Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town in Wiltshire, South West, home to 36,084 people.
Chippenham is easy to get around without a car: just over a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. The median home sold for £300,000, 5 times what households in the Wiltshire council area earn in a year. Jobs and pay hold up well: mean household income £60,707; 2.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. All told, that adds up to a B+ overall, better than 73% of UK towns. Its place in the ranking is #12 of 30 in Wiltshire. The rest of its grades are middling: C+ for safety, C+ for schools, B− for health and B for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The thing Chippenham 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 Chippenham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 276 buildings inside Chippenham’s built-up area, 2 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 1809 and a map from 1946.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Chippenham.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took just over three quarters of commuters, close to Wiltshire’s towns (77%) and above England’s towns (70%). Work in town: nearly two fifths of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 0.9.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Queen's Crescent School’s results beat three quarters of schools in England like it. Attainment 8 at the town’s 2 secondary schools averages 47.9, and nearly half of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Of its 12 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Between them, ten primaries and two secondaries teach 5,557 pupils in Chippenham.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ivy Lane Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 451 | C+ |
| Hardenhuish SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,519 | B+ |
| Queen's Crescent SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 411 | A− |
Owners make up two thirds of households, close to Wiltshire’s towns (65%) and above England’s towns (61%). Behind the median of £300,000: 1,883 standard sales inside Chippenham’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Renting privately is how 17% of households live.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £435,000 | 569 |
| Semi-detached | £300,000 | 566 |
| Terraced | £250,000 | 511 |
| Flat or maisonette | £164,000 | 237 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
10% of its homes were built before 1919, below Wiltshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Chippenham’s listed buildings include The Ivy and the Ivy West Wing, Grade I. Relative to its size, Chippenham keeps 76 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.
Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 17.3 reports per 1,000, above both Wiltshire’s towns (7.9) and England’s towns (7.8). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 2,024 crimes and 644 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Chippenham’s built-up area. Of all the crimes, 50% were violence and sexual offences. Also worth knowing: for its size, Chippenham records less crime per resident than 73% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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.
3 GP practices serve the town; 85% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Chippenham is Royal United Hospital Bath, 12.4 miles away. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.2% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Chippenham | Wiltshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.2% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
The median resident of Chippenham is 42.8 years old. Graduates make up 34% of adults. Just over one in ten residents are 15 to 24, above Wiltshire’s towns (10%) but below England’s towns (12%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Chippenham | Wiltshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.9% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 34% | 31% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Wiltshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Chippenham. Best known first.
Abbey or priory · National TrustLacock Abbey3.2 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseBowood House4.1 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseCorsham Court2.6 km outside town, to the southwest
Museum · National TrustFox Talbot Museum3.1 km outside town, to the southWater parkWater parkThe Splashpadin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
276 listed buildings in Chippenham, 2 of them Grade I.
The Yelde Hall and the Council Chamber: Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Angel Hotel and Motel and stables attached to the rear: Photo: John Stephen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Andrew: Photo: My another account · CC0 · Mortimores Weighbridge Office, Chippenham Station Yard: Photo: Chris debian · CC BY-SA 4.0
33 notable people were born in Chippenham.
Jeremy Corbyn: Jessica Taylor, CC BY 3.0 · Gabrielle Aplin: Lyonso14, CC0 · Danny Kent: Box Repsol, CC BY 2.0 · Adrian Maben: Matej Zloch, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Francis Kilvert: unknown 19th century, Public domain · Paul Cornell: The original uploader was Morwen at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chippenham | 36,084 | — | B+ | B+ | C+ | B− |
| Derry Hill and Studley | 1,027 | 3.1 | — | B− | B+ | A− |
| Corsham | 10,887 | 3.7 | B+ | B | B+ | B+ |
| Sutton Benger | 1,270 | 3.9 | — | B− | A− | A+ |
| Rudloe | 2,863 | 4.8 | A+ | A− | A− | A− |
| Calne | 19,725 | 5.4 | B− | A− | B− | C+ |
| Atworth | 1,293 | 5.5 | — | B− | B+ | A− |
| Bromham | 1,066 | 5.7 | — | B+ | A | B+ |
Derry Hill and Studley, Sutton Benger, Atworth and Bromham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include The Ivy and the Ivy West Wing.
Band D council tax in Chippenham is £2,717 for 2026–27, more than in 97% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Large town in Wiltshire, England
Chippenham is a built-up area of 36,084 people, in the Wiltshire 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.