Towns, villages and London boroughs · England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Best places to live in the UK. Explore every town in depth.

Each town gets detailed pages on 12 subjects, drawn from 28 public data sets: 14.1 million crime records, 277,000 listed buildings and monuments, 23,500 schools and 28.1 million property sales. How deep the data goes →

98Counties & council areas

2,160Towns graded

7,377Places

Today’s countyHerefordshire51st of 65 on the report cardsC⁻

LedburyHerefordshireB⁺

Ross-on-WyeHerefordshireB⁻

Browse by nation

Start with a nation

Each nation’s page has its counties or council areas, its biggest and best-graded towns, and a map. England has the most graded towns, 1,917.

England

47 counties · 1,917 graded

#1Bar HillA⁺

Scotland

32 council areas · 296 places

Biggest: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen

Wales

8 counties · 180 graded

#1PenyfforddA

Northern Ireland

11 council areas · 63 graded

#1CarryduffA⁺

UK rankings

The best-graded towns in the UK

Discover the UK’s highest-rated towns and cities. These are the top 10 among 2,138 ranked places with populations of 2,500 or more, based on quality of life, affordability, schools, safety, and other measures.

See how each town compares within its county or council area, or explore our full UK rankings.

All UK rankings →

A note about our rankings: Our rankings cover 2,138 towns and cities across the UK. Another 22 places, primarily military garrisons and university campuses, receive grades but aren’t ranked. Scotland’s 296 towns aren’t included in the overall rankings yet because the detailed crime data needed for a Safety grade isn’t available. You can still explore individual Scottish towns, with grades for cost of living, schools, health, walkability, and flood risk. We expect to include them once new deprivation data becomes available. Northern Ireland’s 63 towns are included, with overall grades based on the five categories for which reliable data is available. Jobs and Flood Risk grades are excluded because the necessary local data isn’t published.

Most affordable

Cost of living grade: house prices and rents against local income

See the top 100 of 2,515 →

Safest

Crimes recorded by police.uk per resident

See the top 100 of 2,138 →

Best big cities

Overall grade, the 96 graded towns and cities of 100,000+

All 96 big towns and cities →

More lists

Best small towns Healthiest Most historic Most walkable Lowest flood risk Lowest council tax Mildest winters Driest Every list

The full listall 2,138 ranked towns

Compare towns

Next door can be a world apart

Set up to four towns side by side: house prices, schools, safety, commutes and more, row by row. Here’s Westbury beside its neighbours.

Compare any towns →

Westbury vs TrowbridgeWestbury has grown faster since 2011

Westbury vs WarminsterMore of Warminster’s commuters work in town

Westbury vs FromeMore of Westbury lives near a park

Town history

Each town has a past. We went and found it.

Old photos and postcards, old maps and town plans, and every listed building and scheduled monument inside the town.

See Port Talbot’s history →

Old photo · 1905

Grade II* · Beulah Calvinistic Methodist Chap…

High Street, Port Talbot II; Beulah Calvinistic Methodist Chapel.
Photo: National Library of Wales · Public domain · Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0

History town of the day

Port Talbot, West Glamorgan

32 listed buildings3 old photos

Port Talbot’s History Grade is a B: 32 listed buildings; 26% of homes built before 1919.

Open Port Talbot’s history →

From the archiveOldest first · open one to see that town’s history

c. 1730CaernarfonProspect of Caernarfon Castle from north

c. 1840AberystwythAberystwyth

house and observatory of the British astronomer Richard Christopher Carrington (1826–1875), built 1852 on Furze Hill, Redhill, Surrey , UK

1857Redhillhouse and observatory of the British astronomer Richard Christopher Carrington …

c. 1890TruroTruro, general view, Cornwall, England

c. 1904LiversedgePhotograph of the exterior of Hartshead Church, near Liversedge, West Yorkshire

1930BasildonLaindon near Basildon. Basildon Drive - 143777. 1930 ESSEX POSTCARD

Old photos & postcardsPublic-domain photos from before 1950, via Wikimedia Commons

Old maps & town plansOrdnance Survey and older plans, where we found one

Listed buildingsEvery Grade I, II* and II entry from Historic England and Cadw

Landmark photosThe Grade I and II* buildings, photographed

Listed buildings: Historic England (National Heritage List for England) and Cadw. Photos and maps via Wikimedia Commons and Geograph; credits are on each town’s History page.

Attractions

Where people go

Museums, castles, gardens and days out: 8,556 places to visit across the UK, each with its own page and the towns around it.

1Museum · in CamdenBritish Museum5.8M visitors a year (2023)

2Castle · in Tower HamletsTower of London2.7M visitors a year (2016)

3Historic house · in WestminsterBuckingham Palace

4Cathedral · in WestminsterWestminster Abbey

5Attraction · in WestminsterElizabeth Tower

6Castle · in WindsorWindsor Castle

Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).

Photo credits (18)

British Museum: Ham, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Tower of London: Bob Collowan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Buckingham Palace: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Westminster Abbey: Σπάρτακος, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Elizabeth Tower: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Windsor Castle: Diliff, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons
Science Museum: Shadowssettle, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Alton Towers Resort: Dunderklumpen, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
National Maritime Museum: Katie Chan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Legoland Windsor: Rob Young profile, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Edinburgh Castle: Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Durham Castle: Carla Brain, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bodiam Castle: Antony McCallum, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
National Gallery: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Tate Modern: Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Victoria and Albert Museum: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Madame Tussauds: Citizen59, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Natural History Museum: Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Town of the day

Westbury: 150 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Westbury grades B− overall against UK towns: better than 47% of UK towns, and #24 of 30 in Wiltshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £260,000, 4.3 years of area income; rent £1,082 a month. Its weakest is schools (C−): primary results beat 4% of towns in England; secondary results beat 48% of towns in England.

