Sawbridgeworth
Hertfordshire · East of England
Property & affordability
What can I get here?
£450,696
Typical property price
£221,250–£650,000
Range across property types
-7.7%
Price change, past year
£650,000
Detached
£482,000
Semi-detached
£377,500
Terraced
£221,250
Flat/apartment
Vs London: 12% cheaper than the London reference figure.
Recent movement: Down 7.7% over the past year.
Vs nearby: Cheaper than 56% of the other 27 Hertfordshire candidates in this dataset.
We don't hold per-bedroom price data for these towns - the figures above are the overall median and by property type, not broken down by bedroom count.
London commute
39 min
Fastest journey
31
Trains per day
Sawbridgeworth
Station
London destination: London Liverpool Street
The reality: Workable for a regular commute, but worth checking specific train times.
The verdict
Sawbridgeworth ranks #53 of 80 in this dataset with a VillageScore of 49.4 (Grade C). It scores particularly well on Future Change and Family & Education. Its weakest area is Risk & Safety (25.9/100 among the 80 candidates) - worth weighing against what matters most to you.
Why is Sawbridgeworth #53?
49.4Data last updated: August 2026
below average
Based on:
- 70% weight: property prices here compared with London prices (cheaper relative to London scores higher)
- 30% weight: one-year house price growth (stronger recent growth scores higher)
- Both figures are converted to a percentile rank across all 80 candidates before combining - the score is relative standing, not a raw price
around the middle of the field
Based on:
- 70% weight: fastest rail journey time to London from the nearest station
- 30% weight: number of trains per day on that route
- 32 of the 80 candidates have their own sourced station data; the other 48 inherit the figures for their nearest mainline station as a proxy, since a direct entry wasn't available for every location.
around the middle of the field
Based on:
- Average of 6 factors, each independently percentile-ranked: footpath access, green space access, and proximity to a supermarket, GP, pharmacy, and community facilities
- Distance-based factors are inverted so being closer scores higher
below average
Based on:
- Based on recorded crime per 1,000 population for the local authority this location sits in (lower crime scores higher)
- Calculated at local-authority level, not per-village - every town in the same local authority receives the same D4 score, even if their real-world feel differs street to street.
comfortably above average
Based on:
- Average of 5 factors, each independently percentile-ranked: primary school quality, secondary school quality, distance to nearest primary school, distance to nearest secondary school, and family recreation provision
- Distance factors are inverted so being closer scores higher
comfortably above average
Based on:
- Weighted average of 6 named sub-components, by local authority: Housing Pipeline (25%), Planning Protection (20%), Infrastructure Investment (20%), Employment Growth (15%), Digital Infrastructure (10%), Climate Adaptation (10%)
- Housing Pipeline uses the government's Housing Delivery Test %; Planning Protection uses years of 5-year housing land supply
- Employment Growth uses ONS BRES employee jobs data (% change 2022-2024); Digital Infrastructure uses Ofcom's gigabit-capable broadband coverage %
- Climate Adaptation uses Environment Agency flood-risk scoring; Infrastructure Investment uses UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation per resident
- Calculated at local-authority level, like D4. Planning Protection specifically has no sourced figure for 2 of the 13 authorities (Broxbourne, Epping Forest) - their Future Change score is computed from the other 5 sub-components, reweighted to 100%.
Every dimension score (0-100) is itself a percentile rank among these same 80 candidates, not a raw measurement on a fixed scale. A score of 80 means "stronger than roughly 80% of these 80 locations on this factor" - not "80 out of 100" in absolute terms. Full methodology →
The good
- +Future Change: comfortably above average (71.8/100)
- +Family & Education: comfortably above average (68.7/100)
The bad
- −Risk & Safety: below average (25.9/100)
- −Property & Value: below average (42.2/100)
What it's actually like
Read off the same scores as the rest of this page, not local knowledge we hold about Sawbridgeworth specifically.
The vibe: Doesn't lean strongly toward any one profile in the scoring - a fairly balanced, general-purpose location across the dimensions we measure.
You'll probably love it if...
- ·You value future change - it scores 72/100, among the strongest of the 80 candidates.
- ·You value family & education - it scores 69/100, among the strongest of the 80 candidates.
You might not like it if...
- ·Property & Value matters a lot to you - it scores 42/100, one of the weaker results in the dataset.
- ·Risk & Safety matters a lot to you - it scores 26/100, one of the weaker results in the dataset.
Who lives here: The scoring here doesn't lean toward any one audience strongly enough to characterise who's likely to live here - treat it as a genuinely general-purpose location rather than one with a clear resident profile.
Weekends: Lifestyle scores 53/100, around the middle of the field - a mix of some local amenities and some reliance on nearby towns.
Local amenities & green space
Real counts within a 5-mile radius, plus a sample of named pubs, cafes, and green spaces from OpenStreetMap - not a curated or rated recommendation list.
Pubs & dining: Around 21 pubs and 76 restaurants & cafes within 5 miles.
The White Lion (0.0 mi) · The Old Bell (0.1 mi) · The Queen's Head (0.1 mi) · The Gate (0.1 mi) · Star of India (0.0 mi) · New Mexico Restaurant (0.0 mi) · Mint Cafe (0.0 mi) · Golden City (0.0 mi)
Shopping: 4 supermarkets and around 231 independent businesses (a proxy for local shops, not a shopping-centre count) within 5 miles.
Green space: 1,163.1 hectares of green space across 394 sites within 5 miles, including 4 registered parks & gardens.
F&B Conservation Area (0.2 mi) · Pishiobury Park (0.6 mi) · Lower Sheering Playing Field (0.7 mi) · Sawbridgeworth Marsh (0.8 mi) · Elim Meadows (1.3 mi)
Sawbridgeworth sits near a county boundary - these counts may undercount amenities just across it, since the underlying data is compiled per county.
Named venues © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Risk & opportunity
Figures for the East Hertfordshire local authority area, not just Sawbridgeworth itself - the same authority-level basis as Risk & Safety and Future Change above.
Risk
Low flood risk - around 19,900 properties across the authority area (Environment Agency, 2024)
5.5 years of housing land supply
108% of target homes delivered over the last 3 years (Housing Delivery Test)
Future opportunity
-4.5% change in local jobs, 2022-2024 (ONS)
£11.56 per resident in UK Shared Prosperity Fund investment, 2022-25
82.7% of premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband
Doesn't cover transport dependency, named developments, or population trends - we don't hold real data on those for any of the 80 candidates.
Who it's best for
No persona profile scores particularly well here relative to the other 79 candidates - this is a weaker overall match across the board.
No persona profile scores notably low here relative to the other 79 candidates.
Similar locations
Closest VillageScore to Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire candidates first.
Things to know before you view
- ·Risk & Safety is this location's weakest dimension (25.9/100 among the 80 candidates) - worth researching in more depth before committing.
- ·Risk & Safety and Future Change are calculated at local-authority level, not per-village - see "How we score it" below for what that means here.
- ·All dimension scores are percentile ranks among these 80 candidates, not absolute measurements - a lower score means relatively weaker within this specific list, not necessarily bad in absolute terms.
v2.0 Production · last updated 2026-08-21