Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a village of 1,452 residents in Hertfordshire, East of England.
Pirton is a safe place by the numbers (A): 10.3 violent and sexual offences and 4.4 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Health is a strength: men here can expect to live to 81.4, women to 84.4. Buying in is costly: homes sell for a median £595,000, about 8.9 times local household income. Natural hazards are less of a worry than in most UK towns (A).
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency. An overall grade needs 2,500 residents, so Pirton is graded subject by subject only.
The 3 things Pirton 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 Pirton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Pirton’s built-up area, along with 3 scheduled monuments.
21% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Pirton.
Violence and sexual offences made up 44% of the total. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 25 offences in Pirton and 9 cases of nuisance behaviour. For its size, Pirton records less crime per resident than 88% of the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people. There were 3.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), below Hertfordshire’s towns (14.4) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
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 one school in town appears below. 57% of pupils at the 3 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: just over half of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 46.5.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pirton SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 136 | C |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Just over a fifth of homes were built before 1919. Pirton’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary (C of E), Grade I. Of the town’s 44 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 1 and Grade II* 3. Conservation areas cover 51% of the town’s land, higher than both Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Owners make up 79% of households. Social housing holds 11% of households, below Hertfordshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Private rents average £1,434 a month across the North Hertfordshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £900,000 | 23 |
| Semi-detached | £580,000 | 15 |
| Terraced | £375,000 | 21 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Disability touches 13% of Pirton’s population. At the census, 89% of people in Pirton called their health good or very good, above both Hertfordshire’s towns (85%) and England’s towns (82%). Seeing a GP means leaving Pirton: the nearest practice is 2.4 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Pirton | Hertfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 89% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2.3% | 3.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 52% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Work in town: 3% of resident commuters. The car took 87% of commuters, above Hertfordshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. 52% of workers did their job mainly from home at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Line up the people of Pirton by age and the one in the middle is 46.1. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 10% of residents, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). The 65-and-over age group makes up a fifth of residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Pirton | Hertfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 32% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 9.1% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 4.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 48% | 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 Pirton. Best known first.
MuseumRAF Henlow4.6 km outside town, to the north
MuseumNorth Hertfordshire Museum3.8 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumBritish schools museum4.2 km outside town, to the southeastCastleCastleMeppershall Castel3.8 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumGarden City Collection Study Centre4.8 km outside town, to the eastWater parkWater parkBancroft Splash Park3.9 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirton | 1,452 | — | — | C− | A | A− |
| Shillington | 1,629 | 2 | — | B+ | B | B+ |
| Ickleford | 1,936 | 2.1 | — | C− | B | B+ |
| Lower Stondon | 3,966 | 2.4 | B+ | B | B | A− |
| Hitchin | 35,220 | 2.9 | A− | C+ | B− | B |
| Meppershall | 2,044 | 3 | — | C+ | B+ | B+ |
| Arlesey | 6,027 | 4 | B | A− | B− | B− |
| Barton-le-Clay | 4,941 | 4.1 | A− | B | A | A− |
Shillington, Ickleford and Meppershall have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get 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 £595,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £375,000, semi-detached houses £580,000 and detached houses £900,000.
That is 12.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary (C of E). It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Village in Hertfordshire, England
Pirton is a built-up area of 1,452 people, in the North Hertfordshire 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.