Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
28,093 people call this large town in Hampshire, South East home.
The weak point is safety: police record 35.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 14.7 home and vehicle crimes. Against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has more crime per resident than 61%. Natural hazards weigh more here: 2.9% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Buying the median home, at £315,000, takes 5.6 years of household income in the New Forest council area. Where it does best is jobs & income (B): households earn a mean £55,646 a year, and 2.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Overall, that makes a C, good for #69 of 76 in Hampshire. It comes out better than 30% of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for health and B− for walkability.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021.
The thing Totton 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 Totton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 18 buildings inside Totton’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
5% 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 Totton. Best known first.
Big drawTheme parkPaultons Park2 km outside town, to the northwest · 1.1M visitors a year (2019)
Historic shipShieldhall2.6 km outside town, to the east
ZooThe New Forest Wildlife Park1.6 km outside town, to the southHistoric houseHistoric houseBroadlands4.8 km outside town, to the northAttractionAttractionLongdown Activity Farm700 m outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Totton.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 5% of the total, below Hampshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Grade II* covers 1 of them. For its size, Totton has 6 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Of its 10 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. 60% of pupils at the town’s 3 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). GCSE results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: two in five pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 44.9.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbotswood Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 629 | B− |
| Hounsdown SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,283 | B |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Police recorded 1,751 crimes inside Totton’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 218 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences made up 47% of the total. There were 7.7 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than Hampshire’s towns (5.3) and near England’s towns (7.8).
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.
The social rented sector houses 13% of households. Private renters make up 14% of households, lower than both Hampshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (21%). Also worth knowing: from September 2023 to August 2026, 1,151 homes sold inside Totton’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £315,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £409,000 | 332 |
| Semi-detached | £325,000 | 343 |
| Terraced | £276,750 | 342 |
| Flat or maisonette | £166,500 | 134 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
2 GP practices serve the town; 64% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 4.7% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above Hampshire’s towns (4.3%) but below England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Totton is Southampton General Hospital, 3.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Totton | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 27% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
84% of commuters drove, above Hampshire’s towns (75%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. For 42% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Work in town: nearly a quarter of resident commuters. There are 0.7 jobs in Totton for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Ages in Totton split evenly at 43.7: half are older, half younger. A fifth of residents are 65 or over, near Hampshire’s towns (20%) and higher than England’s towns (18%). Children under 15 count for 17% of the people here.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Totton | Hampshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.6% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 20% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 33% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Hampshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
18 listed buildings in Totton.
The Cross Keys Public House: Photo: Hassocks5489 · CC0 · Church of St Winfrid: Photo: Michael Ford · CC BY-SA 2.0
9 notable people were born in Totton.
Laura Michelle Kelly: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Percival Hall-Thompson: Bassano, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totton | 28,093 | — | C | C | C− | B− |
| Ashurst | 2,370 | 1.6 | — | D | A− | B+ |
| Rownhams and Nursling | 4,796 | 2.7 | B+ | B | C− | A− |
| Cadnam and Bartley | 2,023 | 2.7 | — | D | B− | A− |
| Marchwood | 5,776 | 3 | B− | C | B− | B+ |
| Lyndhurst | 2,462 | 4.5 | — | D | B | A |
| Southampton | 249,633 | 4.7 | D | C | D− | C− |
| North Baddesley | 6,996 | 4.7 | A | B+ | B | A− |
Ashurst, Cadnam and Bartley and Lyndhurst have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C−.
GCSE results trail 64% of towns in England, and primary results trail 57% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in Hampshire, England
Totton is a built-up area of 28,093 people, in the New Forest 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.
