What it's like to live in Tring

Tring sits in a borough where owner-occupation dominates: 63.9% of homes in Dacorum are owned, 14.3% are privately rented and 21% are social rented. That social rented share is above the England figure of 17.1%, split between council homes at 15.6% and housing association homes at 5.5%.

Dacorum Borough Council is by far the largest social landlord, with around 10,240 homes. Hightown Housing Association follows with 2,083, then Clarion with 750, Notting Hill Genesis with 320 and Paradigm Homes with 275. Average weekly social rents in the borough for 2024/25 were £115 for a one bed, £132 for a two bed and £148 for a three bed.

The age profile across Dacorum is close to the national picture, with slightly more people aged 45 to 64 and a few more children than average. Dacorum's housing register held 1,448 households at the end of March 2025, and 110 council homes changed hands by mutual exchange that year, so swapping is a well-used route here.

Families are well served for a town this size. Within a mile or so there's Bishop Wood C of E Junior School, Goldfield Infants' and Nursery School, Dundale Primary School and Nursery, Grove Road Primary School and St Bartholomew's C of E Primary School, with nursery provision attached to some of them.

For older children, Tring School is about half a mile away, and Tring Park School for the Performing Arts sits even closer. Having a mainstream secondary in the town itself means many teenagers can walk or cycle rather than travel out of the area.

Outside school there's Spider Park and Pound Meadow Playing Field for younger children, Tring Memorial Gardens for a slower afternoon and Tring Park Cricket Club for sport. Tring Library is a couple of minutes from the centre. Across the Dacorum council area, 20% of residents are under 16, slightly above the England figure, so there are plenty of other families around.

Tring station is about 1.8 miles from the town centre, on the main line, which makes it useful for commuting but far enough out that you'll want a bus, a lift, a bike or a decent walk to reach it. Plan that journey carefully if you'll be doing it twice a day in winter.

The town centre itself is easy on foot. Shops, the library, pharmacies, schools and parks all cluster within about half a mile, so plenty of everyday trips don't need a car at all. Footpaths lead quickly out into the Chilterns if you like walking for its own sake.

By car, Tring sits within reach of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Aylesbury, and the wider road network from there. If you don't drive, the compact centre works well, but check bus times for the places you need regularly before you decide, as a small town will always have fewer services than a city.

Tring's best free entertainment is the countryside. Tring Park climbs into the Chilterns and is the sort of place you can walk week after week without getting bored. Closer in, Tring Memorial Gardens is a quiet spot, and Pound Meadow Playing Field gives space for a kickabout.

For something more organised, Tring Park Cricket Club is half a mile out, and there are two gyms in town: Tring Yoga Studio and On The Limit. The library is a short walk from the centre, and the collection of community halls means local clubs, classes and events have somewhere to meet.

Pubs are a big part of the social life here. The Bell and The Akeman are in the centre, with The Black Horse, Kings Arms and The Robin Hood Inn all within a short stroll. It's a small-town scene rather than a nightlife one, so if you want late bars you'll be travelling.

The employment picture across the Dacorum council area is stronger than the national average. At the 2021 Census, 62.4% of adults were in work, compared with 57.4% across England, and unemployment stood at 2.9% against 3.5% nationally. More recently, 3.2% of working-age people in Dacorum were claiming unemployment-related benefits in August 2026, below the England figure of 4%.

Those numbers cover the whole borough of 155,081 people, not just Tring, so they reflect jobs across Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted as much as the town itself.

In practice, many Tring residents work elsewhere. The town supports local jobs in its shops, schools, pubs and services, but the bigger employment centres are the surrounding towns, with the railway opening up commuting further afield. If you're moving for work, it's worth checking what your journey would actually look like, by car and by train, before you agree a swap.