Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,012 in Suffolk, East of England.
Bungay grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 41% of UK towns, and #26 of 34 in Suffolk. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £255,000, 4.9 years of area income; rent £842 a month. Its weakest is schools (D−): primary results beat 0% of towns in England; secondary results beat 15% of towns in England.
The 3 things Bungay 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 Bungay is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 185 buildings inside Bungay’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
24% 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 Bungay.
In the comparison, Bungay comes above both Suffolk’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (18%). Children are 15% of the town. Half the people of Bungay are older than 49.2.
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.
| Bungay | Suffolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.2% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 29% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Suffolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bungay Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 237 | D− |
| Bungay High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 922 | C− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For Bungay, that is above both Suffolk’s towns (88) and England’s towns (39). Bungay’s listed buildings include Bungay Castle, Grade I. 24% of homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The median sale price was £255K, below both Suffolk’s towns (£310K) and England’s towns (£308K).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £324,000 | 104 |
| Semi-detached | £245,000 | 78 |
| Terraced | £223,000 | 64 |
| Flat or maisonette | £150,000 | 5 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Bungay sits above both Suffolk’s towns (2.2%) and England’s towns (2.3%) on this measure. Household income averages £49K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
That puts Bungay above both Suffolk’s towns (6.7) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 218 crimes inside Bungay’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 61 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence comes to 26.6 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
On this, Bungay is above both Suffolk’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Bungay is James Paget Hospital, 13.8 miles away. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Bungay | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.6% | 5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bungay. Best known first.
CastleBungay Castlein town
MuseumBungay Museumin town
MuseumNorfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum2 km outside town, to the southwest · 40K visitors a year
CastleMettingham Castle1000 m outside town, to the eastHistoric siteHistoric siteButter Crossin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
185 listed buildings in Bungay, 4 of them Grade I.
Church of St Mary (Including Ruins of Benedictine Convent): Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Butter Cross: Photo: Keith Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dreyer Almshouses: Photo: Adrian S Pye · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Swan: Photo: Glen Denny · CC BY-SA 2.0
5 notable people were born in Bungay.
Susanna Moodie: Hephaestos at en.wikipedia, Public domain · William Miller: Print made by: J. D. Engleheart Printed by: Charles Joseph Hullmandel Published by: Colnaghi Published by: Molteno Published by: William Smith the elder, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bungay | 5,012 | — | C+ | A | C+ | B− |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 1.3 | — | A | A | B |
| Beccles | 9,807 | 5.3 | B | A | C | C |
| Loddon | 2,247 | 5.8 | — | A− | C− | B |
| Worlingham | 3,618 | 6.2 | A | A− | A | B+ |
| Chedgrave | 1,053 | 6.5 | — | A− | A− | B |
| Harleston | 5,077 | 7 | B− | A− | B | B− |
| Thurlton | 1,145 | 7.1 | — | A− | A− | B |
Ditchingham, Loddon, Chedgrave and Thurlton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results trail 85% of towns in England, and primary results trail almost all (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
That is 15.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Bungay Castle. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 67% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Police recorded 218 crimes inside Bungay’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 50% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Town in Suffolk, England
Bungay is a built-up area of 5,012 people, in the East Suffolk 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.