Photo: Steve Daniels · CC BY-SA 2.0How West Sussex stacks up
On schools, West Sussex is a county of two halves: 22% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as Arundel and Bosham, and 41% in bottom-quarter ones such as Crawley and Bognor Regis. It offers good health and the 18th lowest violent-crime rate of any area, but at the cost of homes that cost 6.5 times household income. Across every subject, West Sussex lands 13th (A−).
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
15th of 65A−78/100 Low crime overall. At 29.7 violent offences per 1,000 residents, West Sussex sits 18th lowest among the areas. 51% of town residents live in a top-quarter town; West Chiltington ranks highest, at #24.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 68 per 1,000 a year (24th 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Quiet towns, busier ones
Its safest towns are Upper Beeding (#37), Ashington (#77) and Crawley Down (#107), ranked against every graded town in the UK. At the other end are Chichester and Littlehampton, in the quarter of town residents living with the most recorded crime.
| 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% | |
| West Sussex | 51% | 7% |
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
32nd of 90B+65/100 Strong schools, but not everywhere. 22% of town residents live in top-quarter towns like Arundel and Bosham, and 41% in bottom-quarter places such as Crawley and Bognor Regis. At the end of primary school it ranks 17th lowest of 47 English counties, with 61% of pupils at the expected standard in all three Rs. Secondary schools pull ahead of primaries here: 17th lowest at eleven, but 12th highest at GCSE.
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 47.1 (12th highest), weighed equally with 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Cost of living
95th of 98D−3/100 Among the least affordable areas. A typical home sold for £385,000 over the past year, 6.5 times the average household’s income (5th highest of 98 areas). Even its best town, Burgess Hill, ranks #1,077 of 2,515.
The middle home sold for £385,000 over the past year, 7th highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,375 a month (12th highest); Band D council tax £2,466 (24th 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Health
13th of 98A88/100 Healthy nearly everywhere. People here can expect 68.5 years in good health, against 65.2 across England and Wales (7th longest of 55 areas with figures). Town after town lands in the top quarter for the UK: 49% of residents live in one. West Chiltington ranks #4 of 2,515 towns in the UK for health.
Life expectancy at birth: 82.5 years, 4th 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Jobs & income
22nd of 98A−78/100 Well off with few exceptions. The average household income is £59,300 a year. Its claimant rate, 3.1%, ranks 47th highest, while household income ranks 13th highest. Haywards Heath leads its towns at #90 of 2,156; 33% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.1% of working-age adults (47th highest), 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Getting about
26th of 98B+74/100 Less car-bound than most areas. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (27th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Chichester ranks highest, at #61.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 33% 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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Flood risk
44th of 87B−50/100 Middle of the table on flooding. No neighbour beats it on flood risk; Hampshire comes closest. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (21st highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Crawley Down ranks highest, at #403.
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. 40 West Sussex towns.
Growth
15th of 98A86/100 Growing faster than most. It leads its neighbours on growth, ahead of Surrey. Since 2011 it has grown 13.1%, the 13th fastest change of 98 areas. Broadbridge Heath leads its towns at #15 of 1,579; 38% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.4%, 34th 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. 27 West Sussex towns. Covers 93% of residents of West Sussex’s graded towns.
How West Sussex compares to its neighbours
None of its neighbours (East Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire) matches it on flood risk and growth.
| West Sussex | East Sussex | Surrey | Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 8113th of 65 | C 3344th of 65 | A 898th of 65 | A− 7815th of 65 |
| Safety | A− 7818th official · 51% in top towns | C+ 3835th official · 23% in top towns | A 8812th official · 71% in top towns | B 6331st official · 35% in top towns |
| Schools | B+ 6531st official · 22% in top towns | C+ 4029th official · 7% in top towns | A+ 972nd official · 72% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 13% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D− 394th official · 0% in top towns | D− 295th official · 0% in top towns | D− 097th official · 0% in top towns | C 3178th official · 34% in top towns |
| Health | A 887th official · 49% in top towns | B+ 6623rd official · 19% in top towns | A+ 982nd official · 98% in top towns | A 8510th official · 49% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A− 7813th official · 33% in top towns | C+ 3922nd official · 7% in top towns | A+ 992nd official · 99% in top towns | A 918th official · 49% in top towns |
| Getting about | B+ 7427th official · 4% in top towns | A+ 955th official · 41% in top towns | A− 8123rd official · 14% in top towns | B+ 6933rd official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B− 5035th official · 26% in top towns | C+ 3823rd official · 13% in top towns | C− 1751st official · 18% in top towns | C+ 4031st official · 20% in top towns |
| Growth | A 8613th official · 38% in top towns | C+ 4256th official · 7% in top towns | B+ 6730th official · 22% 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.