Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
27,533 people call this large town in Essex, East of England home.
Jobs & income is its strong suit: households earn a mean £62,517 a year, and 2.2% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Walkability is a strength too: 17% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. What holds it back is cost of living — homes sell for a median £370,000, about 6.3 times local household income. Overall, that makes a B, better than 56% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #44 of 81 in Essex. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for safety, C+ for schools, B for health and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 2 things Wickford 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 Wickford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 5 buildings inside Wickford’s built-up area.
1% 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 1910.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Wickford.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Per 10,000 residents, Wickford counts 2 listed buildings, below Essex’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39) alike. 1% of homes date from before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 42.3, with 37% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Below are two of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked. 64% of pupils at the town’s 6 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wickford Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 472 | C+ |
| Beauchamps High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,486 | B− |
A tenth of the population is aged 15 to 24, near Essex’s towns (11%) and lower than England’s towns (12%). Line up the people of Wickford by age and the one in the middle is 42.5. One measure of family life: 17% of residents are under 15.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Wickford | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.3% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
14% of households are private tenants. Social housing holds 8% of households, lower than both Essex’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £1,424 a month across the Basildon council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £490,000 | 275 |
| Semi-detached | £375,000 | 540 |
| Terraced | £325,000 | 260 |
| Flat or maisonette | £215,000 | 130 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 34% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
By car: that was how 80% of commuters travelled at the census. Work in town: 16% of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 0.7.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
15% of residents have a disability, lower than both Essex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (17%). 3 GP practices serve the town; four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.2% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Wickford | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.2% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
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.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Wickford has less crime per resident than 79% of them. Reported offences locally came to 1,284 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 458. Also worth knowing: there were 11.4 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Essex’s towns (4.6) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences made up just over two fifths of the total.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Wickford. Best known first.
Castle · National TrustRayleigh Castle4 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumBarleylands Farm Museum3.2 km outside town, to the west
MuseumRayleigh Town Museum4.1 km outside town, to the southeastGardenGarden · National TrustRayleigh Mount3.9 km outside town, to the southeastWildlife parkWildlife parkBarleylands Farm Park3 km outside town, to the westZooZooImperial Birds of Prey Academy3.1 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
5 listed buildings in Wickford.
Church of St Catherine: Photo: RobertP4591 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 34, London Road: Photo: RobertP4591 · CC BY-SA 4.0
5 notable people were born in Wickford.
Chantelle Houghton: See Li, CC BY 2.0 · Steve Tilson: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wickford | 27,533 | — | B | C− | B− | B |
| Runwell | 8,086 | 1 | C+ | B− | C− | C+ |
| Crays Hill | 1,218 | 2.5 | — | D | C+ | B+ |
| North Benfleet | 1,765 | 2.6 | — | D | C− | D |
| Ramsden Heath | 1,949 | 3 | — | C | A− | A− |
| Basildon | 115,935 | 3.7 | D | C+ | D− | D |
| Rayleigh | 32,383 | 3.7 | B+ | C | B− | B+ |
| Thundersley and South Benfleet | 49,886 | 3.7 | B | D | B− | B |
Crays Hill, North Benfleet and Ramsden Heath have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades B−.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £370,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £215,000, terraced houses £325,000, semi-detached houses £375,000 and detached houses £490,000.
Large town in Essex, England
Wickford is a built-up area of 27,533 people, in the Basildon 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.
