Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
118 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I. Some 4,924 people live in this town, in Suffolk, East of England.
What it saves you on housing, it gives back elsewhere. Its schools fall short (D−): primary results beat 6% of towns in England. Overall, Halesworth earns a B−, better than 46% of UK towns. That places it #22 of 34 in Suffolk. Where it does best is cost of living: a typical home costs £272,500 and rent runs £842 a month. Fewer journeys need a car (A−): on the way to work, 21% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. It lags on jobs & income as well (D): the mean household earns £46,990 a year. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety, B− for health and B for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Halesworth 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 Halesworth is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 118 buildings inside Halesworth’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade II*.
14% 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 Halesworth.
The under-15s are 14% of the population here, and people aged 15 to 24 make up 7.2% of the town, lower than both Suffolk’s towns (10%) and England’s towns (12%). The median resident of Halesworth is 54 years old. Just over a quarter of adults hold a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Halesworth | Suffolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.2% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 35% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.6% | 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
At the 3 primary schools within 3 km, 48% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The town has one school, shown below. Its one primary school teaches 266 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgar Sewter Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 266 | D |
Owners make up two thirds of households, about level with Suffolk’s towns (64%) and above England’s towns (61%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 297 homes sold inside Halesworth’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £272,500. Private tenants account for 18% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 118 |
| Semi-detached | £253,500 | 110 |
| Terraced | £212,500 | 56 |
| Flat or maisonette | £145,000 | 13 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 4 of them. Halesworth has 118 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 4 Grade II*. Conservation areas cover just over a tenth of the town’s land, higher than both Suffolk’s towns (6%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 18% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Nearly a third of commuters who live in Halesworth also work there. Jobs per working resident: 1.1. The car took 77% of commuters, close to Suffolk’s towns (79%) and above England’s towns (70%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 85% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 24% of residents in Halesworth live with a disability. On top of that, at the census, 7% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above Suffolk’s towns (5%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. The nearest A&E to Halesworth is James Paget Hospital, 17.6 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Halesworth | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7% | 5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Violence and sexual offences were 57% of the crimes. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 252 offences in Halesworth and 27 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violent crime ran at 23.5 per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both Suffolk’s towns (18.9) and England’s towns (22).
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Halesworth. Best known first.
MuseumHalesworth Museumin town
MuseumHalesworth Airfield Museum600 m outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumHolton Windmill200 m outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
118 listed buildings in Halesworth.
Gothic House: Photo: Bikeboy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Social Club: Photo: Adrian Cable · CC BY-SA 2.0 · White Swan: Photo: Adrian Cable · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Halesworth Station Moving Platforms: Photo: Keith Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halesworth | 4,924 | — | B− | A− | B− | B− |
| Laxfield | 1,004 | 6.6 | — | B | A+ | A− |
| Reydon | 2,369 | 6.8 | — | B | A | B+ |
| Beccles | 9,807 | 8 | B | A | C | C |
| Bungay | 5,012 | 8 | C+ | A | C+ | B− |
| Worlingham | 3,618 | 8.2 | A | A− | A | B+ |
| Saxmundham | 4,778 | 8.7 | C+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 9.2 | — | A | A | B |
Laxfield, Reydon and Ditchingham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Suffolk council.
That is 9.8 times the typical UK town for its size.
Town in Suffolk, England
Halesworth is a built-up area of 4,924 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.