Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town has 4,595 residents and lies in Oxfordshire, South East.
Jobs & income is its strong suit: households earn a mean £70,732 a year, and 1.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Overall, Kennington earns an A: better than 89% of UK towns, and #10 of 38 in Oxfordshire. The median home sold for £475,500, 6.9 times what households in the Vale of White Horse council area earn in a year. What counts against it is schools: primary results beat two in five towns in England; secondary results beat 14% of towns in England.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Kennington 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 Kennington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 5 buildings inside Kennington’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
4% 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 Kennington. Best known first.
MuseumAshmolean Museum3.3 km outside town, to the north
MuseumOxford University Museum of Natural History3.6 km outside town, to the north
CastleOxford Castle Motte3 km outside town, to the north
MuseumPitt Rivers Museum3.6 km outside town, to the north
GardenUniversity of Oxford Botanic Garden2.8 km outside town, to the north
Historic houseBeaumont Palace3.3 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kennington.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 41% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working mainly from home: 41% of workers, above Oxfordshire’s towns (37%) and England’s towns (31%) alike. About 6% of its commuters stay in Kennington for work. There are 0.4 jobs in Kennington for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
At the 20 primary schools within 3 km, 60% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The town has one school, shown below. GCSE results at the 3 secondary schools within 3 km: 37% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 39.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Swithun's CofE Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 420 | B |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 4% of the total, below Oxfordshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Relative to its size, Kennington keeps 11 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
4% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, between Oxfordshire’s towns (3.5%) and England’s towns (5.2%). Seeing a GP means leaving Kennington: the nearest practice is 1.5 miles away. Self-reported good health: 83% of the town’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Kennington | Oxfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 86% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 3.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 15% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 8.5% of the town, and on top of that 14% are under 15, below Oxfordshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The middle age in Kennington is 49. Among adults, 41% have a degree.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Kennington | Oxfordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 18% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 14% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 4.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 41% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Oxfordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Burglary and damage came to 6 per 1,000 residents a year, lower than both Oxfordshire’s towns (6.8) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 125 crimes inside Kennington’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 14 reports of anti-social behaviour. Per 1,000 residents, 12.7 violent crimes are recorded each year. Violence and sexual offences made up half of the total.
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.
Social housing holds 6% of households, below both Oxfordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private tenants account for 14% of households. The £475,500 median rests on 145 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £551,000 | 72 |
| Semi-detached | £433,750 | 48 |
| Terraced | £340,000 | 10 |
| Flat or maisonette | £267,500 | 15 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kennington | 4,595 | — | A | C+ | A | A |
| Radley | 2,079 | 1.8 | — | C+ | A | A− |
| Oxford | 170,799 | 2.5 | C+ | D | C− | C+ |
| Wootton (Vale of White Horse) | 2,428 | 3 | — | B | B+ | B+ |
| Abingdon-on-Thames | 33,179 | 3.1 | A− | B+ | C+ | B+ |
| Shippon | 1,894 | 3.2 | — | C+ | B+ | A− |
| Garsington | 1,295 | 3.3 | — | B− | A− | A− |
| Chawley | 1,127 | 3.6 | — | C+ | A+ | A |
Radley, Wootton (Vale of White Horse), Shippon, Garsington and Chawley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £475,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £267,500, terraced houses £340,000, semi-detached houses £433,750 and detached houses £551,000.
GCSE results trail 86% of towns in England, and primary results trail 60% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Oxfordshire council.
Town in Oxfordshire, England
Kennington is a built-up area of 4,595 people, in the Vale of White Horse 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.