Buckhurst Hill
Town · 12,014 residents
71Very good
Very good · better than 7 in 10 towns
Check Local Score out of 100 · 60 is typical for the country
Each arc is a topic, coloured by its score
What’s good
- Less recorded crime than is typical: 58 per 1,000 people a year against 100
Check before you view
- Flood risk: 11% of the area is in the highest flood zone, so check the street
- Prices are high for local incomes: affordability scores 34, where 60 is typical
- Road noise reaches 59% of the area
The essentials
Everyday life
The area
Around Buckhurst Hill
Map outline: Official built-up area
Is Buckhurst Hill a good place to live?
Buckhurst Hill scores 71/100 overall, which the scorecard rates as very good — 60 is typical for the country.
It stands out for safety (80).
It scores lowest on affordability (34).
Scores come from official data on safety, schools, transport, prices, health, food & drink and the local environment, for Buckhurst Hill in East of England, each measured against the national average.
Summary of Buckhurst Hill
Buckhurst Hill reads as detached houses behind hedges, a compact high street of independent shops rather than chain retail, and the kind of quiet that comes from money rather than isolation. It sits inside Redbridge but doesn't much feel like inner London — the Central line is here, but the pace is more Essex village than city fringe, and the people you see on the high street are as likely to be walking a dog as catching a train.
The practical picture is straightforward if you can afford the entry price. Buckhurst Hill Underground Station puts the Central line within reach, which is what draws a fair number of the borough's commuters, and the median age of 42 suggests a population past the flat-share stage and into something more settled — houses, gardens, school runs. White Bridge Primary carries a Good Ofsted rating, and the area's own school grade of B+ sits comfortably above the national average, though it's worth knowing that several of the other listed schools (Daiglen, Loyola Preparatory, Oaklands) are independent, which changes the calculus for anyone assuming a fully state-schooled path. Housing itself leans terraced and freehold — three-quarters of sales are freehold — but the terraced houses here sell at a median of £634,000 against a national terraced median of £230,000, so "terraced" doesn't mean modest; it means Victorian or Edwardian stock in a location people pay for. A £600,000 median overall, 30% above Redbridge's own borough figure, tells you this is one of the pricier corners of an already expensive borough, and the price trend has been flat over the past year rather than climbing.