Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,920 in Surrey, South East.
Pirbright grades A overall against UK towns: better than 88% of UK towns. Its strongest subject is jobs & income (A+): mean household income £79,222; 1.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its weakest is cost of living (D): median sale £867,500, 12 years of area income; rent £1,736 a month. Pirbright is a military garrison town: most residents serve or work for the armed forces and live in service housing, so it keeps its grades but isn’t ranked against other towns.
The 3 things Pirbright 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 Pirbright is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 23 buildings inside Pirbright’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
19% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1908.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Pirbright.
That puts Pirbright above both Surrey’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). People 65 and over make up 6% of the town. Half the people of Pirbright are older than 24.7.
35% women, 65% men
About 54 women for every 100 men. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Pirbright is a garrison town: service personnel living in barracks count as residents.
| Pirbright | Surrey | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 34% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 31% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 12% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 6% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 6.9% | 13% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.8% | 4.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 27% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Surrey and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pirbright Village Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 417 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 46% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
On this, Pirbright is below both Surrey’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%). At the census, 37% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
In the comparison, Pirbright comes below both Surrey’s towns (10.6) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 55 crimes inside Pirbright’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 9 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Pirbright has less crime per resident than 98% 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
For Pirbright, that is above both Surrey’s towns (87%) and England’s towns (82%). Of the 105 towns in Surrey, Pirbright has the second-smallest share in bad or very bad health: 1.4%. 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 | Pirbright | Surrey | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 93% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 1.4% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 7.7% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Pirbright sits below both Surrey’s towns (70%) and England’s towns (61%) on this measure. 45% of households rent privately.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,200,000 | 17 |
| Semi-detached | £646,500 | 14 |
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.
Pirbright has 23 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. 19% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Pirbright. Best known first.
Abbey or priorySaint Michael’s Abbey4.6 km outside town, to the west
MuseumMuseum of Military Medicine3 km outside town, to the southwest
MuseumNRA Museum600 m outside town, to the northTheme parkTheme parkMizen's Railway3.5 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionBasingstoke Canal Visitor Centre2.9 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
23 listed buildings in Pirbright.
Church of St Michael and All Angels: Photo: Hassocks5489 · CC0 · The Cricketers Public House: Photo: Colin Smith · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirbright | 3,920 | — | A | D | A+ | A |
| Brookwood | 1,428 | 0.9 | — | C+ | B | A |
| Bisley | 4,045 | 1.7 | A− | C+ | C+ | B+ |
| Deepcut | 2,163 | 2 | — | B+ | C | A− |
| West End and Chobham | 8,877 | 2.8 | A | C | A− | A− |
| Lightwater | 6,539 | 3 | A | C+ | A | A+ |
| Frimley | 15,101 | 3.2 | A | B | C+ | A− |
| Fairlands | 1,119 | 3.4 | — | C− | B+ | A− |
Brookwood, Deepcut and Fairlands 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 £867,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: semi-detached houses £646,500 and detached houses £1,200,000.
Police recorded 55 crimes inside Pirbright’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 64% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Town in Surrey, England
Pirbright is a built-up area of 3,920 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.
