* Brentwood in Essex is the most faithful town – shattering the myth that Essex girls (and boys) are promiscuous;
* High proportion of wealthy commuter towns in the top 10;
* New interactive Infidelity Index lists the number of people having affairs in Britain’s 140 towns leading towns;
* Infidelity Index has been put together by IllicitEncounters.com – Britain’s leading dating website for married people
The most adulterous town in the UK is posh High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, according to a new table of the country’s 140 cheating hotspots.
The middle class commuter town has been officially named as the place where a husband or wife is most likely to have an affair.
Wealthy High Wycombe has 2,119 people cheating out of a population of 120,256.
The interactive Infidelity Index allows users to search a town to discover how many people are having affairs in any locality.
Click here to find your local figure – http://www.infidelityindex.co.uk.
High Wycombe came out highest, with 2.12% of the population cheating.
In second place was another middle class commuter town, Guildford in Surrey, with 1,250 cheats (2.05% of the population) and Aldershot in Hampshire came third.
Cumbernauld, fifth in the overall UK table, was Scotland’s cheating capital. Wrexham, a lowly 55 in the UK table, was Wales’s cheating capital – suggesting that couples in the Principality are having fewer affairs than elsewhere in the UK.
Many of the towns with the highest numbers of cheats are wealthy areas in the south of England.
The most faithful town, perhaps surprisingly, was Brentwood in Essex – shattering the myth that Essex girls (and boys) are promiscuous. Brentwood is where many of the cast of the TV show The Only Way Is Essex live or socialise.
Famous people from High Wycombe include the TV chef Heston Blumenthal, comedian Jimmy Carr, actor James Corden and TV presenter Fern Britton.
With an average house price of £269,681 – far above the national average of £188,270 – it is one of the most desirable places to live in the UK.
The figures were compiled by IllicitEncounters.com, Britain’s leading dating website for married people.
They are based on its own extensive data on the numbers of Britons cheating.
Since its inception 13 years ago, more than 1 million people have registered with the site.
IllicitEncounters.com has seen a 20% surge in registrations in the last five years because many couples simply cannot afford to divorce due economic pressures and ever-rising house prices.
Increasing numbers of couples are trapped in unhappy marriages but they are reluctant to divorce and are using IllicitEncounters.com to inject to some excitement into their lives with like-minded married men who also have no intention of leaving their partners.
llicitEncounters.com spokesman Christian Grant said: “We are increasingly popular in commuter towns like High Wycombe, Guildford, Maidenhead and Ashford. They are doing a lot more than just twitching curtains in Acacia Avenue.
“Spiralling house prices have made divorce increasingly difficult for many couples. They are struggling along unhappily because they simply cannot afford to set up two homes.
“IllicitEncounters.com provides an outlet for men and women who would have an affair whether we were there or not. In coming to us, they can be assured of meeting a like-minded partner seeking some added excitement in their life who doesn’t want to upset things at home.”
Every week, around 20,000 people in the UK are having affairs on IllicitEncounters.com.
The average income of the men on the site is £54,000 a year, with most working in professional jobs.

Rank | Town | % of town pop | (affairs) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | High Wycombe | 2.12 | (2119) |
2 | Guildford | 2.05 | (1250) |
3 | Aldershot | 2.03 | (729) |
4 | Beeston | 2.00 | (939) |
5 | Cumbernauld | 1.91 | (841) |
6 | Maidenhead | 1.86 | (1660) |
7 | Runcorn | 1.78 | (1099) |
8 | Ashford | 1.75 | (1180) |
9 | Taunton | 1.75 | (1056) |
10 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 1.58 | (1186) |
11 | Livingston | 1.57 | (1002) |
12 | Bracknell | 1.57 | (1211) |
