Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
19,923 residents make their home in this town in Hampshire, South East.
Some subjects shine; others lag. Households here earn well: mean household income £64,971; 2.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. With an A overall, Romsey is better than 89% of UK towns and ranks #27 of 76 in Hampshire. At a median £375,000, a home costs 5.7 times the yearly income of households in the Test Valley council area. Hazards are a real consideration (D): 3.7% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Romsey 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 Romsey is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 201 buildings inside Romsey’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I.
10% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Romsey. Best known first.
Big drawTheme parkPaultons Park4.9 km outside town, to the southwest · 1.1M visitors a year (2019)Historic houseHistoric houseBroadlands600 m outside town, to the southwestTheme parkTheme parkCritter Creek4.7 km outside town, to the southwestWater parkWater parkMuddy Puddles4.7 km outside town, to the southwestTheme parkTheme parkPeppa Pig World4.6 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Romsey.
16% are under 15, below both Hampshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). Aged 15 to 24: nearly one in ten residents. The median resident of Romsey is 47 years old. Graduates make up 40% of adults.
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
| Romsey | Hampshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.5% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 40% | 33% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Hampshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
GCSE results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: 48% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 48. Of its 7 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Romsey’s five primaries and two secondaries have 4,178 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halterworth Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 437 | A− |
| The Mountbatten SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,474 | B+ |
2 GP practices serve the town; 70% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 4.2% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, about level with Hampshire’s towns (4.3%) and below England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Romsey is Southampton General Hospital, 4.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Romsey | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.2% | 4.3% | 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.
Owners make up 72% of households, above Hampshire’s towns (64%) and England’s towns (61%) alike. Social renters account for just over one in ten households. Private rents average £1,235 a month across the Test Valley council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £600,000 | 252 |
| Semi-detached | £395,000 | 252 |
| Terraced | £325,000 | 329 |
| Flat or maisonette | £220,000 | 205 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Relative to its size, Romsey keeps 101 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. The town’s listed buildings include the Abbey Church of St Mary and St Ethelflaeda, Grade I. At the top of the list, 3 are Grade I and 8 Grade II*.
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.
The car took just over four in five commuters, above Hampshire’s towns (75%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. Jobs per working resident: 1. Of the commuters living in Romsey, 25% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Each year, 10.7 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded per 1,000 residents. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 961 recorded crimes inside Romsey’s built-up area, and 130 reports of anti-social behaviour. Of all the crimes, 40% were 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.
201 listed buildings in Romsey, 3 of them Grade I.
King John's House: Photo: Murgatroyd49 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Middle Bridge: Photo: Jim Champion · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Sadler's Mill: Photo: DeSigley · Public domain · Folly in Garden of the Vicarage 50 Metres West of House: Photo: Geni · CC BY-SA 4.0
22 notable people were born in Romsey.
William Petty: John Closterman, CC BY 4.0 · James Risdon Bennett: Unknown engraver, Public domain · John Easton: Thomas Child, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romsey | 19,923 | — | A | B+ | B− | A− |
| North Baddesley | 6,996 | 2.1 | A | B+ | B | A− |
| Rownhams and Nursling | 4,796 | 3.6 | B+ | B | C− | A− |
| Chandler's Ford | 31,965 | 4.2 | A+ | B | B+ | A |
| Chilworth | 1,169 | 4.3 | — | C+ | C+ | A− |
| West Wellow | 1,584 | 5 | — | C+ | B+ | A− |
| Totton | 28,093 | 5.4 | C | C | C− | B− |
| King's Somborne | 1,206 | 5.5 | — | B− | B | A+ |
Chilworth, West Wellow and King's Somborne have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 4.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Abbey Church of St Mary and St Ethelflaeda.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Hampshire, England
Romsey is a built-up area of 19,923 people, in the Test Valley 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.