Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 34,600 residents, it is a large town in Oxfordshire, South East.
Didcot’s grades pull in different directions. Jobs and pay hold up well: mean household income £67,487; 2.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its overall grade, A, puts it better than 88% of UK towns. That places it #12 of 38 in Oxfordshire. Pupils here do better than most: primary results beat 68% of towns in England; secondary results beat 88% of towns in England. Crime is the sore point: 30.6 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 8.5 home and vehicle crimes. Only 64% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people have more crime per resident. It also trails on hazard risk (C) — 1.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. At a median £350,000, a home costs 5 times the yearly income of households in the South Oxfordshire council area.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 2 things Didcot 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 Didcot is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 20 buildings inside Didcot’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
2% 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 Didcot. Best known first.
MuseumDidcot Railway Centrein town
Historic houseThe Abbey, Sutton Courtenay1.8 km outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or prioryAbingdon Abbey4.8 km outside town, to the north
Museum · English HeritageAbingdon County Hall Museum4.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumPendon Museum1.4 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumDorchester Abbey Museum4.4 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Didcot.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Relative to its size, Didcot keeps 6 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Homes from before 1919 make up 2% of the total, below both Oxfordshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (16%). Grade II* covers 1 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Aureus Primary School’s results beat 94% of schools in England like it. Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 53.3, and nearly three in five pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Of its 14 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. At the town’s 8 primary schools, 65% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willowcroft Community SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 481 | B+ |
| Didcot Girls' SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,633 | A |
| Aureus Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 450 | A |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 37% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took three quarters of commuters, higher than both Oxfordshire’s towns (69%) and England’s towns (70%). Just over two in five commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Work in town: 28% of resident commuters. For every resident in work, Didcot has 0.5 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
14% live in social housing, below both Oxfordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £1,399 a month across the South Oxfordshire council area. The private rented sector houses 19% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £450,000 | 354 |
| Semi-detached | £372,750 | 598 |
| Terraced | £300,000 | 414 |
| Flat or maisonette | £204,000 | 233 |
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.
Police figures for Didcot’s built-up area: 1,915 crimes and 269 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences made up just over half of the total. There were 8.4 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Oxfordshire’s towns (4.8) and England’s towns (7.8).
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.
87% of people in Didcot rate their own health good or very good. At the census, 3.1% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than both Oxfordshire’s towns (3.5%) and England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Didcot is John Radcliffe Hospital, 11.1 miles away. 3 GP practices serve the town; two thirds of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Didcot | Oxfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 86% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.1% | 3.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 15% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
Residents of Didcot have a median age of 35.8. Children under 15 make up 20%, higher than both Oxfordshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). People aged 15 to 24 make up a tenth of the town.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Didcot | Oxfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 36% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 11% | 18% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.9% | 4.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Oxfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
20 listed buildings in Didcot.
Engine Shed Great Western Railway Heritage Centre: Photo: Forester2009 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Smiths Farmhouse and Attached Walls: Photo: Sionk · CC BY-SA 4.0 · White Cottage: Photo: Sionk · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Northbourne War Memorial: Photo: Motacilla · CC BY-SA 4.0
5 notable people were born in Didcot.
Edgar Andrews: Eddy Maatkamp, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Matt Richardson: glastocabaret, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Didcot | 34,600 | — | A | B+ | C+ | B |
| Harwell | 3,067 | 2 | A | C+ | B− | A− |
| Sutton Courtenay | 3,055 | 2.6 | B+ | B− | B+ | B+ |
| Blewbury | 1,708 | 2.7 | — | C+ | A | A− |
| Chilton | 1,378 | 3.4 | — | A− | B+ | A |
| Steventon | 2,211 | 3.6 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Brightwell-cum-Sotwell | 1,244 | 3.8 | — | C | A− | A− |
| Drayton | 3,110 | 4 | B | C+ | B+ | B+ |
Blewbury, Chilton, Steventon and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 88% of towns in England. Primary results beat 68%.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £350,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £204,000, terraced houses £300,000, semi-detached houses £372,750 and detached houses £450,000. Household incomes are higher than in 85% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B+.
Large town in Oxfordshire, England
Didcot is a built-up area of 34,600 people, in the South 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.