Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,075 in Cumbria, North West.
Alston has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 30% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is schools (D−): primary results beat 0% of towns in England. The median home sold for £182,250 in the last three years, 4.1 times what households in the Eden council area earn in a year.
ONS publishes one rent for all of Westmorland and Furness, so this town's Cost Grade uses house prices and council tax only.
The 3 things Alston 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 Alston is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 39 buildings inside Alston’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
56% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1882.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Alston.
Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 201 pupils in Alston. Both of the town’s schools appear below. 36% of pupils at the one primary school within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alston Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 88 | D− |
| Samuel King's SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 113 | D− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Conservation areas cover 18% of Alston’s land, higher than both Cumbria’s towns (7%) and England’s towns (7%). This Cumbria town counts 39 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 2 Grade II*. The pre-1919 share of homes is 56%.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 27% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
About 35% of its commuters stay in Alston for work. 43% of commuters travelled under 5 km, about level with England’s towns (45%) and below Cumbria’s towns (53%). Driving is how just over two thirds of commuters got to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Violence and sexual offences were 59% of the crimes. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 100 recorded crimes inside Alston’s built-up area, and 1 reports of anti-social behaviour. There were 4 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), near Cumbria’s towns (3.1) and lower than 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.
One GP practice serves the town; nearly nine in ten patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Self-reported good health: just over three quarters of Alston’s residents. 21% of residents have a disability, above both Cumbria’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (17%). Women here live to 86.5 on average and men to 82.8 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Alston | Cumbria | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.6% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The £182,250 median rests on 38 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Private rents average £816 a month across the Westmorland and Furness council area. 20% rent privately, above Cumbria’s towns (15%) and close to England’s towns (21%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £250,000 | 15 |
| Semi-detached | £167,500 | 5 |
| Terraced | £137,750 | 14 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
27% of adults hold a degree. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 7.4% of residents, below both Cumbria’s towns (9.9%) and England’s towns (12%). The 65-and-over age group makes up 26% of residents. Line up the people of Alston by age and the one in the middle is 51.1.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Alston | Cumbria | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.4% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 22% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cumbria and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Alston. Best known first.
3 notable people were born in Alston.
Hugh Lee Pattinson: unknown early photographer, before 1858, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alston | 1,075 | — | — | C+ | C− | B+ |
| Haltwhistle | 3,646 | 11 | A− | A | C+ | C+ |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary results trail almost all towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). Alston has 2 state schools; places are handled by Cumbria council.
That is 14.9 times the typical UK town for its size.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £182,250, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £137,750, semi-detached houses £167,500 and detached houses £250,000.
Village in Cumbria, England
Alston is a built-up area of 1,075 people, in the Eden 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.