Safety lags (D): 47.2 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 19.4 home and vehicle crimes. Only 15% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people have more crime per resident. It takes 5.6 years of household income in the Welwyn Hatfield council area to buy the median home, at £365,000. Where it does best is walkability: on the way to work, 33% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Overall, that makes a C, better than just over a third of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #44 of 50 in Hertfordshire. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B for jobs & income and B for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Hatfield is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Hatfield.
Who lives here
Students and young workers shape Hatfield: 25% are 15 to 24, above Hertfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
Children under 15 make up 16%, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%). 10% of residents have reached 65. Half of Hatfield is older than 30.3, half younger.
30.3median age
HatfieldHertfordshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
25%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications14%
Apprenticeship4%
A levels or similar24%
Degree level35%
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
WomenEnglandMen
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
ONS Census 2021 · Hertfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
SchoolsC+
Hatfield’s schools fall behind 63% of towns in England on results
Of its 13 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Bishop's Hatfield Girls' School’s results beat just over four in five schools in England like it. Some 4,411 pupils attend the town’s eight primaries and two secondaries.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 13 schools →
Work & commuteJobs & income grade B
More people aged 16 to 64 in Hatfield claim unemployment benefits than in Hertfordshire’s towns or England’s towns: 3.8%
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For half of commuters, work was under 5 km away. 38% of commuters who live in Hatfield also work there. There are 1.8 jobs in Hatfield for each resident in work. The car took 62% of commuters, lower than both Hertfordshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Safety
Crime per resident in Hatfield is higher than in 91% of UK towns
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
For its size, Hatfield records more crime per resident than 85% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. This Hertfordshire town logged 4,405 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 998 complaints of anti-social conduct. There were 25.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Hertfordshire’s towns (14.2) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences made up 43% of the total.
47.2violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearDSafety Grade
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 15% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: more crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual1,877
Shoplifting367
Damage & arson346
Other theft345
Vehicle crime299
Public order297
Drugs289
Burglary151
Anti-social998
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.
47.2
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
19.4
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
25.8
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
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.
Health
Life expectancy in Hatfield is shorter than in 80% of UK towns
Self-reported good health: 86% of Hatfield’s residents. The nearest A&E to Hatfield is Barnet General Hospital, 7.6 miles away. 14% of residents in Hatfield live with a disability. At the census, 3.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (3.8%) and England’s towns (5.2%).
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.
History
78 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Hatfield’s listed buildings include the Parish Church of St Etheldreda, Grade I. Conservation areas cover 1% of the town’s land, below Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (7%) alike. Relative to its size, Hatfield keeps 19 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
HousingCost of living grade C+
Home ownership in Hatfield, 43%, runs below Hertfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
29% live in social housing, higher than both Hertfordshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). The private rented sector houses 27% of households. Behind the median of £365,000: 938 standard sales inside Hatfield’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
£365Kmedian sale
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Hatfield£365K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£625,000
93
Semi-detached
£465,750
186
Terraced
£374,000
391
Flat or maisonette
£244,500
268
43%
of households own their home · England 61%
27%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,512
average private rent a month, Welwyn Hatfield council area
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury: Elliott & Fry, Public domain · Guy Ritchie: Kathy Hutchins, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Martin Carthy: Mike Garvey, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ambika Mod: Gary Kirk, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Colin Blunstone: J-Ham2000, CC BY 4.0 · Edward Corrie: si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0
Colney Heath and Sandridge have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Hatfield
Is Hatfield expensive to live in?
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £365,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £244,500, terraced houses £374,000, semi-detached houses £465,750 and detached houses £625,000.
About Hatfield
Large town in Hertfordshire, England
Hatfield is a built-up area of 41,561 people, in the Welwyn Hatfield 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
Population
41,561 (Census 2021)
Council
Welwyn Hatfield
County
Hertfordshire
Region
East of England
Area
3.1 sq mi (8 km²)
ONS code
E63004421
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.
