Photo: Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0How Surrey stacks up
Only one English county gets more of its pupils to the expected standard at the end of primary school: in Surrey, 67% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Town by town, 98% of residents live in the healthiest quarter of towns in the UK, 1st among the areas. The overall grade: A, a score of 89 that ranks 8th.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
9th of 65A88/100 Safe, town after town. Surrey records 26.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales. Nearly every town does well here, Wrecclesham and East Horsley among them. No neighbour beats it on safety; West Sussex comes closest.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 61 per 1,000 a year (16th lowest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Low crime nearly everywhere
Its safest towns are Shalford (#61), Lightwater (#95) and Windlesham (#114), ranked against every graded town in the UK. By population, 71% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and 2% in bottom-quarter ones.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Surrey | 71% | 2% |
Where crimes are counted
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
4th of 90A+97/100 Consistently strong schools. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 67% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (2nd highest). 72% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as East Horsley and Farnham, and almost none at the bottom.
At GCSE, pupils average 52.0 on Attainment 8 (the highest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Cost of living
98th of 98D−0/100 Among the least affordable areas. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £500,000, or 6.9 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Even its best town, Whyteleafe, ranks #901 of 2,515. London, Kent and West Sussex all do better on affordability.
Typical sale price: £500,000 (13,135 sales, 2nd highest).
Private rent £1,647 a month (4th highest); Band D council tax £2,559 (13th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Health
3rd of 98A+98/100 Healthy with few exceptions. No area puts more of its town residents in the healthiest quarter of towns (98%). Surrey ranks 2nd longest for healthy life expectancy, at 70.8 years. No neighbour beats it on health; Berkshire comes closest.
Life expectancy at birth: 83.2 years, 2nd longest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Jobs & income
2nd of 98A+99/100 Well off with few exceptions. No area puts more of its town residents in the best-off quarter of towns (99%). The average household income is £72,500 a year, 30% above the England and Wales figure. Ashtead ranks #6 of 2,156 towns in the UK for incomes.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.4% of working-age adults (16th lowest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Getting about
19th of 98A−81/100 Less car-bound than most areas. 23% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work, against 26% across England and Wales (23rd highest of 98 areas). At the Census, 44% worked mainly from home. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Epsom its best at #66 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 44% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Flood risk
72nd of 87C−17/100 More flood risk than most areas. About 4 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (5th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Stanwell ranks highest, at #358.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 65 Surrey towns.
Growth
33rd of 98B+67/100 Steady growth. ONS estimates put 1.25 million people here in 2024, +10.0% on 2011 (30th fastest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Horley ranks highest, at #75.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.5%, 31st fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 50 Surrey towns. Covers 91% of residents of Surrey’s graded towns.
How Surrey compares to its neighbours
Next to London, Kent, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire, it comes out ahead on safety, health and jobs and income and behind on cost of living.
| Surrey | London | Kent | West Sussex | Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A 898th of 65 | B+ 6623rd of 65 | B 6126th of 65 | A− 8113th of 65 | A− 7815th of 65 |
| Safety | A 8812th official · 71% in top towns | C 2740th official · 15% in top towns | B− 5033rd official · 26% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 51% in top towns | B 6331st official · 35% in top towns |
| Schools | A+ 972nd official · 72% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 79% in top towns | A− 7815th official · 22% in top towns | B+ 6531st official · 22% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 13% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D− 097th official · 0% in top towns | D 798th official · 6% in top towns | D 985th official · 0% in top towns | D− 394th official · 0% in top towns | C 3178th official · 34% in top towns |
| Health | A+ 982nd official · 98% in top towns | B+ 6929th official · 31% in top towns | B+ 6725th official · 23% in top towns | A 887th official · 49% in top towns | A 8510th official · 49% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A+ 992nd official · 99% in top towns | B+ 721st official · 43% in top towns | B+ 6515th official · 21% in top towns | A− 7813th official · 33% in top towns | A 918th official · 49% in top towns |
| Getting about | A− 8123rd official · 14% in top towns | A+ 1001st official · 100% in top towns | A− 7632nd official · 8% in top towns | B+ 7427th official · 4% in top towns | B+ 6933rd official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C− 1751st official · 18% in top towns | B 5919th official · 21% in top towns | B 5536th official · 30% in top towns | B− 5035th official · 26% in top towns | C+ 4031st official · 20% in top towns |
| Growth | B+ 6730th official · 22% in top towns | B+ 7423rd official · 23% in top towns | A− 8117th official · 29% in top towns | A 8613th official · 38% in top towns | B+ 6539th official · 23% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.