Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 307,089 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs. Council tax at Band D comes to £2,051.
Mostly strong, with a single weak spot. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A+): on the way to work, 36% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Crime runs high: police record 33.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 23 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 62%. Buying the median home, at £500,000, takes 6.6 years of household income in the Hillingdon council area. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy is 79.1 for men and 83.9 for women. The overall grade comes out at B, #14 of 33 in London. On that grade it does better than 62% of UK towns.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Hillingdon 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 Hillingdon is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 396 buildings inside Hillingdon’s built-up area, 7 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
4% 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 Hillingdon. Best known first.
MuseumBattle of Britain Bunker - RAF Uxbridgein town
MuseumLondon Motor Museumin town
Historic house · National TrustOsterley House3.5 km outside town, to the southeast · 350K visitors a year
MuseumMuseum of Watford4.9 km outside town, to the north
MuseumHeath Robinson Museum600 m outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionHarmondsworth Great Barnin 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 Hillingdon.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 32% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Households had £75K a year before tax, near London’s towns (£74K) and higher than England’s towns (£55K). Just over three in five commuters took the car to work at the census. Of the commuters living in Hillingdon, 44% work in the town itself. For 39% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Hillingdon’s 65 primaries and 17 secondaries have 48,036 pupils between them. Whiteheath Junior School’s results beat 96% of schools in England like it. Secondary results at the town’s 17 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 51.5, with 57% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood End Park AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 846 | A− |
| Guru Nanak Sikh AcademyLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 1,553 | A |
| Whiteheath Junior SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 274 | A+ |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Hillingdon logged 29,179 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 8,294 complaints of anti-social conduct. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 26.8 reports per 1,000, higher than both London’s towns (24.1) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences were 34% of the crimes.
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.
At the census, 13% of people here had a disability, close to London’s towns (13%) and below England’s towns (17%). 44 GP practices serve the town; 76% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Hillingdon is The Hillingdon Hospital, 1.5 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Hillingdon | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
4% of its homes were built before 1919, below both London’s towns (28%) and England’s towns (16%). Hillingdon’s listed buildings include the Church of St Martin of Tours, Grade I. It has 3 scheduled monuments.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Renting privately is how just over a quarter of households live. 56% of households own their home, higher than London’s towns (45%) yet lower than England’s towns (61%). Social housing holds 16% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £807,500 | 929 |
| Semi-detached | £560,000 | 2,254 |
| Terraced | £495,000 | 1,675 |
| Flat or maisonette | £307,750 | 2,020 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
People 65 and over make up 14% of the town, between London’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (18%). Line up the people of Hillingdon by age and the one in the middle is 37. Those aged 15 to 24 account for 13% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Hillingdon | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
396 listed buildings in Hillingdon, 7 of them Grade I.
Church of St Martin of Tours: Photo: Russell Trebor · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Swakeleys: Photo: Harrison49 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The de Burgh Arms Public House: Photo: Ewan Munro from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Lecture Theatre Block, Brunel University: Photo: Suntooooth · CC BY-SA 4.0
201 notable people were born in Hillingdon.
Andy Serkis: Fandomuniverse, CC0 · Jane Seymour: Toglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0 · James Corden: iDominick, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ray Wilkins: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tariq Lamptey: Brian Minkoff London-Pixels, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christine Keeler: Open Media Ltd, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillingdon | 307,089 | — | B | B− | C− | C+ |
| New Denham | 1,790 | 2.7 | — | C | C− | C+ |
| Denham | 1,482 | 3.4 | — | C | C | B− |
| Iver | 3,267 | 3.6 | B− | C+ | D | B− |
| Iver Heath | 5,150 | 3.9 | B+ | C− | B− | B− |
| Richings Park | 1,787 | 4 | — | C− | C− | B |
| Ealing | 367,271 | 4.6 | B− | C | C− | C+ |
| Poyle | 1,736 | 5.3 | — | D | D− | C |
New Denham, Denham, Richings Park and Poyle have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £500,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £307,750, terraced houses £495,000, semi-detached houses £560,000 and detached houses £807,500. Household incomes are higher than in 95% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B−.
About the middle for its size: 38% 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−.
Primary results beat 73%. Hillingdon has 96 state schools; places are handled by Hillingdon council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
London borough in London
Hillingdon is a built-up area of 307,089 people, in the Hillingdon 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.