Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Gloucestershire, South West, home to 8,026 people.
One weak subject stands out against an otherwise good record. Its strongest subject is jobs & income: mean household income £55,557; 1.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. What counts against it is cost of living — the median home sold for £360,000, 5.9 years of area income. All told, that adds up to a B overall and a rank of #22 of 48 in Gloucestershire. Set against the rest, it does better than 60% of UK towns. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for safety, B for schools and B for walkability.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Chipping Sodbury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Chipping Sodbury does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 126 buildings inside Chipping Sodbury’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
6% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →126 listed buildings in Chipping Sodbury, 1 of them Grade I.
The George Hotel: Photo: Ray Bird ActonT · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tudor House: Photo: Ray Bird · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Town Hall: Photo: Ray Bird · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Cow Mill: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Chipping Sodbury.
The share of residents under 15 is 15%. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.4% of residents, below Gloucestershire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Half of Chipping Sodbury is older than 48.3, half younger.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Chipping Sodbury | Gloucestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 34% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gloucestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 1,566 pupils in Chipping Sodbury. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Attainment 8 at the 3 secondary schools within 3 km averages 48.8, and nearly half of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raysfield Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 453 | B |
| Chipping Sodbury SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 775 | C |
10% rent privately, lower than both Gloucestershire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%). Behind the median of £360,000: 414 standard sales inside Chipping Sodbury’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Private rents average £1,464 a month across the South Gloucestershire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £500,000 | 153 |
| Semi-detached | £330,000 | 131 |
| Terraced | £315,000 | 48 |
| Flat or maisonette | £237,475 | 82 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest A&E to Chipping Sodbury is Southmead Hospital, 8.8 miles away. Seeing a GP means leaving Chipping Sodbury: the nearest practice is 0.9 miles away. 18% of residents have a disability, above Gloucestershire’s towns (17%) and close to England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Chipping Sodbury | Gloucestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.8% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Chipping Sodbury’s listed buildings include the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Grade I. Relative to its size, Chipping Sodbury keeps 157 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. 6% of its homes were built before 1919, below Gloucestershire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Grade II* covers 15 of them, Grade I 1.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Driving is how 81% of commuters got to work at the census. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 38%, below Gloucestershire’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (45%) alike. Work in town: a tenth of resident commuters. For every resident in work, Chipping Sodbury has 0.9 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Over the year to August 2026, 360 offences were reported in Chipping Sodbury, along with 57 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Burglary and damage came to 9.9 per 1,000 residents a year, above Gloucestershire’s towns (8.1) and England’s towns (9.4) alike.
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
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Chipping Sodbury. Best known first.
Historic house · National TrustHorton Court3.9 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseActon Court4.4 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumYate Heritage Centre500 m outside town, to the northwestFortFortHorton Camp3.4 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
11 notable people were born in Chipping Sodbury.
Simon Blackburn: Bengt Oberger, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wallace Watts: Hudson & Kearns, CC BY-SA 2.0
Town in Gloucestershire, England
Chipping Sodbury is a built-up area of 8,026 people, in the South Gloucestershire 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipping Sodbury | 8,026 | — | B | C− | B− | B+ |
| Yate | 28,352 | 1 | C+ | C+ | C− | C+ |
| Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne | 14,969 | 3.8 | A− | D | B | A− |
| Pucklechurch | 2,702 | 3.9 | B | C | B− | B |
| Wickwar | 1,701 | 4 | — | D | B | A |
| Hawkesbury Upton | 1,001 | 4.5 | — | D | A | A |
| Wick | 1,579 | 5.7 | — | C− | C+ | A+ |
| Marshfield | 1,299 | 6 | — | D | A− | A+ |
Wickwar, Hawkesbury Upton, Wick and Marshfield have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 6.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Parish Church of St John the Baptist.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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 £237,475, terraced houses £315,000, semi-detached houses £330,000 and detached houses £500,000.
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.