Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,978 in Norfolk, East of England.
Heacham grades C overall against UK towns: better than 30% of UK towns, and #27 of 51 in Norfolk. Its strongest subject is safety (B+): 18.5 violent and sexual offences and 4.9 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £41,628; 3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £282,500 in the last three years, 6 times what households in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Heacham 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 Heacham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 23 buildings inside Heacham’s built-up area.
15% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Heacham.
On this, Heacham is above both Norfolk’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (18%). Under-15s account for 9% of the population. The median resident of Heacham is 60.1 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Heacham | Norfolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 9% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 6.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 14% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 43% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 27% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.7% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 26% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Norfolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heacham Infant and Nursery SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 102 | – |
In the comparison, Heacham comes above both Norfolk’s towns (64%) and England’s towns (61%). 14% of households rent privately.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £335,500 | 112 |
| Semi-detached | £255,000 | 63 |
| Terraced | £235,000 | 39 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Homes saw 4.9 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, close to Norfolk’s towns (6.1) and below England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 121 crimes inside Heacham’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 17 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 54% 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
For Heacham, that is above both Norfolk’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Heacham is The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 10.6 miles away. 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 | Heacham | Norfolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 72% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.1% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 27% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Heacham sits below both Norfolk’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (27%) on this measure. The car carried 82% of commuters at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Heacham has 23 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 0 Grade II*. 15% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Heacham. Best known first.
23 listed buildings in Heacham.
Bridge over Loo Water on Line of Former Heacham-Hunstanton Road.: Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Mary the Virgin: Photo: Adrian S Pye · CC BY-SA 2.0
8 notable people were born in Heacham.
John Rolfe: J. W. Glass, Public domain · James Donaldson: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pauline Jameson: TV episode screenshot (ABC), Public domain · Charles Atmore: C H Kelly (Life time: 1911), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heacham | 3,978 | — | C | C− | B+ | C |
| Hunstanton | 4,230 | 2 | D | C− | C | C− |
| Snettisham | 2,709 | 2.2 | B− | D | A | C |
| Dersingham | 4,753 | 4.2 | B | C− | A | B− |
| King's Lynn | 47,604 | 11 | D | B− | D | D |
| Gayton | 1,522 | 12 | — | C− | B− | B− |
| Clenchwarton | 2,020 | 12 | — | C | A | C |
Gayton and Clenchwarton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.4 times the typical UK town for its size.
Town in Norfolk, England
Heacham is a built-up area of 3,978 people, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk 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.