Epping
Essex · East of England
Property & affordability
What can I get here?
£585,000
Typical property price
£340,000–£877,500
Range across property types
-4.2%
Price change, past year
£877,500
Detached
£627,500
Semi-detached
£515,000
Terraced
£340,000
Flat/apartment
Vs London: 15% more expensive than the London reference figure.
Recent movement: Down 4.2% over the past year.
Vs nearby: More expensive than 67% of the other 18 Essex 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
55 min
Fastest journey
100
Trains per day
Epping
Station
London destination: London Underground (Central Line)
The reality: Workable for a regular commute, but worth checking specific train times.
The verdict
Epping ranks #73 of 80 in this dataset with a VillageScore of 40.8 (Grade E). None of its dimensions stand out as a strength against the wider field of 80 candidates - its relative high point is Lifestyle (62.8/100), which is itself only around the middle of the field. Its weakest area is Risk & Safety (15.2/100 among the 80 candidates) - worth weighing against what matters most to you.
Why is Epping #73?
40.8Data last updated: August 2026
one of the weaker scores among the 80 candidates
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
one of the weaker scores among the 80 candidates
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.
around the middle of the field
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
below 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
- +No dimension stands out as a particular strength versus the rest of the field.
The bad
- −Risk & Safety: one of the weaker scores among the 80 candidates (15.2/100)
- −Property & Value: one of the weaker scores among the 80 candidates (24.2/100)
- −Future Change: below average (42.7/100)
What it's actually like
Read off the same scores as the rest of this page, not local knowledge we hold about Epping 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...
- ·No single dimension stands out enough here to make a confident case - it's a genuinely balanced, middle-of-the-field option.
You might not like it if...
- ·Future Change matters a lot to you - it scores 43/100, one of the weaker results in the dataset.
- ·Property & Value matters a lot to you - it scores 24/100, one of the weaker results in the dataset.
- ·Risk & Safety matters a lot to you - it scores 15/100, 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 63/100, 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 54 pubs and 260 restaurants & cafes within 5 miles.
George & Dragon (0.2 mi) · The Black Lion (0.3 mi) · King Harolds Head (3.7 mi) · Drinker Moth (3.7 mi) · Fred and Doug's (0.2 mi) · Poppy's Charcoal Grill (0.2 mi) · Costa (0.2 mi) · Zaikaa (0.2 mi)
Shopping: 15 supermarkets and around 685 independent businesses (a proxy for local shops, not a shopping-centre count) within 5 miles.
Green space: 1,236.4 hectares of green space across 313 sites within 5 miles, including 3 registered parks & gardens.
Bell Common (0.5 mi) · Lower Swaines Recreation Ground (0.6 mi) · Roughtalley's Wood (North) (2.1 mi) · The Deer Sanctuary (2.2 mi) · Home Mead Local Nature Reserve (2.8 mi)
Epping 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 Epping Forest local authority area, not just Epping itself - the same authority-level basis as Risk & Safety and Future Change above.
Risk
Very High flood risk - around 49,200 properties across the authority area (Environment Agency, 2024)
66% of target homes delivered over the last 3 years (Housing Delivery Test)
Future opportunity
+3.7% change in local jobs, 2022-2024 (ONS)
£7.35 per resident in UK Shared Prosperity Fund investment, 2022-25
87.8% 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.
May not suit: if the Family First profile is your priority, this location scores relatively low on it (37.9/100) - other candidates in the full list may fit better.
Similar locations
Closest VillageScore to Epping, Essex candidates first.
Things to know before you view
- ·Risk & Safety is this location's weakest dimension (15.2/100 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