Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 258,464 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs.
Hackney grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 39% of UK towns. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 77% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D): 40.5 violent and sexual offences and 21.9 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 43%. The median home sold for £595,000 in the last three years, 8.5 times what households in the Hackney council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Hackney 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 Hackney is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 543 buildings inside Hackney’s built-up area, 8 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
35% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Hackney. Best known first.
MuseumMuseum of the Homein town · 103K visitors a year
Historic house · National TrustSutton Housein town
CathedralThe Former Ark Of The Covenantin town
MuseumHackney Museumin town
MuseumThe Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural Historyin town
Art gallery20 Hoxton Squarein townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Hackney.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 50% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
On this, Hackney is above both London’s towns (5.2%) and England’s towns (2.3%). 19% of commuters drove to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Simon Marks Jewish Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. Three of its 73 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodberry Down Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 661 | B |
| Stoke Newington School and Sixth FormLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,665 | A− |
| Southwold Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 341 | A+ |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Burglary and damage came to 21.9 per 1,000 residents a year, close to London’s towns (21.1) and above England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 30,265 crimes inside Hackney’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 7,660 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 29% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Hackney has 543 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 8 Grade I, 30 Grade II*. Hackney’s listed buildings include Church of St Chad, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 35% of the total, above both London’s towns (27%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Women here live to 82.1 on average and men to 76.9 (2019–23). 37 GP practices serve the town; 81% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Hackney | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 13% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
In the comparison, Hackney comes below both London’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (61%). 41% of households live in social housing.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,580,000 | 23 |
| Semi-detached | £1,400,000 | 110 |
| Terraced | £1,180,000 | 1,005 |
| Flat or maisonette | £540,000 | 4,995 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
For Hackney, that is above both London’s towns (47%) and England’s towns (34%). People 65 and over make up 7.9% of the town. Hackney has a median age of 32.9.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Hackney | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 41% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 21% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 7.9% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 2.4% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 12% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 52% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
543 listed buildings in Hackney, 8 of them Grade I.
Old Tower of Former Church of St Augustine: Photo: Emmabellechan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Victoria Park: Photo: Matt Brown from London, England · CC BY 2.0 · Bishop Wood's Almshouses: Photo: The wub · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The Amhurst Arms Public House: Photo: Ewan Munro from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
577 notable people were born in Hackney.
Edmond Halley: Richard Phillips, Public domain · John Berger: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Adrian Smith: Birgit Fostervold, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nicko McBrain: adels, CC BY 2.0 · Ray Winstone: Ibsan73, CC BY 2.0 · Alan Sugar: Damien Everett, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hackney | 258,464 | — | C+ | C− | D | C− |
| Islington | 216,309 | 1.8 | C+ | C− | D | C− |
| City of London | 7,820 | 2.5 | A− | C− | D− | A+ |
| Tower Hamlets | 311,072 | 2.8 | C+ | C | D | C− |
| Haringey | 264,069 | 3 | C+ | C− | D | C |
| Waltham Forest | 278,129 | 3.5 | B− | C− | C− | C |
| Camden | 209,342 | 3.9 | B− | C− | D− | C+ |
| Newham | 351,065 | 4.6 | B− | C | D | C− |
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: flats £540,000, terraced houses £1,180,000, semi-detached houses £1,400,000 and detached houses £1,580,000.
A young borough. At the 2021 Census, 18% of residents were under 15 and 41% were 25 to 44, against 18% and 27% across England’s towns; only 7.9% were 65 or over.
GCSE results beat 87% of towns in England, and primary results beat 96% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
About the middle for its size: 57% 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 D.
London borough in London
Hackney is a built-up area of 258,464 people, in the Hackney 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.