Open Westbury →

WestburyWiltshire, EnglandA town of 16,394 in Wiltshire, South West. 15% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport.Health83.1 yearsLife expectancy for women (79.9 for men)History150Listed buildings, 1 of them Grade IB⁻Overall#24 of 30 in WiltshireC⁺SafetyC⁻SchoolsCHealthA⁻Cost of livingB⁺HistorySee all of Westbury →

County report cards

How the 98 counties and council areas compare

65 of the 98 have an overall grade, from up to 8 subjects. Mid Ulster comes first and Dyfed last; 17 are in the A band and 10 in the D band. Scotland’s 32 council areas get one once Safety can be graded there (the deprivation index due at the end of 2026). Greater Manchester has none yet: no police.uk data, so no Safety grade.

Open the full map →

ABCDNo gradeHover or tap a shape for its name; click it, or tap it again, to open it.

Find a county or council area

No overall grade

All 98 report cards →

Inside a town

What a town’s pages cover

Take a look at these pages in Westbury, today’s town.

SafetyCrime reported to police.uk, per resident, graded against UK towns.Westbury’s safety →Cost of livingWhat homes sell for, rents, council tax, and what you can afford.Westbury’s cost of living →Work & commuteIncomes, jobs, benefits claims, and how people get to work.Westbury’s work & commute →SchoolsEvery state school, its results and Ofsted rating.Westbury’s schools →HealthLife expectancy, health in the Census, GPs and hospitals nearby.Westbury’s health →Flood & hazardsHomes at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea.Westbury’s flood & hazards →Who lives hereAges, households, where people were born, and how they travel.Westbury’s who lives here →HistoryOld photos, old maps and every listed building.Westbury’s history →OutdoorsParks, green space, National Parks and National Landscapes nearby.Westbury’s outdoors →ClimateA year of weather: rain, sunshine, frost and summer highs.Westbury’s climate →Town HallCouncils, councillors and MPs, and who to call.Westbury’s town hall →Wiltshire rankingsEvery graded town in Wiltshire, ranked, with Westbury among them.Wiltshire rankings →

The map

All 7,377 places on one map

Zoom into your corner of the UK. Each dot is a town you can open.

Open the full map →

Scroll to zoom · drag to pan · click a town to open it

Mapping the UK…

The UK, one map

Click any dot to open that town.

—towns in view

How grades work

One letter, the same everywhere

Each subject compares a town with every UK town of 1,000 or more, from public data (police.uk crime, the 2021 Census, HM Land Registry and NISRA sales, school results, NHS and NISRA health figures, Environment Agency flood maps). The overall grade blends seven of them for towns of 2,500 or more. UK towns are graded against each other only, never against American towns. Each town page shows the figures behind its letters.

How grades work →

A⁺top 5%
A85–95
A⁻75–85
B⁺65–75
B55–65
B⁻45–55
C⁺35–45
C25–35
C⁻15–25
D5–15
D⁻bottom 5%

Browse by area

Find a town by county or council area

England and Wales by the ceremonial counties people use (“Exeter, Devon”), Scotland and Northern Ireland by council area, London by borough, each with its report-card grade.

England 47

Wales 8

Northern Ireland 11

Questions about TownRatings UK

What is the best place to live in the UK?

Among 2,138 ranked towns and cities of 2,500 or more, Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire ranks first, with its best grades in health and jobs & income. Each is ranked on the national list and within its own county or council area.

Is my town graded?

Towns of 2,500 or more get an overall grade (2,160 do). Places of 1,000 to 2,499 get subject grades only; smaller villages have their page without grades.

Where do the grades come from?

Public data under the Open Government Licence: police.uk street-level crime, the 2021 Census, HM Land Registry sales, ONS rents and incomes, Department for Education results, NHS health indicators and Environment Agency flood maps. Each town page names its sources.

What about Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Both are here, with less to grade so far. Northern Ireland’s 63 towns have an overall grade built from five subjects: no small-area income figures or open flood maps are published there, so there is no Jobs or Flood risk grade. Scotland’s 296 towns are graded on cost of living, schools, health, walkability and flood risk; their overall grades come with the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation at the end of 2026, which brings the figures for a Safety grade.

Photos: Ledbury, Julian P Guffogg (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ross-on-Wye, David Dixon (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Bar Hill, Cruccone (CC BY 3.0) · Glasgow, Ian Hawfinch (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Penyffordd, Jeff Buck (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Carryduff, Eric Jones (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Elvetham Heath, Mr Ignavy (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Girton, Ben Wilkinson (CC BY 3.0) · West Bridgford, Alan Murray-Rust (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Keyworth, Richard Vince (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Fleet, Stuart Shepherd (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Repton, Alan Murray-Rust (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Twyford, David Howard (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Ingleby Barwick, Alex McGregor (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Coalisland, Kenneth Allen (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dungannon, Kenneth Allen (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Larne, Rossographer (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Richhill, HENRY CLARK (CC BY-SA 2.0) · South Wonston, Peter Facey (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dunnington, DS Pugh (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Richmond upon Thames, David Howard (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Sutton, A P Monblat (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Kingston upon Thames, Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Westbury, Chris Heaton (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Trowbridge, David Gearing (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Warminster, Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Frome, Mr Eugene Birchall (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Grades compare UK towns with each other only; American towns are graded in their own edition. TownRatings for America →

Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026 · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.