Plenty to like here, at a price. With an A overall, Rickmansworth sits #16 of 50 in Hertfordshire. Set against the rest, it does better than 86% of UK towns. The local economy does well (A+): the mean household earns £75,688 a year. School results are strong (A): primary results beat 91% of towns in England; secondary results beat 91% of towns in England. Homes are dear (C−): a typical home costs £600,000 and rent runs £1,826 a month. It lags on hazard risk as well: 4.1% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Rickmansworth is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rickmansworth.
SchoolsA
School results in Rickmansworth are better than in 94% of towns in England
ASchool Grade
Harvey Road Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 8 primary schools: 71% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Of its 13 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Rickmansworth’s nine primaries and four secondaries have 6,779 pupils between them.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 13 schools →
Work & commuteJobs & income grade A+
Rickmansworth is more walkable than 87% of UK towns
24%walk, cycle or ride
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 46% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Work in town: a fifth of resident commuters. Home was the main workplace for 46% of workers at the census. The car took 74% of commuters, about level with Hertfordshire’s towns (73%) and above England’s towns (70%). There are 1 jobs in Rickmansworth for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
HousingCost of living grade C−
Rickmansworth is a town of owners: 74% of households own their home, above Hertfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
£600Kmedian sale
Private renters make up 16% of households, close to Hertfordshire’s towns (17%) and below England’s towns (21%). The social rented sector houses one in ten households. Half of the 1,005 standard sales inside Rickmansworth’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £600,000.
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Rickmansworth£600K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£922,500
180
Semi-detached
£644,000
414
Terraced
£518,250
212
Flat or maisonette
£332,500
199
74%
of households own their home · England 61%
16%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,826
average private rent a month, Three Rivers council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Health
Just 2.8% of people in Rickmansworth say their health is bad or very bad, fewer than in Hertfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
87%good or very good healthA−Health Grade
At the census, 13% of people here had a disability, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (17%). Asked at the census, 87% of residents of Rickmansworth said they were in good or very good health. 3 GP practices serve the town; 77% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Also worth knowing: women here live to 84.9 on average and men to 81.7 (2019–23).
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
History
Rickmansworth’s heritage list runs to 67 buildings
67listed buildingsB−History Grade
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. For its size, Rickmansworth has 25 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. The town has 2 registered historic parks and gardens.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Safety
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Rickmansworth records less crime per resident than 80% of them
22.5violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearB−Safety Grade
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Over the year to August 2026, 1,460 offences were reported in Rickmansworth, along with 393 incidents of anti-social behaviour. 43% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 13 reports per 1,000, between Hertfordshire’s towns (14.4) and England’s towns (7.8).
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 80% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: less 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 & sexual630
Shoplifting204
Other theft192
Public order112
Vehicle crime81
Damage & arson78
Drugs50
Burglary48
Anti-social393
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.
22.5
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
9.8
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
13
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.
Who lives here
Degrees are more common in Rickmansworth than in Hertfordshire’s towns or across England’s towns: 45% of adults
42.7median age
Typical age in Rickmansworth: 42.7, the median. A tenth of the population is aged 15 to 24, below both Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Children under 15 count for 18% of the people here.
RickmansworthHertfordshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
18%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications12%
Apprenticeship4%
A levels or similar16%
Degree level45%
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
WomenEnglandMen
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Alan Duncan: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · William E. Fairbairn: National Park Service (NPS), Public domain · Joan Maude: Crown Film Unit, Public domain · Spencer Wilks: Land Rover MENA, CC BY 2.0
About Rickmansworth
Large town in Hertfordshire, England
Rickmansworth is a built-up area of 26,290 people, in the Three Rivers 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.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £600,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £332,500, terraced houses £518,250, semi-detached houses £644,000 and detached houses £922,500.
Are schools in Rickmansworth good?
Among the strongest in England: GCSE results beat 91% of towns in England, and primary results beat 91% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Does Rickmansworth flood?
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.
