Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A borough of 326,725 people, one of London’s 32 boroughs. A Band D home pays £1,029 in council tax.
Pupils here do better than most: primary results beat 86% of towns in England; secondary results beat 90% of towns in England. Wandsworth ranks #11 of 33 in London, with a B+ overall. Set against the rest, it does better than nearly two thirds of UK towns. Fewer journeys need a car: 72% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. The drawback is cost of living (C−): the median home sold for £650,000, 7.6 years of area income. Hazards are a real consideration (C−): 2.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 289 buildings inside Wandsworth’s built-up area, 5 of them Grade I.
44% 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 1912.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Wandsworth. Best known first.
PierBattersea Power Station Pierin town
PierPutney Pierin town
MuseumClapham South Deep Level Shelterin townArt galleryArt galleryPutney Sculpture Trailin townMuseumMuseumAntique Breadboard Museumin townArt galleryArt galleryMatt's Galleryin 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 Wandsworth.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 57% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Nearly a quarter of commuters drove, lower than both London’s towns (38%) and England’s towns (70%). Among 16 to 64s, 4.1% claimed unemployment benefits in 2026. Of the commuters living in Wandsworth, 26% work in the town itself. Home was the main workplace for 57% of workers at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Sheringdale Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. Attainment 8 at the town’s 11 secondary schools averages 54.1, and three in five pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Below are three of its 80 schools, each with why it was picked. At the town’s 55 primary schools, 69% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 1,031 | A |
| Graveney SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 2,332 | A |
| Sheringdale Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 436 | A+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Wandsworth has 289 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 5 Grade I, 30 Grade II*. Its listed buildings include the Church of St Mary and churchyard wall and gate, Grade I. 8 registered parks and gardens lie in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Just over two in five households own their home, lower than both London’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (61%). 13,598 standard sales inside Wandsworth’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £650,000. Private rents average £2,632 a month across the Wandsworth council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £2,397,500 | 140 |
| Semi-detached | £1,500,000 | 546 |
| Terraced | £1,070,000 | 3,491 |
| Flat or maisonette | £540,000 | 9,421 |
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.
Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 22.5 reports per 1,000, lower than London’s towns (25.2) yet higher than England’s towns (7.8). Violent crime runs at 27.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Over the year to August 2026, 25,603 offences were reported in Wandsworth, along with 7,170 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Wandsworth has less crime per resident than 84% of them.
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
11% of residents in Wandsworth live with a disability. At the census, 3.1% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below both London’s towns (4.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%). 36 GP practices serve the town; 84% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Wandsworth | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 89% | 85% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.1% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 11% | 13% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · 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.
The age that splits Wandsworth in two is 33.6. 16% are under 15, lower than both London’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Retirement age and beyond: nearly one in ten residents are 65 or older.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Wandsworth | London | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 43% | 34% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 21% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 9.5% | 12% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 9.9% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 2% | 3.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 11% | 13% | 17% |
| Degree level | 63% | 47% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · London and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
289 listed buildings in Wandsworth, 5 of them Grade I.
Richmond Park: Photo: Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Battersea Power Station: Photo: Aurelien Guichard from London, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mount Clare: Photo: Edwardx · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Falcon Hotel Public House: Photo: Edwardx · CC BY-SA 3.0
459 notable people were born in Wandsworth.
Clement Attlee: Presumably Yousuf Karsh, Public domain · Edward Gibbon: Joshua Reynolds, Public domain · Phil Collins: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 · Sadiq Khan: Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0 · Ademola Lookman: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Thomas Cromwell: Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wandsworth | 326,725 | — | B+ | C− | C | B− |
| Lambeth | 317,108 | 2.7 | C+ | C− | D | C |
| Merton | 214,931 | 3 | B+ | C+ | C+ | B− |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 182,187 | 3.1 | B− | C− | D | C+ |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 143,348 | 3.4 | B+ | C− | D | B+ |
| Westminster | 203,571 | 4.4 | B− | C− | D− | B− |
| Southwark | 307,076 | 4.9 | B− | C | D | C |
| City of London | 7,820 | 5.9 | A− | C− | D− | A+ |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £650,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £540,000, terraced houses £1,070,000, semi-detached houses £1,500,000 and detached houses £2,397,500.
Its Grade I buildings include Church of St Mary and churchyard wall and gate.
GCSE results beat 90% of towns in England, and primary results beat 86% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Band D council tax in Wandsworth is £1,029 for 2026–27, less than in almost all of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
London borough in London
Wandsworth is a built-up area of 326,725 people, in the Wandsworth 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.