Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 33,262: a large town in Cambridgeshire, East of England.
Mostly strong, with a single weak spot. Taken together, its subjects give St Neots a B+ overall, better than 71% of UK towns. The ranking puts it #29 of 50 in Cambridgeshire. Homes are affordable (A): homes sell for a median £320,000, about 5.1 times local household income. It also does well on walkability (A−) — on the way to work, 21% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. What holds it back is hazard risk: 3% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B− for schools, B− for health and B for jobs & income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far St Neots is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 153 buildings inside St Neots’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
6% 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 St Neots.
Households that own their home make up 66%. The £320,000 median rests on 1,873 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Private rents average £1,057 a month across the Huntingdonshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £470,000 | 544 |
| Semi-detached | £330,000 | 498 |
| Terraced | £275,000 | 556 |
| Flat or maisonette | £175,000 | 275 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Attainment 8 at the town’s 2 secondary schools averages 46.6, and 47% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Crosshall Junior School’s results beat 75% of schools in England like it. Three of its 15 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Some 5,057 pupils attend St Neots’s 11 primaries and two secondaries.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Round House Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 401 | B+ |
| Longsands AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,412 | B |
| Crosshall Junior SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 346 | A− |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 33% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
2.6% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026, above Cambridgeshire’s towns (2.1%) and England’s towns (2.3%) alike. The average household earns £60K a year before tax. About just over a third of its commuters stay in St Neots for work. The town counts 0.7 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Degrees are held by 31% of adults, below Cambridgeshire’s towns (37%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. The median resident of St Neots is 41.4 years old. People 65 and over make up nearly a fifth of the town.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| St Neots | Cambridgeshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.8% | 5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 37% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cambridgeshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence accounts for 26.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 1,894 crimes and 407 reports of anti-social behaviour inside St Neots’s built-up area. There were 13.3 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both Cambridgeshire’s towns (8.7) and England’s towns (7.8). Of all the crimes, 47% were violence and sexual offences.
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 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 6% of the total, below both Cambridgeshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (16%). St Neots’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. It has 3 scheduled monuments.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
3 GP practices serve the town; 74% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to St Neots is Hinchingbrooke Hospital, 8 miles away. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.4% of the town.
| Census 2021 | St Neots | Cambridgeshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 84% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.4% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 16% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near St Neots. Best known first.
MuseumSt Neots Museumin town
CastleEaton Socon Castle100 m outside town, to the southwestAbbey or prioryAbbey or priory · English HeritageBushmead Priory4.9 km outside town, to the westZooZooKnotts of Tempsford3.6 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
153 listed buildings in St Neots, 1 of them Grade I.
The Hillings, Castle Hills: a ringwork castle associated with a Saxon vill, shifted medieval village and a windmill mound: Photo: Chris Jefferies · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Brook House: Photo: Richard Croft · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kings Head Hotel: Photo: John M · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bell Farmhouse: Photo: Heron · CC BY-SA 4.0
15 notable people were born in St Neots.
Jacob Hennessy: Cs-wolves, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Liz Hodgkinson: Iph, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Francis White: Engraving by George Mountain after a 1624 engraving by Thomas Cockson, Public domain · Stephen Whisson: Thomas Trotter / Joseph Freeman / After Frans van der Mijn, 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 Neots | 33,262 | — | B+ | A | C | B− |
| Little Paxton | 4,031 | 1.6 | A− | A | B | B+ |
| Great Paxton | 1,003 | 2.9 | — | A− | A+ | B+ |
| Offord D'Arcy and Offord Cluny | 1,385 | 4.5 | — | A | A− | B |
| Buckden | 2,757 | 4.8 | B | A− | B | B |
| Gamlingay | 2,920 | 5.8 | B+ | A− | B+ | A |
| Great Barford | 2,254 | 5.9 | — | C+ | B+ | B |
| Blunham | 1,391 | 5.9 | — | B− | D− | B |
Great Paxton, Offord D'Arcy and Offord Cluny, Great Barford and Blunham 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.
About the middle for its size: 41% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C.
Band D council tax in St Neots is £2,582 for 2026–27, more than in 82% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Large town in Cambridgeshire, England
St Neots is a built-up area of 33,262 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.