Higham & Shorne
Gravesham 010 · 5 sub-areas · 6,503 residents
Gravesham 010, within the borough of Gravesham in the South East, is a predominantly owner-occupied area of around 6,500 residents with a notably older age profile. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £1,185 a month — close to the UK median for a 2-bed — though rents have risen roughly 6.7% over the past year, and affordability is tight, with rent taking up nearly 58% of typical take-home pay.
Higham & Shorne is a settled residential pocket of Gravesham. The bigger gravitational centre is London, around 81 minutes away by direct train, but most days don't require leaving — local life is what people are here for. The population skews older, with a long-settled feel and a high share of retirees; most homes are owner-occupied, so turnover is low and many residents have been here a long time.
Overview
What's it like to live in Higham & Shorne?
Greenspace is reachable but isn't on the immediate doorstep — most residents walk a few blocks to reach a park; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,319 a month for a typical home.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 5 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Higham & Shorne in Gravesham
Living in Higham & Shorne
This part of Gravesham stands out for how settled it feels. Over four in five homes are owner-occupied — a remarkably high share for anywhere in the South East — and the population skews older, with more than a quarter of residents aged 65 or over. That gives the area a quieter, more residential character than you'd find in commuter-focused parts of the borough.
On rent, the numbers sit close to the national average for a 2-bed at around £1,185 a month, which sounds reasonable until you factor in local wages. With median resident earnings at roughly £35,000 a year, rent can swallow close to 58% of take-home pay — one of the sharper affordability squeezes you'll find outside London. If you're buying, the median sale price is just over £500,000, which puts a deposit around seven years' savings away on typical local earnings.
Who lives here? Mostly longer-established households, couples and families who have put down roots. The 35–64 age bracket makes up a significant chunk of the population, and single-person households account for roughly one in four homes. The area is ethnically fairly homogeneous — about 93% UK-born — with a diversity index of around 22, which is low compared to most South East urban areas.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is about 2 km away — roughly a 25-minute walk or a short drive — and over half of residents commute by car. Public transport use is low at around 5%, which tells you this is a car-dependent area. Nearly 36% work from home at least some of the time, which aligns with the owner-occupied, family-oriented profile. See the streets and sub-areas below for more on how conditions vary across the neighbourhood.
What you'll need on day one
Compare Higham & Shorne with
Frequently asked
- Is Gravesham 010 a nice place to live?
- It's a quiet, settled area with a strong owner-occupation rate and crime below the national average. The trade-off is that affordability is tight — rent takes nearly 58% of typical take-home pay — and the area is car-dependent with limited public transport. It suits people who want stability and greenspace over urban buzz.
- What is the rent in Gravesham 010?
- A one-bedroom runs around £898 a month, a two-bed about £1,185, and a three-bed roughly £1,443. These are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices. Rents have risen around 6.7% over the past year, broadly in line with South East trends.
- Is Gravesham 010 safe?
- The crime rate is around 66.6 per 1,000 residents annually — noticeably below the UK national rate of roughly 80 per 1,000. Combined with a deprivation score placing it around decile 7 out of 10, it reads as a moderately safe, lower-deprivation area by national standards.
- What's the commute from Gravesham 010 to London?
- The rail commute to London takes around 79 minutes by public transport. The nearest mainline station is about 2 km away — a 25-minute walk or a short drive. With only 5% of residents using public transport to commute, most people drive; nearly 36% work from home.
- Who lives in Gravesham 010?
- Mostly older, settled owner-occupiers — over a quarter of residents are 65 or above, and more than half are over 50. Around 83% of homes are owner-occupied, single-person households make up about one in four, and the area is 93% UK-born. It's not a young-professional destination.
- What schools are near Gravesham 010?
- There are 12 schools within typical catchment distance, but only around 57% are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding school is about 4.4 km away. Families should check Ofsted directly and review catchment boundaries before choosing a home here.
- How affordable is buying a home in Gravesham 010?
- The median sale price is just over £500,000. On median local earnings of around £35,000 a year, saving a 10% deposit takes roughly 7.2 years. That's a significant stretch, and it explains why over 80% of residents who are here have bought rather than rent — the private rental market is very small.