Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The large town has 68,443 residents and lies in West Sussex, South East.
More weak spots than strong ones. Housing is expensive (D): a typical home costs £319,250 and rent runs £1,231 a month. Where it does best is walkability (B+): nearly a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Put together, the subjects come to a D overall, ranking #37 of 40 in West Sussex. That leaves it better than 6% of UK towns.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Bognor Regis 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 Bognor Regis is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 150 buildings inside Bognor Regis’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
10% 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 1890.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bognor Regis.
Social housing holds 9% of households, below West Sussex’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Home ownership stands at 69% of households. Private tenants account for just over a fifth of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £450,000 | 953 |
| Semi-detached | £325,000 | 683 |
| Terraced | £275,000 | 539 |
| Flat or maisonette | £160,000 | 653 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
At the town’s 10 primary schools, 48% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Of its 15 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Attainment 8 at the town’s 2 secondary schools averages 46.3, and nearly half of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Bryant SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 626 | D− |
| The Regis SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,679 | B+ |
14% are under 15, below both West Sussex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). The 65-and-over age group makes up 28% of residents. At 48.3, the median resident of Bognor Regis sits in the middle of the age range. Aged 15 to 24: 9.6% of residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Bognor Regis | West Sussex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 9.8% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Sussex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Bognor Regis has less crime per resident than 77% of them. Homes saw 16.3 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both West Sussex’s towns (9.7) and England’s towns (9.4). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 5,634 crimes and 1,344 reports of anti-social behaviour inside the town’s built-up area. Violence and sexual offences accounted for nearly two fifths of recorded crime.
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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
About 36% of its commuters stay in Bognor Regis for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.6. Also worth knowing: households had £46K a year before tax, below West Sussex’s towns (£63K) and England’s towns (£55K) alike.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Four fifths of Bognor Regis’ residents described their health as good or very good at the census, below West Sussex’s towns (83%) and England’s towns (82%) alike. The nearest A&E to Bognor Regis is St Richard's Hospital, 5.3 miles away. 6 GP practices serve the town; 76% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Bognor Regis | West Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.5% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Bognor Regis’s listed buildings include The Dome, Grade I. Before 1919: that is when one in ten homes were built. Scaled to its population, Bognor Regis has 22 listed buildings per 10,000 people, below both West Sussex’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bognor Regis. Best known first.
PierBognor Regis Pierin town
MuseumTangmere Military Aviation Museum4.6 km outside town, to the north
Theme parkHarbour Park3.9 km outside town, to the east
FortLittlehampton Redoubt3.7 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumBognor Regis Museumin townTheme parkTheme parkButlins Bognor Regisin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
150 listed buildings in Bognor Regis, 1 of them Grade I.
The Dome: Photo: Ainslie · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Blake's Cottage: Photo: Roger Brooks · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Hotham Park House: Photo: Charlesdrakew · Public domain · Nyetimber Windmill: Photo: R Briant Burgess, Bognor · Public domain
25 notable people were born in Bognor Regis.
David Purley: Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bruce Welch: Ukphonebook, Public domain · Russell Drysdale: Max Dupain, Public domain · E. C. Pielou: Sharon Niscak, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Peter Marshall: Bart Everson, CC BY 2.0 · Ian Morison: Jamesfranklingresham, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bognor Regis | 68,443 | — | D | D | C− | C |
| Pagham | 1,291 | 3 | — | D− | C | B− |
| Barnham | 10,139 | 3.7 | C− | D− | C | B− |
| Yapton | 6,337 | 4 | D− | D− | C− | C |
| Hunston | 1,154 | 4.5 | — | C− | B− | C+ |
| Walberton | 1,236 | 4.5 | — | D− | B+ | B |
| Tangmere | 4,000 | 4.6 | C | C | B | C+ |
| Westhampnett | 1,238 | 5 | — | D | D | A− |
Pagham, Hunston, Walberton and Westhampnett have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C−.
Large town in West Sussex, England
Bognor Regis is a built-up area of 68,443 people, in the Arun 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.