Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 367,271 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs.
Ealing grades B− overall against UK towns: better than 54% of UK towns, and #19 of 33 in London. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 55% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (C−): 33.6 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 63%. The median home sold for £525,000 in the last three years, 7.3 times what households in the Ealing council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Ealing 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 Ealing is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 313 buildings inside Ealing’s built-up area, 5 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
28% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1845.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Ealing. Best known first.
MuseumTransport Museum Depotin town
MuseumPitzhanger Manor House and Galleryin town
Abbey or prioryLondon Buddhist Viharain town
GardenKew Gardens1.9 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseKensington Palace4 km outside town, to the east · 383K visitors a year (2015)
Big drawMuseumNatural History Museum4.9 km outside town, to the east · 1.6M visitors a year (2021)Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ealing.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Household income came to £71K a year before tax, close to London’s towns (£74K) and above England’s towns (£55K). Nearly a third of commuters who live in Ealing also work there. Jobs per working resident: 0.7.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Below are three of its 94 schools, each with why it was picked. 70% of pupils at the town’s 66 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Southfield Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. Some 49,227 pupils attend Ealing’s 65 primaries and 17 secondaries.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fielding Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 1,012 | A |
| The Cardinal Wiseman Catholic SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 2,036 | A |
| Southfield Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 372 | A+ |
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, 32,204 offences were reported in Ealing, along with 11,396 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 29.9 reports per 1,000, above both London’s towns (24.1) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences accounted for 36% of recorded crime.
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.
Owners make up 46% of households, about level with London’s towns (45%) and below England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £2,110 a month across the Ealing council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 7,840 homes sold inside the town’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £525,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,407,500 | 256 |
| Semi-detached | £770,000 | 1,256 |
| Terraced | £665,000 | 2,353 |
| Flat or maisonette | £417,000 | 3,975 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
28% of its homes were built before 1919, near London’s towns (27%) and higher than England’s towns (16%). Ealing’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. At the top of the list, 5 are Grade I and 17 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
70 GP practices serve the town; just over three quarters of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 4.2% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, near London’s towns (4.3%) and lower than England’s towns (5.2%). Also worth knowing: the nearest A&E to Ealing is Ealing Hospital, 1.6 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Ealing | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.2% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 12% | 13% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
44% of adults hold a degree. The age that splits Ealing in two is 36.9. Children under 15 make up 18%, near London’s towns (18%) and higher than England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Ealing | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 33% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 12% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.4% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 44% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
313 listed buildings in Ealing, 5 of them Grade I.
Pitzhanger Manor House: Photo: Joseph Gandy · Public domain · Church of St Mary: Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Canteen Block to Hoover Factory: Photo: Ewan Munro from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Red Lion Public House: Photo: Ewan Munro from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
287 notable people were born in Ealing.
Thomas Henry Huxley: Lock & Whitfield, Public domain · Bukayo Saka: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kit Harington: Sachyn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Christiane Amanpour: Palácio do Planalto from Brasilia, Brasil, CC BY 2.0 · Hal Robson-Kanu: Steindy 16:14, 10 November 2016 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Steve Perryman: Marcel Antonisse / Anefo, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ealing | 367,271 | — | B− | C | C− | C+ |
| Brent | 340,611 | 3.7 | C+ | D | C− | C+ |
| Hounslow | 286,591 | 3.7 | B | C | C− | C |
| Hillingdon | 307,089 | 4.6 | B | B− | C− | C+ |
| Harrow | 260,534 | 4.9 | B+ | C | C+ | B− |
| Richmond upon Thames | 192,888 | 4.9 | A | C+ | C+ | A |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 182,187 | 5.2 | B− | C− | D | C+ |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 143,348 | 6 | B+ | C− | D | B+ |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results beat 87% of towns in England, and primary results beat 88% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £525,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £417,000, terraced houses £665,000, semi-detached houses £770,000 and detached houses £1,407,500.
About the middle for its size: 37% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C−.
London borough in London
Ealing is a built-up area of 367,271 people, in the Ealing 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.