Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
21,327 people call this large town in Surrey, South East home.
A town of contrasts. Safety lags (D): 49.9 violent and sexual offences and 19.5 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Set beside UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, its crime per resident is higher than in 87%. Staines-upon-Thames’s overall grade is C+, better than just over two in five UK towns. It ranks #62 of 65 in Surrey. Housing is expensive: a typical home costs £435,000 and rent runs £1,687 a month. Hazards are a real consideration: 23.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: nearly a quarter of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. People here tend to be in good health (B+): life expectancy 80.7 for men, 85.5 for women.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy, ONS · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Staines-upon-Thames 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 Staines-upon-Thames is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 57 buildings inside Staines-upon-Thames’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
11% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1820.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Staines-upon-Thames. Best known first.
AttractionColossusin town
AttractionHyperiain town
AttractionStealthin town
AttractionThe Swarmin town
AttractionNemesis Infernoin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Staines-upon-Thames.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 22.7 reports per 1,000, above both Surrey’s towns (7.3) and England’s towns (7.8). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 2,521 crimes and 475 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Staines-upon-Thames’s built-up area. Of all the crimes, 35% were violence and sexual offences.
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.
Attainment 8 at the 5 secondary schools within 3 km averages 49.4, and just over half of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Three of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Staines-upon-Thames’s three primaries and one secondary have 2,269 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverbridge Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 687 | C |
| The Matthew Arnold SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 947 | B |
| Our Lady of the Rosary Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 236 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 43% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Household income came to £67K a year before tax, between Surrey’s towns (£72K) and England’s towns (£55K). There are 1.2 jobs in Staines-upon-Thames for each resident in work. About 12% of its commuters stay in Staines-upon-Thames for work. 38% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Private tenants account for nearly a quarter of households. Social housing holds just over one in ten households, close to Surrey’s towns (12%) and below England’s towns (18%). 65% of households are owner-occupiers.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £652,500 | 98 |
| Semi-detached | £510,000 | 242 |
| Terraced | £448,500 | 201 |
| Flat or maisonette | £320,000 | 432 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
14% of residents in Staines-upon-Thames live with a disability. 2 GP practices serve the town; 70% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 3.6% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2021 | Staines-upon-Thames | Surrey | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.6% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 14% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 3 of them. The national list protects one ancient monument in Staines-upon-Thames. The town has 27 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, lower than both Surrey’s towns (31) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The under-15s are 16% of the population here. Staines-upon-Thames has a median age of 41.3 years. Degrees are held by nearly two in five adults, between Surrey’s towns (42%) and England’s towns (34%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Staines-upon-Thames | Surrey | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 13% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.8% | 4.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Surrey and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
57 listed buildings in Staines-upon-Thames.
Church of St Mary: Photo: Nigel Cox · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Blue Anchor Public House: Photo: Motacilla · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Remains of Bridge on River Thames Towpath (South Bank): Photo: DanielMichaelPerry · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Staines Town Hall: Photo: Maxwell Hamilton · CC BY 2.0
34 notable people were born in Staines-upon-Thames.
Sophie and the Giants: Lanthan2003, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cecil Harcourt Smith: W.T. Pike (died 1924), Public domain · E. L. Grant Watson: Unidentified photographer, Public domain · Geraldine Sherman: Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staines-upon-Thames | 21,327 | — | C+ | C− | D | B+ |
| Laleham | 2,521 | 0.9 | B | D | B | A− |
| Ashford | 22,823 | 1.4 | B | C− | C | B+ |
| Stanwell | 11,728 | 1.9 | C | C− | D | C− |
| Thorpe | 1,226 | 2.2 | — | C− | C+ | B |
| Stanwell Moor | 1,431 | 2.2 | — | C− | C− | C |
| Egham | 28,003 | 2.3 | B− | C | C+ | B |
| Shepperton Green | 4,358 | 2.4 | B | D | B | B |
Thorpe and Stanwell Moor 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.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £435,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £320,000, terraced houses £448,500, semi-detached houses £510,000 and detached houses £652,500.
Large town in Surrey, England
Staines-upon-Thames is a built-up area of 21,327 people, in the Spelthorne 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.