Crap Towns / Essex / Rayleigh
Rayleigh
11/100Crap Score
879th crappest of 984 towns, and 28th in Essex. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
Got something to say about Rayleigh? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
A castle mound with no castle.
A windmill, a mound with no castle on it, and a hill up from the station that'll finish you off.
Rayleigh's a nice enough market town with a windmill and a mound where the castle used to be. A mound. The walk up from the station is a killer, and the high street hasn't got much in it once you arrive.
The banks have cleared off too. Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds and NatWest have all announced closures since 2022, more than three and a half times the typical town's rate. The buses run through the night, though nobody's sure where to. Low crime, mind. Nobody's got the legs left for it after that hill.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rayleigh's 84 for air pollution means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Air pollution84/10010.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband80/10016.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.1% across the Rochford council area
- Food hygiene50/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 166 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions42/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills26/10069.6 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping24/1007.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rochford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires15/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour7/1005.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson5/1003.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain2/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Stanford-le-Hope | 17 |
| 25 | Brentwood | 17 |
| 26 | Great Dunmow | 13 |
| 27 | Halstead | 12 |
| 28 | Rayleigh | 11 |
| 29 | Chelmsford | 9 |
| 30 | Hockley and Hawkwell | 7 |
| 31 | Maldon | 6 |
| 32 | Saffron Walden | 1 |
Rayleigh by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 48.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 36% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 7 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 4 banks on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 22) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 12.4 per 100,000 people, 3.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.5% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 0.5%
- 34.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,718 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 12% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Rochford council
- £2,363 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £29 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rayleigh against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.