Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The large town has 27,016 residents and lies in Surrey, South East.
A strong record with one exception. Walkability is a strength too: 24% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. It takes 6.1 years of household income in the Elmbridge council area to buy the median home, at £505,000. Natural hazards weigh more here (D): 7.5% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Put together, the subjects come to an A− overall, better than nearly four fifths of UK towns. That places it #36 of 65 in Surrey.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS.
The 3 things Walton-on-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 Walton-on-Thames is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 32 buildings inside Walton-on-Thames’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I.
9% 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 Walton-on-Thames. Best known first.
Historic house · Historic Royal PalacesHampton Court Palace3.3 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseClaremont2.3 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseOatlands Palace1.5 km outside town, to the west
Garden · National TrustNational Trust - Claremont Landscape Gardens2.5 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseBushy House4.5 km outside town, to the northeast
Abbey or prioryChertsey Abbey4.9 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Walton-on-Thames.
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.
Household income averages £75K a year before tax. 46% of workers worked mainly from home, about level with Surrey’s towns (44%) and above England’s towns (31%). Jobs per working resident: 0.6.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Grovelands Primary School’s results beat 83% of schools in England like it. Of its 5 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 3 primary schools: just over two thirds of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 574 | B |
| Heathside Walton-on-ThamesLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 661 | – |
| Grovelands Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 482 | A− |
Life expectancy here is 85.3 for women and 81.4 for men (2019–23). 13% of residents in Walton-on-Thames live with a disability. The nearest A&E to Walton-on-Thames is St Peter's Hospital, 5.2 miles away. 5 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Walton-on-Thames | Surrey | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 87% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.2% | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 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.
Walton-on-Thames’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up nearly a tenth of the total, below both Surrey’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (16%). Relative to its size, Walton-on-Thames keeps 12 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Per 1,000 residents, 12.9 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded a year. Police figures for Walton-on-Thames’s built-up area: 1,929 crimes and 295 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 11.6 reports per 1,000, above both Surrey’s towns (7.3) and England’s towns (7.8). 43% of the crimes fell under 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.
14% live in social housing, between Surrey’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £1,891 a month across the Elmbridge council area. The owner-occupied share of households is 64%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £950,000 | 205 |
| Semi-detached | £627,500 | 256 |
| Terraced | £479,000 | 234 |
| Flat or maisonette | £310,000 | 361 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
People 65 and over make up 16% of the town, lower than both Surrey’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%). Aged 15 to 24: 8.6% of residents. The age that splits Walton-on-Thames in two is 40.1. Degrees are held by 45% of adults.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Walton-on-Thames | Surrey | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 13% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 4.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 45% | 42% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Surrey and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
32 listed buildings in Walton-on-Thames, 2 of them Grade I.
Old Manor House: Photo: Len Williams · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Oatlands Drive: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Walton-on-Thames War Memorial: Photo: Chris Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Walton Court, formerly Birds Eye Offices, including courtyards, water garden features and front pool: Photo: Richard Rogerson · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walton-on-Thames | 27,016 | — | A− | C+ | C | A− |
| Hersham | 12,622 | 1.2 | A | C | B− | A− |
| Upper Halliford | 2,337 | 1.7 | — | D | B− | B |
| Shepperton | 5,917 | 1.8 | A− | D | C+ | A+ |
| Weybridge | 15,918 | 2 | A | C | B− | A+ |
| Esher | 9,484 | 2.2 | A | C− | B− | A+ |
| Sunbury-on-Thames | 21,476 | 2.2 | B− | D | C− | B |
| Shepperton Green | 4,358 | 2.6 | B | D | B | B |
Upper Halliford has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets 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.
GCSE results beat 83% of towns in England, and primary results beat 81% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £505,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £310,000, terraced houses £479,000, semi-detached houses £627,500 and detached houses £950,000.
About the middle for its size: 42% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C.
Large town in Surrey, England
Walton-on-Thames is a built-up area of 27,016 people, in the Elmbridge 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.