Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 19,750 in County Durham, North East.
Peterlee grades D overall against UK towns: better than 15% of UK towns, and #43 of 52 in County Durham. Its strongest subject is hazard risk (A): 0% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Its weakest is safety (D−): 58.1 violent and sexual offences and 30.5 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 3%. The median home sold for £99,500 in the last three years, 2.3 times what households in the County Durham council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Peterlee 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 Peterlee is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 1 building inside Peterlee’s built-up area.
0% 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 Peterlee.
Children under 15 make up 18% of residents. Ages in Peterlee split evenly at 41.1: half are older, half younger. People 65 and over make up nearly a fifth of the town, in line with County Durham’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%).
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Peterlee | County Durham | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 20% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · County Durham and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Academy at Shotton Hall’s results beat just over four in five schools in England like it. Two of its 11 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 47.8, and 46% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howletch Lane Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 382 | D− |
| The Academy at Shotton HallLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,202 | A− |
Peterlee logged 2,547 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 521 complaints of anti-social conduct. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Peterlee has more crime per resident than 97% of them. There were 23.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both County Durham’s towns (16) and England’s towns (7.8). Also worth knowing: 44% of the crimes fell under 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.
Peterlee has 1 listed building inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list, all Grade II.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 9.7% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above County Durham’s towns (7.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. 74% of people in Peterlee rate their own health good or very good. The nearest A&E to Peterlee is Sunderland Royal Hospital, 10.2 miles away. Disability touches just over a quarter of the town’s population.
| Census 2021 | Peterlee | County Durham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 77% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.7% | 7.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 26% | 22% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
Owners make up 57% of households, lower than both County Durham’s towns (62%) and England’s towns (61%). 16% of households rent privately. Behind the median of £99,500: 586 standard sales inside Peterlee’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £252,500 | 126 |
| Semi-detached | £116,000 | 223 |
| Terraced | £80,000 | 228 |
| Flat or maisonette | £65,000 | 9 |
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 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working from home was the norm for nearly a fifth of workers at the census. There are 0.6 jobs in Peterlee for each resident in work. Household income came to £39K a year before tax, below both County Durham’s towns (£43K) and England’s towns (£55K).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Peterlee. Best known first.
7 notable people were born in Peterlee.
Callum Cooke: Poolie22, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mark Hoban: Policy Exchange, CC BY 2.0 · Alfie Joey: Steve Bowbrick, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peterlee | 19,750 | — | D | A− | D− | D− |
| Horden | 6,805 | 1.1 | C− | A− | D− | D− |
| Easington | 6,968 | 1.7 | C | A− | D− | D− |
| Shotton Colliery | 4,943 | 1.9 | C | A− | D | D− |
| Blackhall Colliery | 4,577 | 2.4 | D | A− | D | D− |
| Wingate | 5,033 | 2.6 | D | B+ | D | D |
| Wheatley Hill | 3,148 | 3.3 | C | A− | D− | D− |
| Haswell | 1,185 | 3.4 | — | A− | C | D− |
Haswell has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £99,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £65,000, terraced houses £80,000, semi-detached houses £116,000 and detached houses £252,500.
Band D council tax in Peterlee is £2,948 for 2026–27, more than in almost all 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.
Town in County Durham, England
Peterlee is a built-up area of 19,750 people, in the County Durham 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.