Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 28,939 in Cumbria, North West.
Kendal grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 42% of UK towns, and #4 of 23 in Cumbria. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 29% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is cost of living (D): median sale £260,000, 5.7 years of area income; rent £816 a month.
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 Kendal 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 Kendal is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 183 buildings inside Kendal’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I, and 6 scheduled monuments.
20% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1898.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kendal.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
A household here earns £45K a year before tax, on average. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 61%, higher than both Cumbria’s towns (53%) and England’s towns (45%). By car: that was how 69% of commuters travelled at the census. Also worth knowing: 57% of commuters who live in Kendal also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Between them, seven primaries and two secondaries teach 3,827 pupils in Kendal. Of its 11 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 48.2, with 46% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghyllside Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 424 | B+ |
| Kirkbie Kendal SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,029 | B |
| Dean Gibson Catholic Primary School, KendalTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 134 | A− |
Owners make up 69% of households, close to Cumbria’s towns (68%) and above England’s towns (61%). 14% of households live in social housing. Behind the median of £260,000: 1,448 standard sales inside Kendal’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £436,000 | 309 |
| Semi-detached | £267,750 | 446 |
| Terraced | £227,500 | 403 |
| Flat or maisonette | £150,000 | 290 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 11 of them, Grade I 3. Kendal’s listed buildings include Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Grade I. A fifth of its homes were built before 1919, between Cumbria’s towns (28%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Just over a third of adults hold a degree, above Cumbria’s towns (28%) and close to England’s towns (34%). Over-65s are nearly a quarter of the population. Half the people of Kendal are older than 46.6. People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.4% of the town.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Kendal | Cumbria | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cumbria 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.
Half of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Burglary and damage came to 10.8 per 1,000 residents a year, above Cumbria’s towns (8.4) and close to England’s towns (9.4). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 2,229 crimes and 149 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Kendal’s built-up area.
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.
At the census, 83% of people in Kendal called their health good or very good, about level with England’s towns (82%) and above Cumbria’s towns (79%). 3 GP practices serve the town; 85% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.5% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Kendal | Cumbria | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 20% | 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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Kendal. Best known first.
CastleKendal Castlein town
Art galleryAbbot Hall Art Galleryin town
MuseumKendal Museumin town
MuseumMuseum of Lakeland Life & Industryin town
Castle · National TrustSizergh Castle2.9 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumQuaker Tapestry Museumin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
183 listed buildings in Kendal, 3 of them Grade I.
Church of Holy Trinity: Photo: Nilfanion · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Abbot Hall Art Gallery: Photo: Jhsteel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Castle Dairy, 26 Wildman Street: Photo: Diane Griffiths · CC BY 2.0 · The Brewery: Photo: David Rogers · CC BY-SA 2.0
73 notable people were born in Kendal.
Arthur Eddington: George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., Public domain · Steve Hogarth: Stefan Brending (2eight), CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Richard Braithwaite: Pye, Charles, 1777-1864, printmaker., Public domain · Mark Wilson: Charlie from UK, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kendal | 28,939 | — | C+ | D | C− | B− |
| Levens | 1,020 | 4.3 | — | D− | A+ | A+ |
| Staveley | 1,466 | 4.7 | — | D− | A− | A |
| Milnthorpe | 1,871 | 6.8 | — | C− | B− | B |
| Windermere | 4,819 | 7.4 | C | D− | C | A− |
| Bowness-on-Windermere | 2,290 | 7.5 | — | D− | D− | A |
| Holme | 1,477 | 8.3 | — | C− | A− | A− |
| Sedbergh | 1,449 | 8.5 | — | D | C+ | A |
Levens, Staveley, Milnthorpe, Bowness-on-Windermere, Holme and Sedbergh have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Castle Dairy, 26 Wildman Street. It also has 6 scheduled monuments.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
An older town. At the 2021 Census, 24% of residents were 65 or over and 28% were 45 to 64, against 18% and 25% across England’s towns; 15% were under 15.
About the middle for its size: 58% 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−.
Large town in Cumbria, England
Kendal is a built-up area of 28,939 people, in the South Lakeland 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.