Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,187 in Cumbria, North West.
St Bees has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is health (B+): life expectancy 81 for men, 86.8 for women. Its weakest is schools (D−): primary results beat 2% of towns in England. The median home sold for £214,000 in the last three years, 4.8 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 St Bees 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 St Bees is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside St Bees’ built-up area.
33% 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 St Bees.
The one school in town appears below. Key Stage 2 results at the 2 primary schools within 3 km: 43% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The town’s primary school has 162 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Bees Village Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 162 | C− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
St Bees’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary and St Bega, Grade I. It has 33 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 4 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. Of St Bees’ land, 27% lies in conservation areas, above Cumbria’s towns (7%) and England’s towns (7%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Social housing holds 5% of households, below both Cumbria’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). 71 standard sales inside St Bees’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £214,000. Private rents average £681 a month across the Cumberland council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £345,000 | 25 |
| Semi-detached | £250,000 | 12 |
| Terraced | £182,500 | 26 |
| Flat or maisonette | £168,475 | 8 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
A disability affects 15% of people in St Bees. 85% of St Bees’ residents described their health as good or very good at the census, higher than both Cumbria’s towns (79%) and England’s towns (82%). Also worth knowing: men in St Bees can expect to live to 81, women to 86.8 (2019–23). Seeing a GP means leaving St Bees: the nearest practice is 2.5 miles away.
| Census 2021 | St Bees | Cumbria | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 15% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 42% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
83% of commuters drove to work at the census. Households had £51K a year before tax, above Cumbria’s towns (£45K) but below England’s towns (£55K). Home was the main workplace for just over two in five workers 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 58% of the crimes. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 55 recorded crimes inside St Bees’s built-up area, and 5 reports of anti-social behaviour. Homes saw 7.3 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, below both Cumbria’s towns (8.6) and England’s towns (9.4).
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.
Retirement age and beyond: a quarter of residents are 65 or older. 15% are under 15, about level with Cumbria’s towns (15%) and below England’s towns (18%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up 9.1% of residents. Residents of St Bees have a median age of 51.2.
48% women, 52% men
About 107 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| St Bees | Cumbria | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.1% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 16% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 35% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 7.5% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cumbria and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
3 notable people were born in St Bees.
Edmund Grindal: Attributed to Dirk Vos / Follower of Dirk Vos, Public domain · John Hawkesworth: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Bees | 1,187 | — | — | C | B− | B+ |
| Egremont | 5,791 | 2.3 | D | B | D | D |
| Whitehaven | 22,952 | 3.5 | D | B− | D | D |
| Cleator Moor | 6,671 | 3.7 | D | B | C− | C− |
| Moresby Parks | 1,180 | 5.2 | — | B | A+ | C− |
| Frizington | 1,754 | 5.4 | — | B+ | D− | D |
| Distington | 1,375 | 7.6 | — | B | C+ | D |
| Seascale | 1,708 | 7.7 | — | B− | A− | B |
Moresby Parks, Frizington, Distington and Seascale have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Cumbria council.
That is 11.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Cross in Churchyard to North of Priory Church Nave.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £214,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £168,475, terraced houses £182,500, semi-detached houses £250,000 and detached houses £345,000.
Village in Cumbria, England
St Bees is a built-up area of 1,187 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.