Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,907 in Cambridgeshire, East of England.
Low prices, and some weak spots to weigh against them. Its standout strength is health: life expectancy is 82.6 for men and 86.2 for women. Melbourn grades A− overall, better than 81% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #24 of 50 in Cambridgeshire. At a median £400,000, a home costs 5.5 times the yearly income of households in the South Cambridgeshire council area. School results trail most towns: primary results beat nearly a quarter of towns in England; secondary results beat 19% of towns in England. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety and B for hazard risk.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Melbourn does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Melbourn is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 75 buildings inside Melbourn’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
11% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Melbourn.
Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 916 pupils in Melbourn. Both of the town’s schools appear below. 56% of pupils at the 4 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourn Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 357 | B− |
| Melbourn Village CollegeLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 559 | C+ |
The nearest A&E to Melbourn is Addenbrooke's and the Rosie Hospitals, 8.1 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 76% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 4.1% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Cambridgeshire’s towns (4.4%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike.
| Census 2021 | Melbourn | Cambridgeshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.1% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 16% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Melbourn has 75 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 2 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up 11% of the total, below both Cambridgeshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
69% of households are owner-occupiers. Private rents average £1,408 a month across the South Cambridgeshire council area. The median sale, £400,000, comes from 207 standard sales inside Melbourn’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £625,000 | 71 |
| Semi-detached | £371,375 | 76 |
| Terraced | £339,000 | 48 |
| Flat or maisonette | £260,000 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 39% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Household income came to £67K a year before tax, near Cambridgeshire’s towns (£65K) and higher than England’s towns (£55K). At the census, four in five commuters went by car. Of the commuters living in Melbourn, 17% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 1.1.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Reported offences in Melbourn came to 189 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 51. Of all the crimes, 45% were violence and sexual offences. Violence came to 17.6 per 1,000 residents a year, below Cambridgeshire’s towns (19.2) and England’s towns (22) alike.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
Degrees are held by 40% of adults, higher than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (37%) and England’s towns (34%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up 8.6% of residents. The middle age in Melbourn is 45.2.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Melbourn | Cambridgeshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 40% | 37% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cambridgeshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Melbourn. Best known first.
ZooShepreth Wildlife Park2.9 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumRoyston and District Museum3.4 km outside town, to the southwestHistoric siteHistoric siteEnglish Electric Canberra WJ8214 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
75 listed buildings in Melbourn.
Sheene Mill: Photo: John Sutton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · The Thatched House: Photo: Keith Edkins · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tollgate Cottage: Photo: Keith Edkins · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 10 Station Road: Photo: Keith Edkins · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourn | 4,907 | — | A− | B+ | B | A− |
| Meldreth | 1,823 | 1.2 | — | B | B− | B+ |
| Fowlmere | 1,295 | 2.3 | — | B− | B+ | A |
| Royston | 17,443 | 2.7 | A− | B− | B− | A |
| Foxton | 1,275 | 2.8 | — | C+ | B− | A+ |
| Bassingbourn | 2,353 | 3.2 | — | B+ | B− | A |
| Barrington | 1,184 | 3.2 | — | C+ | B | A |
| Orwell | 1,147 | 3.8 | — | B− | A | A− |
Meldreth, Fowlmere, Foxton, Bassingbourn, Barrington and Orwell have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 6.3 times the typical UK town for its size.
GCSE results trail 81% of towns in England, and primary results trail 76% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). Melbourn has 2 state schools; places are handled by Cambridgeshire council.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £400,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £260,000, terraced houses £339,000, semi-detached houses £371,375 and detached houses £625,000. Household incomes are higher than in 84% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades B+.
Town in Cambridgeshire, England
Melbourn is a built-up area of 4,907 people, in the South Cambridgeshire council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: 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) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · 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 · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 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 · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. 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.