Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,708 in Cumbria, North West. 52% of households own their home outright.
Seascale has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is safety (A−): 17.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.5 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Its weakest is schools (D): primary results beat 19% of towns in England. The median home sold for £185,000 in the last three years, 4.1 times what households in the Copeland council area earn in a year.
ONS publishes one rent for all of Cumberland, so this town's Cost Grade uses house prices and council tax only.
The 3 things Seascale 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 Seascale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 3 buildings inside Seascale’s built-up area.
24% 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 1926.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Seascale.
Under 15: 14% of residents. 8.6% of residents are 15 to 24, below Cumbria’s towns (9.9%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Half the people of Seascale are older than 50. Degrees are held by just over a third of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Seascale | Cumbria | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 21% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cumbria and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Its only school is listed below. 55% of pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). 97 pupils attend Seascale’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seascale Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 97 | D |
Police figures for Seascale’s built-up area: 90 crimes and 2 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. There were 0.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), below both Cumbria’s towns (3.5) and England’s towns (7.8). 48% 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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Seascale counts 0.4 jobs per working resident. 55% of commuters travelled under 5 km, near Cumbria’s towns (53%) and higher than England’s towns (45%). By car: that was how 77% of commuters travelled at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
24% of homes date from before 1919. Scaled to its population, that is 18 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Seascale.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 4.9% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than both Cumbria’s towns (6.1%) and England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Seascale is West Cumberland Hospital, 9.7 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 85% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Seascale | Cumbria | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
Social housing holds 2% of households, below both Cumbria’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). The private rented sector houses nearly one in ten households. Also worth knowing: from September 2023 to August 2026, 99 homes sold inside Seascale’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £185,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £250,000 | 27 |
| Semi-detached | £175,000 | 57 |
| Terraced | £189,000 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seascale | 1,708 | — | — | B− | A− | B |
| Egremont | 5,791 | 6.2 | D | B | D | D |
| St Bees | 1,187 | 7.7 | — | C | B− | B+ |
| Cleator Moor | 6,671 | 8.7 | D | B | C− | C− |
| Frizington | 1,754 | 9.9 | — | B+ | D− | D |
| Whitehaven | 22,952 | 11 | D | B− | D | D |
| Moresby Parks | 1,180 | 12 | — | B | A+ | C− |
St Bees, Frizington and Moresby Parks have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
3 on Historic England’s list.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Cumbria council.
Against all UK towns, it grades A−.
Village in Cumbria, England
Seascale is a built-up area of 1,708 people, in the Copeland 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.