County ranking
Best places to live in Hertfordshire
30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
We score 44 Hertfordshire towns with a population above 3,000 and data in at least 8 of our 9 categories. Here are the top 30, ranked by overall score. Hitchin leads on 69/100, three points clear of Bushey on 66. Six towns clear 65/100, a mark roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches: Hitchin (69), Bushey (66) and St Albans (66), among others.
The top five span £425,000 in Bishop's Stortford to £600,000 in St Albans on median house price. The listed towns cover 16 points in all, from Hitchin on 69 to London Colney on 53. See the detailed scores for Hitchin, Bushey and St Albans.
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hitchin | 69 | Healthcare 75 Schools 73 | 34,907 | £432,500 |
| 2 | Bushey | 66 | Healthcare 67 Schools 70 | 28,058 | £555,000 |
| 3 | St Albans | 66 | Schools 79 Lifestyle 74 | 72,218 | £600,000 |
| 4 | Watford (Watford) | 66 | Healthcare 75 Transport 78 | 116,459 | £435,000 |
| 5 | Bishop's Stortford | 65 | Lifestyle 66 Schools 65 | 35,414 | £425,000 |
| 6 | Harpenden | 65 | Schools 67 Healthcare 54 | 31,004 | £790,000 |
| 7 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley | 64 | Healthcare 58 Transport 61 | 14,688 | £467,500 |
| 8 | Moor Park | 63 | Healthcare 64 Transport 56 | 5,167 | £1,400,000 |
| 9 | Berkhamsted | 62 | Lifestyle 82 Transport 50 | 20,455 | £660,000 |
| 10 | Chorleywood | 62 | Lifestyle 57 Schools 52 | 13,277 | £930,000 |
| 11 | Rickmansworth | 62 | Schools 63 Healthcare 55 | 24,363 | £620,000 |
| 12 | Letchworth | 60 | Transport 67 Healthcare 57 | 33,873 | £405,000 |
| 13 | Waltham Cross | 60 | Healthcare 77 Schools 76 | 9,060 | £385,000 |
| 14 | Cheshunt | 59 | Healthcare 74 Schools 68 | 42,780 | £440,000 |
| 15 | Hertford | 59 | Lifestyle 59 Healthcare 55 | 25,624 | £443,000 |
| 16 | Hemel Hempstead | 58 | Schools 74 Transport 65 | 91,983 | £410,000 |
| 17 | Ware | 58 | Schools 61 Healthcare 50 | 19,676 | £432,500 |
| 18 | Welwyn Garden City | 58 | Transport 62 Healthcare 54 | 45,337 | £415,000 |
| 19 | Potters Bar | 57 | Lifestyle 74 Healthcare 54 | 23,104 | £600,000 |
| 20 | Royston (North Hertfordshire) | 57 | Lifestyle 58 Transport 45 | 17,387 | £376,500 |
| 21 | Stevenage | 57 | Schools 75 Transport 60 | 85,895 | £350,000 |
| 22 | Hoddesdon | 56 | Schools 56 Lifestyle 54 | 37,274 | £425,000 |
| 23 | Hatfield | 55 | Lifestyle 64 Healthcare 60 | 40,290 | £370,000 |
| 24 | Sawbridgeworth | 55 | Healthcare 50 Schools 52 | 9,767 | £410,000 |
| 25 | Baldock | 54 | Schools 61 Transport 55 | 11,059 | £341,250 |
| 26 | Borehamwood | 54 | Transport 63 Schools 60 | 36,267 | £451,250 |
| 27 | Goff's Oak | 54 | Healthcare 52 Schools 48 | 3,413 | £710,000 |
| 28 | Radlett | 54 | Lifestyle 52 Transport 44 | 7,801 | £941,250 |
| 29 | Bricket Wood | 53 | Transport 57 Schools 39 | 3,992 | £615,000 |
| 30 | London Colney | 53 | Healthcare 62 Schools 52 | 8,182 | £410,000 |
Ranked on the default weighting, out of 100. Strongest categories are the two furthest above the national median for that category, not simply the two highest numbers. Almost every town scores well on safety, so raw highs would say little.
Find your own best place in Hertfordshire
The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 44 qualifying towns around what you actually care about — who's moving, a minimum on one category, a price ceiling for the type of home you'd buy.
Pick a persona or set a filter to re-rank 44 towns in place.
How this ranking was built
Every settlement in Hertfordshire was scored across 9 categories (safety, schools, healthcare, transport, environment, broadband, lifestyle, economic health and bills) from official sources including Police UK, Ofsted, the CQC, Ofcom, the Environment Agency and MHCLG. Two filters then decide who appears here:
- Population above 3,000. Without a floor the list fills with hamlets of a few dozen people. Hertfordshire has 44 towns above it.
- Real data in at least 8 of 9 categories. Places we can only partly measure are excluded rather than ranked on guesswork.
Counties are ceremonial, and a town belongs to the county its postcodes physically sit in, so border towns land where residents would expect them to.
Check your exact postcode
Get a personalised score for any UK postcode, tailored to what matters most to you.
Score my postcode