Crap Towns / Essex / Chelmsford

Welcome to

Chelmsford

Radio City. Traffic news on repeat.
Twinned with a red light

9/100Crap Score

898th crappest of 984 towns, and 29th in Essex. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

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The public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.

Letters from the locals

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Chelmsford. Sat at a red light.

Says it invented radio. Today's bulletin: the ring road's jammed. Again.

Chelmsford invented radio, or says it did, then got made a city and has been unbearable ever since. Annoyingly, it's mostly fine. The fly-tippers can't be bothered, the arsonists can't either, and it barely rains. Out of town they call it Chumpsfud, which is about the worst anyone can manage.

So Chelmsfordians moan about the one thing they've got. A ring road that somehow goes through the middle, and traffic lights that turn red the moment they see you. The buses run through the night and nobody's grateful. They'd rather sit at the lights and tell you it's a city now.

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Chelmsford's 76 for air pollution means it's crapper than 76% of towns.

  • Air pollution76/1009.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
  • Serious road collisions60/1002.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
  • Broadband47/1005.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.1% across the Chelmsford council area
  • Criminal damage and arson41/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Anti-social behaviour38/1008.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
  • Sewage spills17/10031.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
  • Food hygiene15/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 681 food businesses with a rating
  • Fly-tipping5/1003.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Chelmsford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
  • Rain1/100106 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
  • Deliberate fires1/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
Your patch: EssexTowns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
PosTownNationalScore
25Brentwood820th17
26Great Dunmow854th13
27Halstead867th12
28Rayleigh879th11
29Chelmsford898th9
30Hockley and Hawkwell914th7
31Maldon921st6
32Saffron Walden977th1
33South Woodham Ferrers982nd0

Chelmsford by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Chelmsford council

Have a crap-off

Chelmsford against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

ChelmsfordCrap Score 9
v
GalleywoodCrap Score 2

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.