Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,396 in Cumbria, North West.
Wigton grades D− overall against UK towns: better than 3% of UK towns, and #21 of 23 in Cumbria. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 25% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is hazard risk (D): 4.8% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. The median home sold for £199,495 in the last three years, 4.8 times what households in the Allerdale 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 Wigton 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 Wigton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 48 buildings inside Wigton’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
17% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Wigton.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 18% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In the comparison, Wigton comes below both Cumbria’s towns (£45K) and England’s towns (£55K). 39% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomlinson Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 227 | D |
| The Nelson Thomlinson SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,095 | C |
For Wigton, that is below both Cumbria’s towns (28%) and England’s towns (34%). People 65 and over make up 26% of the town. Wigton has a median age of 48.4.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Wigton | Cumbria | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.4% | 8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cumbria and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Wigton sits above both Cumbria’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) on this measure. 14% of households rent privately.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £260,000 | 120 |
| Semi-detached | £185,000 | 110 |
| Terraced | £120,000 | 76 |
| Flat or maisonette | £57,750 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
That puts Wigton above both Cumbria’s towns (27) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 390 crimes inside Wigton’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 22 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Wigton has more crime per resident than 82% of them.
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
Women here live to 81.7 on average and men to 76.9 (2019–23). At the census, 78% of people in Wigton called their health good or very good, below both Cumbria’s towns (79%) and England’s towns (82%). The nearest A&E to Wigton is Cumberland Infirmary, 9.5 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Wigton | Cumbria | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.8% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Wigton has 48 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. 17% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
48 listed buildings in Wigton.
Church of St Mary: Photo: Humphrey Bolton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kings Arms Walter Willsons: Photo: Victuallers · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Moore Memorial Fountain: Photo: Victuallers · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 18, High Street: Photo: Victuallers · CC BY-SA 4.0
9 notable people were born in Wigton.
Robert Atkinson: Charles Herbert Reilly, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wigton | 5,396 | — | D− | C− | C− | C− |
| Dalston | 1,541 | 7.2 | — | D− | B | B |
| Aspatria | 2,169 | 7.7 | — | C | D | C |
| Silloth | 2,542 | 9.4 | D− | C | C− | C− |
| Carlisle | 77,729 | 10 | D | C+ | D | D |
| Houghton | 1,486 | 12 | — | D | A | B+ |
| Annan | 8,697 | 12 | — | A+ | — | D |
Dalston, Aspatria and Houghton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.7 times the typical UK town for its size.
At the 2021 Census, 11% of Wigton’s 5,396 residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over, against 12% and 18% across England’s towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
GCSE results trail 75% of towns in England, and primary results trail 90% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Town in Cumbria, England
Wigton is a built-up area of 5,396 people, in the Allerdale 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.