A well-rated place to live, with prices to match. Work and incomes are strong: the mean household earns £76,042 a year. Schools are another plus — primary results beat 83% of towns in England; secondary results beat 59% of towns in England. What holds it back is cost of living — the median home sold for £550,000, 8.4 years of area income. The overall grade lands at A−, #26 of 50 in Hertfordshire. Nationally, it does better than three quarters of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety and B for walkability.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Welwyn is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Welwyn.
HousingCost of living grade D
Private renting is less common in Welwyn than in Hertfordshire’s towns or across England’s towns: 11%
Council and housing-body homes hold just over a fifth of households. Private rents average £1,512 a month across the Welwyn Hatfield council area. Also worth knowing: 132 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £550,000.
£550Kmedian sale
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Welwyn£550K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£780,000
37
Semi-detached
£550,000
43
Terraced
£445,000
43
Flat or maisonette
£210,000
9
66%
of households own their home · England 61%
11%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,512
average private rent a month, Welwyn Hatfield council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
SchoolsA−
School results in Welwyn are better than in 76% of towns in England
Just over two thirds of pupils at the 11 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Below is one of its 2 schools, and why it was picked. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 47.9, and 46% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 2 schools →
Health
Life expectancy in Welwyn is longer than in 78% of UK towns
The nearest A&E to Welwyn is Lister Hospital, 6.5 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 69% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 4.6% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above Hertfordshire’s towns (3.8%) but below 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
More buildings in Welwyn are listed than in Hertfordshire’s towns or England’s towns: 138 per 10,000 residents
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. Welwyn counts 54 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 1 Grade II*. Of the town’s land, 13% lies in conservation areas, above both Hertfordshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Safety
Per resident, Welwyn sees less crime than 58% of UK towns
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 203 crimes and 44 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Welwyn’s built-up area. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 18.3 reports per 1,000, above both Hertfordshire’s towns (14.2) and England’s towns (7.8). Of all the crimes, 41% were violence and sexual offences.
20.2violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearBSafety Grade
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 62% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: about the middle for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual83
Other theft56
Public order13
Burglary11
Vehicle crime11
Damage & arson9
Shoplifting6
Drugs5
Anti-social44
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.
20.2
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
9.1
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
18.3
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.
Work & commuteJobs & income grade A
Only 15% of commuters in Welwyn go to work without a car, fewer than in Hertfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 45% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Home was the main workplace for 45% of workers at the census. The car took 83% of commuters, above Hertfordshire’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. 32% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. About 10% of its commuters stay in Welwyn for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Who lives here
Welwyn skews older, with 23% of residents 65 or over, more than Hertfordshire’s towns or England’s towns
Degrees are held by just over two in five adults, close to Hertfordshire’s towns (39%) and above England’s towns (34%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for nearly one in ten residents. Typical age in Welwyn: 45.4, the median.
45.4median age
WelwynHertfordshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
23%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications13%
Apprenticeship5%
A levels or similar17%
Degree level41%
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
WomenEnglandMen
About 91 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.
Woolmer Green and Datchworth have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Welwyn
How many listed buildings are there in Welwyn?
That is 5.7 times the typical UK town for its size.
Is Welwyn expensive to live in?
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £550,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £210,000, terraced houses £445,000, semi-detached houses £550,000 and detached houses £780,000.
Are schools in Welwyn good?
Secondary results are closer to the middle, beating 59%. Welwyn has 2 state schools; places are handled by Hertfordshire council.
About Welwyn
Town in Hertfordshire, England
Welwyn is a built-up area of 3,906 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
3,906 (Census 2021)
Council
Welwyn Hatfield
County
Hertfordshire
Region
East of England
Area
0.4 sq mi (1.1 km²)
ONS code
E63004299
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.
