What it's like to live in Billericay

Housing in Billericay leans heavily towards ownership. Across the Basildon council area, 63.2% of homes are owner-occupied, 14.2% privately rented and 21.2% socially rented, split between 13.8% council and 7.4% housing association. Social homes exist here, but they are not the dominant tenure in this part of the borough.

Basildon Borough Council is by far the largest social landlord locally with 10,863 homes, followed by Swan Housing Association with 3,050, Clarion with 780, Peabody with 611 and Notting Hill Genesis with 368. Average weekly social rents in the area for 2024/25 were £97 for a one bed, £119 for two and £128 for three.

The age mix across the borough is close to the national picture, with 27.4% aged 25 to 44 and 17% aged 65 and over. In practice Billericay feels like a family town with a solid older population who have been here decades. At 31 March 2025 Basildon's housing register held 2,376 households, and 169 council homes changed hands by mutual exchange that year, so swapping is a real route in.

This is a strong patch for schools, and that is a big part of why families move here. Quilter's Infant & Junior School is about 0.3 miles out, with Sunnymede Primary, South Green Junior and South Green Infant & Nursery all under a mile, and Buttsbury Primary's infant site around a mile away.

For older children there is real choice without a long journey. Harris Academy Billericay is 0.6 miles away, St John's School 0.7 miles, Mayflower High School 1.2 miles and Ramsden Hall Academy 1.5 miles, with St Martin's School about three miles out. Always check current admissions and catchments, as being nearby does not guarantee a place.

For the rest of family life, Festival Gardens and Queen Elizabeth II Field are close to the centre, Lake Meadows and Black Cat Meadow a little further, and the School Farm Wildlife Corridor gives somewhere green to walk. Billericay Library is right in town. Across the Basildon area, 20.7% of residents are under 16, a shade above the England figure, so there are plenty of other children about.

Billericay station is about a third of a mile from the centre, which is the town's biggest practical advantage. It puts London and the Essex towns within reach without a car, and it is close enough to walk to for most people living centrally.

The town itself is walkable in the real sense. Shops, the library, pharmacies, the cinema and several pubs sit within a few hundred metres of each other, and two of the nearest parks are a short stroll from the middle. If you have a buggy or a mobility issue, the flat run along the high street helps.

A car still earns its keep here, particularly for getting to the wider borough, out to Stock or across to Basildon itself. Parking pressure varies street by street, so it is worth looking at an address carefully before you commit. For anyone without a car, the station plus a walkable centre covers a lot, but plan how you would reach places off the rail line.

For a town this size, Billericay does reasonably well. There is a cinema in the centre, a library on the doorstep and the Chantry Centre for community activities, with village halls at Burstead, Ramsden Heath and Noak Bridge serving the surrounding area.

The pub scene is the town's other social anchor. The Red Lion, The Chequers Inn, The Blue Boar and The Crown are all within a few minutes' walk of each other, and Billericay Brewing Company is nearby too. Reids covers the later end of the evening. It is a walk-home-afterwards sort of night out rather than a big night out.

Outdoors, Lake Meadows is the one most people name first, with Festival Gardens and the Queen Elizabeth II Field closer to the middle and Black Cat Meadow and the School Farm Wildlife Corridor for quieter walks. If you want more variety, the train makes a day out elsewhere straightforward.

Employment in the wider Basildon area is healthy. Census 2021 put 59.9% of adults in work, above the England figure of 57.4%, with unemployment at 3.3% against 3.5% nationally. By August 2026, 3.9% of 16 to 64-year-olds were claiming unemployment-related benefits, just under the England rate of 4%.

Billericay itself is not a big employment centre. Most jobs in the town are in shops, pubs, schools, care and local services. Plenty of residents commute, either by train or by car into Basildon and the surrounding Essex towns.

That matters if you are weighing up a swap. If your work is reachable by rail, the station makes Billericay very workable. If it is somewhere awkward across the county, check the journey honestly before you decide, because a long daily trip wears thin faster than people expect.