Photo: Tim Green · CC BY 2.0How Cornwall stacks up
In Cornwall, Penryn and Liskeard rank near the top in the UK for growth; Saltash and Penzance sit near the bottom. Its weak spots are homes that cost 6.2 times household income and 2.0% of town homes at flood risk. That balance adds up to a C overall and 49th place among the UK’s areas.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
32nd of 65B−52/100 Middle of the table on crime. Probus leads its towns at #190 of 2,138; 31% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. By police.uk’s count, violent crime here comes to 35.6 offences per 1,000 residents a year.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 64 per 1,000 residents a year, 21st lowest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
A mixed picture, town by town
Carbis Bay leads its towns at #242 of 2,138, with St Agnes and Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel close behind. Truro, Bodmin and Penzance sit at the high-crime end of the ranking.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Cornwall | 31% | 20% |
What the two figures count
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Cornwall, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
64th of 90C29/100 Weaker results than most. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 61% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (14th lowest). St Agnes leads its towns at #89 of 2,331; 4% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
At GCSE, pupils average 45.6 on Attainment 8 (23rd lowest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Cost of living
92nd of 98D6/100 Cost is the price of living here. Homes cost 6.2 times what the average household takes in a year, 19% above the England and Wales figure: a typical sale of £285,000 against income of £46,000. Even its best town, St Blazey, ranks #2,021 of 2,515.
Typical sale price: £285,000 (6,818 sales, 27th highest).
Private rent £1,000 a month (30th highest); Band D council tax £2,589 (10th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Health
47th of 98B−53/100 About average health. Cornwall ranks 26th shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 65.7 years. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; St Agnes ranks highest, at #560.
Life expectancy at birth: 81.5 years, 20th longest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Jobs & income
75th of 98C−24/100 Money is tighter here. Households take in £46,000 a year on average (40th lowest), and 3.0% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits. Few town residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Threemilestone, #690 of 2,156.
Claimant rate: 3.0% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 43rd lowest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Getting about
38th of 98B62/100 A bit less car-bound than most. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; St Ives ranks highest, at #43. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (34th lowest).
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 25% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Flood risk
66th of 87C−24/100 Rivers and the sea are a real risk. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 4,029 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 2.0% of them. Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel leads its towns at #449 of 2,452; 14% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 35 Cornwall towns.
Growth
21st of 98A−79/100 Growing overall, with a sharp divide. ONS estimates put 585,655 people here in 2024, +9.3% on 2011 (37th fastest). Penryn and Liskeard rank among the best towns in the UK for growth; Saltash and Penzance sit in the bottom quarter.
Since the 2021 Census: +2.0%, 40th slowest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 25 Cornwall towns. Covers 87% of residents of Cornwall’s graded towns.
How Cornwall compares to its neighbours
Against its one neighbour, Devon, Cornwall comes out ahead on safety, flood risk and growth and falls behind on schools, cost of living and health.
| Cornwall | Devon | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | C 2549th of 65 | C+ 4437th of 65 |
| Safety | B− 5238th official · 31% in top towns | C+ 3644th official · 26% in top towns |
| Schools | C 2934th official · 4% in top towns | B− 5325th official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D 691st official · 0% in top towns | D 1279th official · 0% in top towns |
| Health | B− 5330th official · 18% in top towns | B+ 7120th official · 22% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C− 2459th official · 1% in top towns | B+ 6642nd official · 16% in top towns |
| Getting about | B 6265th official · 13% in top towns | A− 7925th official · 16% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C− 2438th official · 14% in top towns | D− 248th official · 2% in top towns |
| Growth | A− 7937th official · 47% in top towns | A− 7526th official · 25% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.