Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 4,624 people live in this town, in Hertfordshire, East of England.
Households here earn well: households earn a mean £69,332 a year, and 2.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Bricket Wood’s overall grade, A−, puts it better than 83% of UK towns. Its place in the ranking is #18 of 50 in Hertfordshire. It is strong on health as well (A−): life expectancy is 80.8 for men and 85.2 for women. Prices are high against local incomes: a typical home costs £630,000 and rent runs £1,931 a month. Most journeys need a car: just over one in ten commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Bricket Wood is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Bricket Wood does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 2 buildings inside Bricket Wood’s built-up area, and 1 scheduled monument.
4% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bricket Wood.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For its size, Bricket Wood has 4 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (57) and England’s towns (39). One scheduled monument lies locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Key Stage 2 results at the 14 primary schools within 3 km: just over three in five pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Below is its only school. Secondary results at the 3 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 52.5, with 54% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pleasant Lane Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 200 | D |
86% of Bricket Wood’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, close to Hertfordshire’s towns (85%) and above England’s towns (82%). Seeing a GP means leaving Bricket Wood: the nearest practice is 1.5 miles away. Women here live to 85.2 on average and men to 80.8 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Bricket Wood | Hertfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.2% | 3.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Private renters make up just over one in ten households, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%). 4% of households live in social housing. The £630,000 median rests on 171 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £750,000 | 70 |
| Semi-detached | £610,000 | 64 |
| Terraced | £510,000 | 18 |
| Flat or maisonette | £280,000 | 19 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police figures for Bricket Wood’s built-up area: 151 crimes and 57 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence came to 17.9 per 1,000 residents a year, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (21.3) and England’s towns (22). Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Bricket Wood has less crime per resident than 73% of them.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 44% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Each working resident is matched by 0.8 jobs in Bricket Wood. 86% of commuters drove, above Hertfordshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. Home was the main workplace for 44% of workers at the census. Of the commuters living in the town, 5% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Children under 15 make up 16% of residents. The 15-to-24 age group: 8.9%, below Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Half of Bricket Wood is older than 46.6, half younger.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
| Bricket Wood | Hertfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.4% | 4.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 39% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Hertfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bricket Wood. Best known first.
CathedralSt Albans Cathedral4.5 km outside town, to the north
Historic houseBhaktivedanta Manor4.4 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic house · English HeritageOld Gorhambury House4.9 km outside town, to the north
MuseumMuseum of Watford4.9 km outside town, to the southwest
Historic houseHigh Elms Manor900 m outside town, to the west
Historic houseThe Grove4.8 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Hertfordshire, England
Bricket Wood is a built-up area of 4,624 people, in the St Albans 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bricket Wood | 4,624 | — | A− | C− | B+ | A− |
| Chiswell Green | 6,681 | 1.4 | A | C− | B+ | A− |
| Park Street and Frogmore | 2,256 | 1.6 | — | B | C− | B |
| Radlett | 8,182 | 2.7 | A− | D | B− | A+ |
| Abbots Langley and Kings Langley | 18,203 | 2.7 | B+ | C+ | C+ | A− |
| London Colney | 7,932 | 3.3 | B+ | B | C− | B |
| Watford | 131,336 | 3.3 | B− | C− | C− | C+ |
| Shenley | 3,556 | 3.6 | B− | D | B | C+ |
Park Street and Frogmore has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £630,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £280,000, terraced houses £510,000, semi-detached houses £610,000 and detached houses £750,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Police recorded 151 crimes inside Bricket Wood’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 51% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
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.