Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,096 in Suffolk, East of England.
Bildeston has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £295,000, 5.2 years of area income; rent £965 a month. Its weakest is walkability (C): 10% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport.
The 3 things Bildeston 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 Bildeston is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Bildeston’s built-up area.
37% 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 Bildeston.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For Bildeston, that is above both Suffolk’s towns (88) and England’s towns (39). Bildeston has 71 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 5 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up 37% of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bildeston Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 117 | B |
Bildeston sits above both Suffolk’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) on this measure. Private renters make up 11% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £420,000 | 11 |
| Semi-detached | £267,500 | 9 |
| Terraced | £242,500 | 16 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Women here live to 86.5 on average and men to 83.6 (2019–23). At the census, 21% of people here had a disability, above both Suffolk’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Bildeston is West Suffolk Hospital, 12 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Bildeston | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
That puts Bildeston below both Suffolk’s towns (6.8) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 29 crimes inside Bildeston’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 1 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violent crime runs at 15.5 per 1,000 residents a year.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
On this, Bildeston is below both Suffolk’s towns (44%) and England’s towns (45%). 88% of commuters drove to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
In the comparison, Bildeston comes below both Suffolk’s towns (10%) and England’s towns (12%). 24% of residents are 65 or over. Bildeston has a median age of 50.1.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Bildeston | Suffolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 33% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Suffolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bildeston | 1,096 | — | — | A− | A− | A− |
| Great Bricett | 1,518 | 2.8 | — | A | A+ | B |
| Elmsett | 1,001 | 4.2 | — | B− | A+ | A− |
| Lavenham | 1,224 | 4.7 | — | B | B− | A |
| Hadleigh | 8,638 | 4.7 | A− | B+ | B− | B+ |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 6.5 | — | B+ | B+ | B+ |
| Stowmarket | 21,537 | 6.7 | B | A | C+ | C+ |
| Acton | 1,666 | 6.7 | — | A− | A | B+ |
Great Bricett, Elmsett, Lavenham, Great Waldingfield and Acton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 26.6 times the typical UK town for its size.
Primary results beat 74% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Suffolk council.
Village in Suffolk, England
Bildeston is a built-up area of 1,096 people, in the Babergh 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.