Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 117,211 in Hampshire, South East.
Basingstoke grades B overall against UK towns: better than 64% of UK towns, and #47 of 76 in Hampshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £330,000, 4.9 years of area income; rent £1,309 a month. Its weakest is safety (C−): 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.1 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 67%.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Basingstoke is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 86 buildings inside Basingstoke’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 4 scheduled monuments.
4% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds a map from 1912.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Basingstoke. Best known first.
MuseumMilestones Museumin town
MuseumWillis Museumin town
CastleBasing House400 m outside town, to the eastAttractionAttractionBasingstoke & District Model Engineering Societyin townAttractionAttractionJump Factoryin townAttractionAttractionViables Craft Centrein townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Basingstoke.
For Basingstoke, that is above both Hampshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £510,000 | 1,016 |
| Semi-detached | £380,000 | 929 |
| Terraced | £307,000 | 1,711 |
| Flat or maisonette | £186,500 | 930 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Three of its 48 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle Hill Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 651 | C+ |
| Brighton Hill Community SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,284 | B− |
| Rucstall Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 204 | A |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 37% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Basingstoke sits above both Hampshire’s towns (1.9%) and England’s towns (2.3%) on this measure. For 56% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence came to 41.3 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Hampshire’s towns (20.7) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 9,197 crimes inside Basingstoke’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 1,573 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 49% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking.
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
That puts Basingstoke below both Hampshire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Children under 15 make up 19% of residents. Half the people of Basingstoke are older than 37.8.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Basingstoke | Hampshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 32% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.9% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 33% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Hampshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Basingstoke has 86 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 5 Grade II*. 4% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
On this, Basingstoke is below both Hampshire’s towns (4.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%). 5 GP practices serve the town; 58% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Basingstoke | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.8% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
86 listed buildings in Basingstoke, 1 of them Grade I.
Ruins of Chapel of the Holy Ghost: Photo: Sebastian Ballard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Deanes Almshouses: Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Feathers Public House: Photo: Peter Glyn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Haymarket Theatre: Photo: Peter Glyn · CC BY-SA 3.0
82 notable people were born in Basingstoke.
Elizabeth Hurley: Colleen Sturtevant, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tom Cleverley: Tommy Low from Singapore, Singapore, CC BY 2.0 · Alma Deutscher: Hel-Ash, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gabriella Wilde: Richard Goldschmidt, www.piqtured.com, CC BY 3.0 · Nora Stanton Blatch Barney: National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: LC-DIG-npcc-03521), Public domain · Carl Barât: Paolo Didonè from Piazzola Sul Brenta (PD), Italy, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basingstoke | 117,211 | — | B | A | C− | C+ |
| Old Basing | 3,834 | 2.7 | A | B− | A− | A |
| Oakley | 5,264 | 3.4 | A+ | B− | A− | A+ |
| Bramley | 4,730 | 4.7 | B+ | B | B+ | B+ |
| Sherfield on Loddon | 1,385 | 4.8 | — | B+ | B+ | B+ |
| Tadley | 14,767 | 6.3 | A | A− | B | B |
| Hook | 9,062 | 6.3 | A+ | A | B | A |
| Odiham | 5,091 | 6.7 | A+ | A− | A− | A+ |
Sherfield on Loddon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C−.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Band D council tax in Basingstoke is £2,231 for 2026–27, less than in 81% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
City in Hampshire, England
Basingstoke is a built-up area of 117,211 people, in the Basingstoke and Deane 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.