Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 311,072 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs.
Tower Hamlets grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 42% of UK towns, and #26 of 33 in London. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 76% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D): 43.3 violent and sexual offences and 23 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 33%. The median home sold for £500,000 in the last three years, 6.9 times what households in the Tower Hamlets council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Tower Hamlets 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 Tower Hamlets is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 923 buildings inside Tower Hamlets’s built-up area, 21 of them Grade I, and 10 scheduled monuments.
Part of the Tower of London World Heritage Site.
12% 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 Tower Hamlets. Best known first.
Big drawCastleTower of Londonin town · 2.7M visitors a year (2016)
Art galleryWhitechapel Galleryin town · 490K visitors a year
MuseumYoung V&Ain town · 400K visitors a year
CastleWhite Towerin town
MuseumLondon Museum Docklandsin town · 271K visitors a year (2015)
MuseumWaterloo Blockin 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 Tower Hamlets.
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.
For Tower Hamlets, that is above both London’s towns (5.2%) and England’s towns (2.3%). 20% 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
Canary Wharf Primary, Glenworth’s results beat 98% of schools in England like it. Three of its 93 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stebon Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 695 | A |
| St Paul's Way Trust SchoolLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 1,866 | A− |
| Canary Wharf Primary, GlenworthTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 308 | 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 23 per 1,000 residents a year, above both London’s towns (21.1) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 38,896 crimes inside Tower Hamlets’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 10,897 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 31% 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
Women here live to 81.7 on average and men to 77.7 (2019–23). At the census, 13% of people here had a disability, close to London’s towns (13%) and below England’s towns (17%). 33 GP practices serve the town; 62% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Tower Hamlets | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 13% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Tower Hamlets sits below both London’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (61%) on this measure. Social housing holds 36% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,127,500 | 8 |
| Semi-detached | £797,500 | 32 |
| Terraced | £840,000 | 612 |
| Flat or maisonette | £480,000 | 7,076 |
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.
Tower Hamlets has 923 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 21 Grade I, 39 Grade II*. It is part of the Tower of London World Heritage Site. 12% of its homes were built before 1919, below both London’s towns (28%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
That puts Tower Hamlets below both London’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (18%). 16% of residents are aged 15 to 24. The median resident of Tower Hamlets is 30.8 years old.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Tower Hamlets | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 16% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 44% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 16% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 5.7% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 2.1% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
923 listed buildings in Tower Hamlets, 21 of them Grade I.
Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula: Photo: Michael Coppins · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The White Tower: Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital: Photo: Richard Nevell from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Crown Public House: Photo: Jwslubbock · CC BY-SA 4.0
512 notable people were born in Tower Hamlets.
Mary Wollstonecraft: John Opie, Public domain · Edmund Spenser: English School / Unidentified painter, Public domain · Ashley Cole: Stanislav Vedmid, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harry Redknapp: James Boyes from UK, CC BY 2.0 · Terence Stamp: Franz Richter (User:FRZ), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Damon Albarn: Raph_PH, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tower Hamlets | 311,072 | — | C+ | C | D | C− |
| City of London | 7,820 | 2.3 | A− | C− | D− | A+ |
| Hackney | 258,464 | 2.8 | C+ | C− | D | C− |
| Southwark | 307,076 | 3 | B− | C | D | C |
| Newham | 351,065 | 3.2 | B− | C | D | C− |
| Islington | 216,309 | 3.8 | C+ | C− | D | C− |
| Lewisham | 300,764 | 4.5 | C+ | C+ | D | C |
| Greenwich | 288,117 | 5 | B− | C+ | D | C− |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 1.2 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include A Warehouse (Skin Floor) Including Vaults Extending under Wapping Lane. It also has 10 scheduled monuments. Part of it is in the Tower of London World Heritage Site.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 67% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more report less.
GCSE results beat 77% of towns in England, and primary results beat 89% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
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 £480,000, terraced houses £840,000, semi-detached houses £797,500 and detached houses £1,127,500.
London borough in London
Tower Hamlets is a built-up area of 311,072 people, in the Tower Hamlets 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.