Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0How Cumbria stacks up
In Cumbria, Keswick and Windermere rank near the top in the UK for health; Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven sit near the bottom. Only two English counties get fewer of their pupils to the expected standard at the end of primary school: in Cumbria, 57% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. The overall grade: D, a score of 11 that ranks 58th.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
53rd of 65C−19/100 More recorded crime than most areas. Violent crime runs at 38.8 offences per 1,000 residents a year, the 20th highest rate of 65 areas with police.uk figures. 15% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 49% in a bottom-quarter one; Seaton ranks highest.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 75 per 1,000 residents a year, 29th highest.
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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Crime gathers in the bigger places
Grange-over-Sands leads its towns at #196 of 2,138, with Askam in Furness and Cockermouth close behind. Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness and Workington 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% | |
| Cumbria | 15% | 49% |
What the two figures count
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
87th of 90D−3/100 Among the weakest school results in England. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Kendal comes closest, at #638 of 2,331. At the end of primary school it ranks 3rd lowest of 47 English counties, with 57% of pupils at the expected standard in all three Rs. It trails all of its neighbours on schools.
GCSE: an average Attainment 8 score of 43.1, 5th lowest. The grade weighs primary and GCSE results equally.
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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Cost of living
67th of 98C32/100 Pricier than the typical area. A typical home sold for £200,000 over the past year, 4.7 times the average household’s income (46th lowest of 98 areas). No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Cleator Moor, #1,111. Its towns trail the county-wide figure, which also counts villages and the countryside.
The middle home sold for £200,000 over the past year, 35th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £748 a month (18th lowest); Band D council tax £2,510 (17th 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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Health
39th of 98B61/100 Healthy, but not everywhere. Cumbria ranks 26th shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 65.7 years. 23% of town residents live in top-quarter towns like Keswick and Windermere, and 34% in bottom-quarter places such as Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.5 years, 20th shortest.
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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Jobs & income
79th of 98C−20/100 Money is tighter here. At £42,800 a year, household incomes here are the 13th lowest of 98 areas. Its claimant rate, 2.2%, ranks 9th lowest, while household income ranks 13th lowest. No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Windermere, #845.
Claimant rate: 2.2% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 9th 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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Getting about
28th of 98B+72/100 Easier to get about than most. At the 2021 Census, 21% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 5 points below the England and Wales figure. Ambleside leads its towns at #31 of 2,515; 8% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 24% 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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Flood risk
84th of 87D−3/100 Among the most flood-exposed areas. About 3 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (7th highest). Top-quarter towns are rare here; Millom comes closest at #630. Every neighbour scores higher, Lancashire, Northumberland and North Yorkshire among them.
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. 23 Cumbria towns.
Growth
70th of 98C29/100 Slow growth. The population grew 2.2% between 2011 and 2024, to 510,680, against 10.0% across England and Wales (21st slowest). Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness sit in the bottom quarter for the UK.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +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. 18 Cumbria towns. Covers 93% of residents of Cumbria’s graded towns.
How Cumbria compares to its neighbours
Against Lancashire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, County Durham and Dumfries and Galloway, Cumbria trails on schools, cost of living and jobs and income.
| Cumbria | Lancashire | Northumberland | North Yorkshire | County Durham | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D 1158th of 65 | C 2748th of 65 | B− 5232nd of 65 | A− 7517th of 65 | C 3443rd of 65 |
| Safety | C− 1946th official · 15% in top towns | C− 1758th official · 24% in top towns | B 5516th official · 18% in top towns | B− 5343rd official · 34% in top towns | D− 362nd official · 6% in top towns |
| Schools | D− 345th official · 0% in top towns | B− 4733rd official · 12% in top towns | C 3338th official · 12% in top towns | B+ 6919th official · 17% in top towns | B 6211th official · 16% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 3246th official · 0% in top towns | B− 5335th official · 36% in top towns | B 6240th official · 78% in top towns | B− 4556th official · 52% in top towns | A− 805th official · 87% in top towns |
| Health | B 6130th official · 23% in top towns | C 3344th official · 13% in top towns | B− 4934th official · 19% in top towns | B+ 7322nd official · 34% in top towns | D 950th official · 5% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C− 2086th official · 0% in top towns | C 2578th official · 9% in top towns | C+ 3757th official · 4% in top towns | A− 8043rd official · 37% in top towns | C+ 3580th official · 10% in top towns |
| Getting about | B+ 7233rd official · 8% in top towns | B 6157th official · 4% in top towns | B 5966th official · 5% in top towns | A− 7733rd official · 24% in top towns | B− 4971st official · 1% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D− 349th official · 3% in top towns | C− 1541st official · 11% in top towns | A 916th official · 58% in top towns | C 2746th official · 21% in top towns | A 876th official · 50% in top towns |
| Growth | C 2978th official · 6% in top towns | B 6234th official · 17% in top towns | C− 2461st official · 0% in top towns | B− 5151st official · 9% in top towns | C+ 3656th official · 5% 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.