Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 260,534 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs.
Harrow grades B+ overall against UK towns: better than 73% of UK towns, and #8 of 33 in London. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 45% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is hazard risk (C): 1.3% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. The median home sold for £550,000 in the last three years, 7.1 times what households in the Harrow council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Harrow 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 Harrow is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 270 buildings inside Harrow’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I, and 6 scheduled monuments.
10% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1866.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Harrow. Best known first.
MuseumHarrow Museumin town
Historic houseHeadstone Manorin town
MuseumHeath Robinson Museumin town
MuseumRAF Museum2 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseBhaktivedanta Manor3.7 km outside town, to the north
CastleHilfield Castle2.3 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Harrow.
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.
On this, Harrow is above both London’s towns (£74K) and England’s towns (£55K). 52% 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
Krishna Avanti Primary School’s results beat 98% of schools in England like it. Three of its 60 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priestmead Primary School and NurseryLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 877 | A |
| Nower Hill High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 2,030 | A |
| Krishna Avanti Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 456 | A+ |
The median sale price was £550K, close to London’s towns (£536K) and above England’s towns (£308K). 10% of households live in social housing.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,000,000 | 529 |
| Semi-detached | £635,000 | 1,503 |
| Terraced | £555,000 | 922 |
| Flat or maisonette | £345,000 | 1,596 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Homes saw 15.4 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, below London’s towns (21.2) but above England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 16,557 crimes inside Harrow’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 5,186 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence comes to 23.3 per 1,000 residents a year.
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
In the comparison, Harrow comes below both London’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (17%). 28 GP practices serve the town; 77% 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 | Harrow | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 12% | 13% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Conservation areas cover 100% of Harrow’s land, above both London’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (7%). Harrow’s listed buildings include Church of St Lawrence, Grade I. Harrow has 270 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 4 Grade I, 19 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
12% of residents are 15 to 24 and 15% are 65 or over, against 12% and 12% across London’s towns. 45% of residents 16 and over have a degree-level qualification (London 47%, England 34%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Harrow | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 31% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 15% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.2% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 45% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
270 listed buildings in Harrow, 4 of them Grade I.
Parish Church of St Mary: Photo: Bernard Burns · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The Old Schools, Harrow School: Photo: Bernard Burns · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harrow and Wealdstone Station: Photo: Sunil060902 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gatehouse, 1 and 2 Manor House Estate: Photo: Matt Brown · CC BY 2.0
217 notable people were born in Harrow.
Elton John: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 · Dev Patel: Ariela Ortiz Barrantes, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Theo Walcott: Armanamirahmadi, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Billy Idol: GenerationSex, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Roger Bannister: User:Pruneau, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Priti Patel: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrow | 260,534 | — | B+ | C | C+ | B− |
| Elstree | 1,737 | 4 | — | C− | C | B+ |
| Bushey | 28,427 | 4 | B+ | C− | C+ | A− |
| Brent | 340,611 | 4.1 | C+ | D | C− | C+ |
| Moor Park | 5,850 | 4.3 | A+ | D | A | A+ |
| Ealing | 367,271 | 4.9 | B− | C | C− | C+ |
| Hillingdon | 307,089 | 5.5 | B | B− | C− | C+ |
| Borehamwood | 39,760 | 5.5 | C | C− | C− | C |
Elstree has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C+. Police recorded 16,557 crimes inside Harrow’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 35% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
GCSE results beat 85% of towns in England, and primary results beat 90% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
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 £345,000, terraced houses £555,000, semi-detached houses £635,000 and detached houses £1,000,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
London borough in London
Harrow is a built-up area of 260,534 people, in the Harrow 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.