Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 16,818 residents in Cambridgeshire, East of England.
Real strengths, and real weak spots. Prices are modest for what you get: a typical home costs £305,000 and rent runs £1,057 a month. Walkability is another plus (A) — 24% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. The drawback is hazard risk: 10.5% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Overall, that makes an A−, good for #18 of 50 in Cambridgeshire. It comes out better than 85% of UK towns. Elsewhere it is close to typical: C+ for safety, B− for schools and B for health.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS.
The 2 things St Ives 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 St Ives is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 148 buildings inside St Ives’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
7% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1903.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in St Ives.
Social housing holds 11% of households, lower than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). Half of the 690 standard sales inside St Ives’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £305,000. Private tenants account for just over a fifth of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £425,000 | 195 |
| Semi-detached | £310,000 | 193 |
| Terraced | £255,000 | 222 |
| Flat or maisonette | £197,500 | 80 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
St Ivo Academy’s results beat 76% of schools in England like it. Of its 5 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. 53% of pupils at the town’s 3 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorndown Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 478 | B− |
| St Ivo AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,378 | A− |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 35% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 74% of commuters, about level with Cambridgeshire’s towns (72%) and above England’s towns (70%). St Ives counts 0.9 jobs per working resident. A quarter of commuters who live in St Ives also work there. Average household income comes to £61K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to St Ives is Hinchingbrooke Hospital, 5.2 miles away. 3 GP practices serve the town; 79% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 4.1% of residents report bad or very bad health.
| Census 2021 | St Ives | Cambridgeshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.1% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 16% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures 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.
Homes from before 1919 make up 7% of the total, below Cambridgeshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. St Ives’s listed buildings include the Chapel of St Ledger, Grade I. 3 scheduled monuments lie here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Police recorded 1,002 crimes inside St Ives’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 224 reports of anti-social behaviour. For its size, St Ives records less crime per resident than 73% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Violence and sexual offences made up 42% of the total. There were 12.2 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Cambridgeshire’s towns (8.7) and England’s towns (7.8).
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.
The share of residents under 15 is 16%. The 15-to-24 age group: 9.9%, lower than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). The median resident of St Ives is 43.3 years old.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| St Ives | Cambridgeshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 21% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.6% | 5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 34% | 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 St Ives. Best known first.
MuseumNorris Museumin town
Historic houseThe Manor1.2 km outside town, to the southwestHistoric siteHistoric site · National TrustHoughton Mill1.2 km outside town, to the westZooZooThe Raptor Foundation2.9 km outside town, to the northeastZooZooJohnson's Zoological Gardens3.7 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumHeritage Centre2 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
148 listed buildings in St Ives, 2 of them Grade I.
Church of All Saints: Photo: Cmglee · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chapel of St Ledger: Photo: Rob Noble · CC BY-SA 2.0 · St Ives Bridge: Photo: Hongking · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jersey Cottage Oliver Cromwell Inn: Photo: MalBarrows · CC BY-SA 4.0
11 notable people were born in St Ives.
John Ruddy: NCFCQ, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Samuel Jackson Pratt: Charles Turner / After John James Masquerier, Public domain · Jeffery Day: Jeffery Day, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Ives | 16,818 | — | A− | A | C+ | B |
| Hemingford Grey | 3,372 | 1.5 | A+ | A− | A | A |
| Wyton | 1,248 | 1.7 | — | A+ | A− | A− |
| Houghton | 1,368 | 1.8 | — | B− | A− | A+ |
| Needingworth | 2,059 | 2.1 | — | A− | A− | A |
| Fenstanton | 3,015 | 2.5 | B+ | A− | C+ | A |
| Hilton | 1,052 | 4 | — | B | A+ | A+ |
| Godmanchester | 7,714 | 4 | A− | A− | C+ | B+ |
Wyton, Houghton, Needingworth and Hilton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
That is 3.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Chapel of St Ledger. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Town in Cambridgeshire, England
St Ives is a built-up area of 16,818 people, in the Huntingdonshire 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.