Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Oxfordshire, South East, home to 2,810 people.
Charlbury does the important things well, at a cost. People here tend to be in good health: life expectancy 85.1 for men, 87.7 for women. Pupils here do less well than most: primary results beat 24% of towns in England. Cost of living is weaker too: a typical home costs £495,000 and rent runs £1,305 a month. The overall grade comes out at B+, #24 of 38 in Oxfordshire. On that grade it does better than 70% of UK towns.
Figures: life expectancy, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Charlbury 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 Charlbury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 103 buildings inside Charlbury’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
25% 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 Charlbury.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Charlbury’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. Scaled to its population, Charlbury has 367 listed buildings per 10,000 people, above Oxfordshire’s towns (104) and England’s towns (39) alike. Before 1919: that is when 25% of homes were built. The top grade, Grade I, goes to 1 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Its one school is below. 56% of pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). 160 pupils attend Charlbury’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlbury Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 160 | C |
The nearest A&E to Charlbury is John Radcliffe Hospital, 13.4 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; nearly three quarters of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 4.1% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than Oxfordshire’s towns (3.5%) yet lower than England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Charlbury | Oxfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 86% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.1% | 3.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 15% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 48% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car carried 78% of commuters at the census. 48% of workers worked mainly from home, above Oxfordshire’s towns (37%) and England’s towns (31%) alike. A household here earns £70K a year before tax, on average.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
71% of households own their home, higher than both Oxfordshire’s towns (63%) and England’s towns (61%). Half of the 95 standard sales inside Charlbury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £495,000. Council and housing-body homes hold 16% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £837,500 | 31 |
| Semi-detached | £430,750 | 38 |
| Terraced | £412,500 | 24 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 107 offences in Charlbury and 14 cases of nuisance behaviour. 52% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Homes saw 8.7 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, higher than Oxfordshire’s towns (6.8) yet lower than England’s towns (9.4).
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.
Typical age in Charlbury: 50.1, the median. People 65 and over make up 28% of the town, above Oxfordshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The share aged 15 to 24 is 8.5%.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
| Charlbury | Oxfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 18% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 4.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 48% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Oxfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Charlbury. Best known first.
MuseumCharlbury Museumin town
Historic houseCornbury Park1.1 km outside town, to the southwestFortFortKnollbury4.9 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
103 listed buildings in Charlbury, 1 of them Grade I.
Queen Anne House Including Tower to Rear: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bell Hotel: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dyers Hill Bridge: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Methodist Chapel and Adjoining School: Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0
5 notable people were born in Charlbury.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlbury | 2,810 | — | B+ | C | B | A |
| Stonesfield | 1,663 | 2.5 | — | B− | A | A+ |
| North Leigh | 1,733 | 4.5 | — | C+ | C+ | A |
| Long Hanborough | 3,034 | 4.9 | A+ | C+ | A | A |
| Freeland | 1,520 | 5.1 | — | C | A+ | A |
| Chipping Norton | 6,991 | 5.4 | B | B | C+ | C |
| Milton-under-Wychwood and Shipton-under-Wychwood | 2,956 | 5.8 | A− | C | B+ | A |
| Woodstock | 3,522 | 5.8 | A+ | C | B+ | A+ |
Stonesfield, North Leigh and Freeland have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 15 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £495,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £412,500, semi-detached houses £430,750 and detached houses £837,500.
Primary results trail 76% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Oxfordshire council.
Town in Oxfordshire, England
Charlbury is a built-up area of 2,810 people, in the West Oxfordshire 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.