13 | Farnborough | 1.56 | (1017) |
14 | Loughborough | 1.49 | (894) |
15 | Royal Tunbridge Wells | 1.39 | (527) |
16 | Gosport | 1.37 | (979) |
17 | Widnes | 1.36 | (835) |
18 | Stevenage | 1.35 | (1211) |
19 | Gravesend | 1.35 | (750) |
20 | Tamworth | 1.33 | (986) |
21 | Rochester | 1.30 | (819) |
22 | Weymouth | 1.28 | (696) |
23 | Harrogate | 1.27 | (932) |
24 | Hamilton | 1.26 | (671) |
25 | Crawley | 1.23 | (1319) |
26 | Christchurch | 1.22 | (660) |
27 | Bootle | 1.20 | (615) |
28 | Shrewsbury | 1.20 | (858) |
29 | Margate | 1.17 | (718) |
30 | Chatham | 1.17 | (898) |
31 | Chelmsford | 1.15 | (1276) |
32 | Rugby | 1.11 | (783) |
33 | Bury | 1.11 | (855) |
34 | Stourbridge | 1.11 | (705) |
35 | Clacton-On-Sea | 1.10 | (554) |
36 | Bamber Bridge | 1.10 | (743) |
37 | Gillingham | 1.09 | (1139) |
38 | Altrincham | 1.08 | (565) |
39 | Cannock | 1.05 | (709) |
40 | Redditch | 1.01 | (824) |
41 | Macclesfield | 0.99 | (561) |
42 | Bedford | 0.98 | (858) |
43 | Halesowen | 0.98 | (572) |
44 | Royal Leamington Spa | 0.95 | (527) |
45 | Eastleigh | 0.95 | (745) |
46 | Kettering | 0.94 | (527) |
47 | Grays | 0.91 | (610) |
48 | Burton upon Trent | 0.91 | (660) |
49 | Maidstone | 0.90 | (966) |
50 | Crewe | 0.90 | (642) |
51 | Scarborough | 0.90 | (558) |
52 | Walton-on-Thames | 0.90 | (599) |
53 | Stafford | 0.89 | (606) |
54 | Mansfield | 0.87 | (671) |
55 | Wrexham/Wrecsam | 0.84 | (516) |
56 | Blackburn | 0.83 | (984) |
57 | Bognor Regis | 0.83 | (531) |
58 | Weston-super-Mare | 0.80 | (673) |
59 | Reading | 0.79 | (1719) |
60 | Aylesbury | 0.78 | (563) |
61 | Walsall | 0.78 | (527) |
62 | Folkestone | 0.77 | (396) |
63 | Littlehampton | 0.77 | (430) |
64 | Esher | 0.74 | (376) |
65 | Lowestoft | 0.74 | (525) |
66 | East Kilbride | 0.73 | (543) |
67 | Sale | 0.73 | (977) |
68 | Wallasey | 0.73 | (439) |
69 | Hemel Hempstead | 0.72 | (687) |
70 | Bebington | 0.71 | (405) |
71 | South Shields | 0.70 | (529) |
72 | Corby | 0.68 | (376) |
73 | Chesterfield | 0.67 | (594) |
74 | Batley | 0.67 | (536) |
75 | Ellesmere Port | 0.67 | (410) |
76 | Willenhall | 0.67 | (347) |
77 | Barnsley | 0.66 | (599) |
78 | Blackpool | 0.66 | (972) |
79 | Darlington | 0.66 | (608) |
80 | West Bromwich | 0.66 | (484) |
81 | Kidderminster | 0.66 | (369) |
82 | Nuneaton | 0.65 | (563) |
83 | Neath/Castell-Nedd | 0.65 | (327) |
84 | Keighley | 0.65 | (345) |
85 | Southport | 0.64 | (583) |
86 | Ewell | 0.62 | (320) |
87 | Paisley | 0.60 | (464) |
88 | Dudley | 0.60 | (473) |
89 | Castlereagh | 0.60 | (336) |
90 | Colchester | 0.59 | (702) |
91 | Slough | 0.59 | (914) |
92 | Scunthorpe | 0.57 | (459) |
93 | Grimsby | 0.57 | (507) |
94 | Woking | 0.57 | (606) |
95 | Solihull | 0.56 | (696) |
96 | St Helens | 0.56 | (581) |
97 | Luton | 0.55 | (1168) |
98 | Cheltenham | 0.55 | (635) |
99 | Halifax | 0.54 | (480) |
100 | Hastings | 0.54 | (489) |
101 | Stockton-on-Tees | 0.53 | (441) |
102 | Burnley | 0.53 | (432) |
103 | Oldham | 0.52 | (498) |
104 | Harlow | 0.52 | (423) |
105 | Swindon | 0.50 | (918) |
106 | Crosby | 0.49 | (246) |
107 | Dewsbury | 0.48 | (304) |
108 | Rayleigh | 0.47 | (446) |
109 | Poole | 0.46 | (718) |
110 | Eastbourne | 0.46 | (502) |
111 | Atherton | 0.45 | (318) |
112 | Huddersfield | 0.44 | (718) |
113 | Basildon | 0.42 | (446) |
114 | Rochdale | 0.41 | (444) |
115 | Bolton | 0.41 | (801) |
116 | Warrington | 0.41 | (684) |
117 | Milton Keynes | 0.41 | (702) |
118 | Washington | 0.40 | (266) |
119 | Ipswich | 0.39 | (565) |
120 | Telford | 0.39 | (558) |
121 | Worthing | 0.39 | (423) |
122 | Birkenhead | 0.39 | (563) |
123 | Southend-on-Sea | 0.38 | (675) |
124 | Doncaster | 0.38 | (419) |
125 | Tynemouth | 0.36 | (241) |
126 | Hartlepool | 0.36 | (318) |
127 | Paignton | 0.35 | (225) |
128 | Wigan | 0.35 | (358) |
129 | Stockport | 0.33 | (349) |
130 | Newtownabbey | 0.33 | (219) |
131 | Sutton Coldfield | 0.32 | (354) |
132 | Northampton | 0.32 | (691) |
133 | Rotherham | 0.31 | (342) |
134 | Gateshead | 0.27 | (327) |
135 | Watford | 0.26 | (345) |
136 | Middlesbrough | 0.24 | (421) |
137 | Barry | 0.23 | (126) |
138 | Craigavon | 0.19 | (52) |
139 | Bournemouth | 0.16 | (304) |
140 | Brentwood | 0.15 | (98) |
