Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 24,284: a large town in Surrey, South East.
A town of contrasts. The local economy does well (A−): households earn a mean £65,637 a year, and 2.6% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its weakest subject is hazard risk: 2.1% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Buying the median home, at £420,000, takes 5.8 years of household income in the Guildford council area. All told, that adds up to a B− overall and a rank of #55 of 65 in Surrey. That leaves it better than 54% of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety and B for health.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
The 3 things Ash and Ash Vale 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 Ash and Ash Vale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 23 buildings inside Ash and Ash Vale’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
8% 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 Ash and Ash Vale. Best known first.
CathedralCathedral of St Michael and St George, Aldershot1.9 km outside town, to the west
Abbey or priorySaint Michael’s Abbey800 m outside town, to the north
Castle · English HeritageFarnham Castle4.4 km outside town, to the southwest
Abbey or priory · English HeritageWaverley Abbey3 km outside town, to the south
MuseumMuseum of Military Medicine600 m 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 Ash and Ash Vale.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 2 of them. 8% of its homes were built before 1919, lower than both Surrey’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (16%). Relative to its size, Ash and Ash Vale keeps 9 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Secondary results at the 7 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 49.5, with 49% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Some 2,954 pupils attend Ash and Ash Vale’s seven primaries and one secondary. At the town’s 5 primary schools, 53% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holly Lodge Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 418 | B |
| Ash Manor SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,252 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 28%, below both Surrey’s towns (40%) and England’s towns (45%). Driving is how 86% of commuters got to work at the census. Work in town: 8% of resident commuters. Ash and Ash Vale counts 0.3 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Ash and Ash Vale has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1.5 miles away. 15% of residents have a disability, between Surrey’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (17%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 3.7% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Ash and Ash Vale | Surrey | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.7% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Three quarters of households own their home, above Surrey’s towns (70%) and England’s towns (61%) alike. Behind the median of £420,000: 1,263 standard sales inside Ash and Ash Vale’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Private rents average £1,694 a month across the Guildford council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £558,000 | 343 |
| Semi-detached | £430,000 | 459 |
| Terraced | £350,000 | 349 |
| Flat or maisonette | £201,250 | 112 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 1,100 offences in Ash and Ash Vale and 185 cases of nuisance behaviour. Homes saw 11.9 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above Surrey’s towns (10.5) and England’s towns (9.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences were just over two fifths of the crimes. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Ash and Ash Vale has less crime per resident than 77% of them.
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.
One measure of family life: 17% of residents are under 15. At 42.9, the median resident of Ash and Ash Vale sits in the middle of the age range. Degrees are held by a third of adults, below Surrey’s towns (42%) and close to England’s towns (34%).
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Ash and Ash Vale | Surrey | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 13% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.8% | 4.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Surrey and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
23 listed buildings in Ash and Ash Vale.
Tudor House: Photo: Mertbiol · CC0 · Memorial Chapel: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hartshorn: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St Paul: Photo: Hassocks5489 · CC0
3 notable people were born in Ash and Ash Vale.
Howling Laud Hope: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash and Ash Vale | 24,284 | — | B− | C+ | B− | B |
| Aldershot | 39,827 | 1.7 | B− | C+ | D | C |
| Badshot Lea | 1,883 | 2.5 | — | B− | B | A |
| Normandy | 1,665 | 2.7 | — | C− | A− | A |
| Farnborough | 60,665 | 3.1 | C+ | C | C | B− |
| Weybourne | 11,241 | 3.4 | A | B− | B+ | A+ |
| Deepcut | 2,163 | 3.5 | — | B+ | C | A− |
| Frimley | 15,101 | 3.7 | A | B | C+ | A− |
Badshot Lea, Normandy and Deepcut have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades B−.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £420,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £201,250, terraced houses £350,000, semi-detached houses £430,000 and detached houses £558,000.
Large town in Surrey, England
Ash and Ash Vale is a built-up area of 24,284 people, in the Guildford 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.