Braintree South
Braintree 011 · 6 sub-areas · 9,941 residents
Braintree 011 is a residential area within Braintree, home to around 9,900 people. A typical two-bedroom property lets for about £1,110 a month — close to the UK median for a 2-bed — and the area sits in the lower half of deprivation nationally, with a notably high share of social housing compared to the district average.
Braintree South is a settled residential pocket of Braintree. The bigger gravitational centre is London, around 64 minutes away by direct train, but most days don't require leaving — local life is what people are here for.
Overview
What's it like to live in Braintree South?
The area is unusually green for its density — 5 parks and 1 playgrounds sit within five minutes' walk of the centroid; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 12 restaurants and 0 pubs in five minutes; Crime sits around the national average — neither a notable concern nor a notable selling point; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,227 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Braintree South in Braintree
Living in Braintree South
This part of Braintree has a settled, residential feel — predominantly houses rather than flats, with a mix of owner-occupiers and a sizeable social rented sector that makes up roughly one in four households. It doesn't feel like a commuter village; most people who live here work locally or drive, with only about 4% using public transport to get to work.
Rents sit broadly in line with the UK median, which makes this area one of the more affordable parts of Essex for renters. A two-bed comes in at around £1,110 a month, and even a three-bed stays below £1,400. If you're buying, the median sale price is around £284,000 — and on a typical local salary, you'd need roughly four years to save a deposit, which is manageable by south-east England standards.
The population skews slightly younger than you might expect for a market town: around 23% of residents are aged 18–34, and over a fifth of households are couples with children. One-person households account for nearly 30%, which reflects both younger renters and older residents living alone. Owner-occupation is at 58%, so this isn't a transient neighbourhood — most people are here for the medium to long term.
Greenspace is reasonably accessible, with the nearest green area around 400 metres away and about 31% of residents within easy walking distance of a park or open space. For practical day-to-day needs, the rail station is under 600 metres away in a straight line — roughly a seven-minute walk — which is useful given how car-dependent the area otherwise is. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
What you'll need on day one
Compare Braintree South with
Frequently asked
- Is Braintree 011 a nice place to live?
- It's a quiet, settled residential area that suits people who don't need to commute daily. Rents are moderate, greenspace is within walking distance, and owner-occupation is high — signs of a stable community. The trade-off is that it's car-dependent and school quality nearby is below the national average, so families with children should do their homework on catchments.
- What is the rent in Braintree 011?
- A typical one-bed runs around £860 a month, a two-bed around £1,110, and a three-bed around £1,370. These are estimates based on district-level data scaled to local sale prices. Rents have risen about 4.9% over the past year.
- Is Braintree 011 safe?
- The crime rate is around 86 incidents per 1,000 residents a year — slightly above the UK average of roughly 80, but not dramatically so. It feels like an ordinary residential neighbourhood rather than a high-crime area. The crime mix tends towards lower-level offences rather than serious violence.
- What's the commute from Braintree 011 to London?
- The rail commute to London takes around 66 minutes by public transport, and the nearest mainline station is less than 600 metres away — about a seven-minute walk. That said, most residents drive to work locally rather than commuting to London, with only around 4% using public transport daily.
- Who lives in Braintree 011?
- A mix — roughly 58% own their homes, 24% are in social housing, and 17% rent privately. About 23% of residents are aged 18–34, and couples with children make up around 20% of households. It's predominantly UK-born and below-average in degree-level qualifications, pointing to a working and lower-middle-income demographic.
- What schools are near Braintree 011?
- There are 57 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 22.5% are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national share of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is approximately 4.3 km away. Families should check current Ofsted ratings directly before committing to the area on school grounds.