Plenty to like here, at a price. Its schools beat most (A): primary results beat 80% of towns in England; secondary results beat 99% of towns in England. With an A− overall, Henley-on-Thames is better than 85% of UK towns and ranks #13 of 38 in Oxfordshire. Residents are healthier than most: life expectancy is 81.4 for men and 85 for women. The trade-off is cost of living — a typical home costs £650,000 and rent runs £1,402 a month. Hazard risk is higher than most (C−): 3.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: life expectancy, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Henley-on-Thames is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Henley-on-Thames.
History
Henley-on-Thames has 374 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I
374listed buildingsA+History Grade
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Before 1919: that is when 28% of homes were built. Henley-on-Thames’s listed buildings include Chantry House, Grade I. Per 10,000 residents, Henley-on-Thames counts 317 listed buildings, above Oxfordshire’s towns (104) and England’s towns (39) alike. Grade II* covers 19 of them, Grade I 2.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
SchoolsA
School results in Henley-on-Thames are better than in 93% of towns in England
ASchool Grade
Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 3 primary schools: two thirds of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Valley Road School’s results beat 94% of schools in England like it. Three of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 60.2, and 74% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 4 schools →
Work & commuteJobs & income grade A
Henley-on-Thames is more walkable than 97% of UK towns
33%walk, cycle or ride
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 51% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Each working resident is matched by 1.2 jobs in Henley-on-Thames. At the census, 33% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, higher than both Oxfordshire’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (27%). Working from home was the norm for 51% of workers at the census. 36% of commuters who live in Henley-on-Thames also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Health
Disability is less common in Henley-on-Thames, 14% of residents, than in Oxfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
87%good or very good healthAHealth Grade
Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 3.3% of the town. At the census, 87% of people in Henley-on-Thames called their health good or very good, close to Oxfordshire’s towns (86%) and above England’s towns (82%). Also worth knowing: the nearest A&E to Henley-on-Thames is Royal Berkshire Hospital, 6.1 miles away. 2 GP practices serve the town; 92% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
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.
HousingCost of living grade C
Henley-on-Thames is graded a C for cost of living grade
£650Kmedian sale
Social housing holds 13% of households, lower than both Oxfordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Henley-on-Thames is the second most expensive of the 40 towns in Oxfordshire, at £650,000. Half of the 563 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £650,000.
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Henley-on-Thames£650K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£990,771
134
Semi-detached
£696,000
109
Terraced
£608,000
198
Flat or maisonette
£371,500
122
64%
of households own their home · England 61%
22%
rent privately · England 21%
£1,402
average private rent a month, South Oxfordshire council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Safety
Homes in Henley-on-Thames see more burglary and damage than in Oxfordshire’s towns or England’s towns: 14.5 per 1,000 a year
25.8violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearCSafety Grade
The 12 months to August 2026 brought 692 recorded crimes inside Henley-on-Thames’s built-up area, and 75 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violent crime runs at 25.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Violence and sexual offences were 42% of the crimes.
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 60% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: about the middle for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual288
Shoplifting85
Damage & arson77
Public order55
Vehicle crime50
Other theft46
Burglary36
Other crime15
Anti-social75
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.
25.8
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
14.5
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
6.6
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
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.
Who lives here
Degrees are more common in Henley-on-Thames than in Oxfordshire’s towns or across England’s towns: 51% of adults
47median age
Under-15s account for 15% of the population. People 65 and over make up 24% of the town, above both Oxfordshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). The share aged 15 to 24 is 9%. At 47, the median resident of Henley-on-Thames sits in the middle of the age range.
Henley-on-ThamesOxfordshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
24%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications11%
Apprenticeship4%
A levels or similar13%
Degree level51%
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
WomenEnglandMen
About 90 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.
James Lawrence: John Smith/FAW, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Adam Hart-Davis: Ratio BG, CC BY 3.0 · Hugo Blick: The Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0 · Michael Webb: Nancywozniak, CC BY-SA 4.0 · William Lenthall: Unidentified painter, Public domain
About Henley-on-Thames
Town in Oxfordshire, England
Henley-on-Thames is a built-up area of 11,786 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.
Lower Shiplake, Hurley and Sonning have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Henley-on-Thames
Is Henley-on-Thames expensive to live in?
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 £371,500, terraced houses £608,000, semi-detached houses £696,000 and detached houses £990,771.
How many listed buildings are there in Henley-on-Thames?
That is 13 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Chantry House.
Are schools in Henley-on-Thames good?
GCSE results beat 99% of towns in England, and primary results beat 80% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Does Henley-on-Thames flood?
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.
