BergholtLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 411 | A |
At 48.6, the median resident of West Bergholt sits in the middle of the age range. People aged 15 to 24 are a tenth of the population. Children under 15 make up 17%, below both Essex’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). 35% of adults hold a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| West Bergholt | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 33% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
80% of commuters took the car to work at the census. Unemployment benefit claims came to 1.7% of 16 to 64s in 2026, below Essex’s towns (2.5%) and England’s towns (2.3%) alike. Of the commuters living in West Bergholt, 8% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, West Bergholt has 0.5 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
For its size, West Bergholt records less crime per resident than nearly four fifths of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Police figures for the town’s built-up area: 133 crimes and 23 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence came to 18.6 per 1,000 residents a year, lower than both Essex’s towns (23.1) and England’s towns (22).
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. 13% of its homes were built before 1919, higher than Essex’s towns (11%) yet lower than England’s towns (16%). Scaled to its population, that is 35 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in West Bergholt.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
10% of households are private tenants. Social housing holds 7% of households, lower than both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). The £397,500 median rests on 142 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £532,500 | 74 |
| Semi-detached | £365,000 | 41 |
| Terraced | £297,500 | 14 |
| Flat or maisonette | £195,000 | 13 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near West Bergholt. Best known first.
CastleColchester Castle3.6 km outside town, to the southeast
ZooColchester Zoo4.9 km outside town, to the south
Abbey or priory · English HeritageSt. Botolph's Priory3.9 km outside town, to the southeast
FortBalkerne Gate3.1 km outside town, to the southeast
Abbey or priory · English HeritageSt. John's Abbey Gatehouse3.8 km outside town, to the southeast
Art galleryFirstsite3.8 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Essex, England
West Bergholt is a built-up area of 3,175 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Bergholt | 3,175 | — | A+ | B− | B+ | A |
| Great Horkesley | 2,232 | 1.5 | — | B− | B+ | A |
| Eight Ash Green | 1,769 | 1.9 | — | B− | C+ | A |
| Colchester | 130,259 | 2.5 | B | A− | D | C |
| Copford | 1,794 | 3.3 | — | C+ | B | A− |
| Berechurch | 7,702 | 4.2 | C+ | A | D | D |
| Marks Tey | 1,817 | 4.5 | — | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Layer-de-la-Haye | 1,338 | 4.6 | — | C+ | A− | A |
Great Horkesley, Eight Ash Green, Copford, Marks Tey and Layer-de-la-Haye have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 65%. One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Essex council.
Police recorded 133 crimes inside West Bergholt’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 49% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £397,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £195,000, terraced houses £297,500, semi-detached houses £365,000 and detached houses £532,500. Household incomes are higher than in 84% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B−.
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.