Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,584 in Derbyshire, East Midlands.
Heage grades B+ overall against UK towns: better than 66% of UK towns, and #18 of 59 in Derbyshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £240,000, 4.9 years of area income; rent £799 a month. Its weakest is walkability (D): 7% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport.
The 3 things Heage 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 Heage is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 8 buildings inside Heage’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
29% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Heage. Best known first.
MuseumNational Tramway Museum4.6 km outside town, to the northwest
Heritage railwayMidland Railway – Butterley2.9 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumStrutt's North Mill2.4 km outside town, to the southwest
MuseumThe Great British Car Journey2.1 km outside town, to the northwestRuinsRuins · English HeritageWingfield Manor3.7 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Heage.
On this, Heage is below both Derbyshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). People 65 and over make up 29% of the town. Heage has a median age of 52.7.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Heage | Derbyshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 32% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 29% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.9% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Derbyshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heage Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | – | C− |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In the comparison, Heage comes above both Derbyshire’s towns (80%) and England’s towns (70%). 34% 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
For Heage, that is above both Derbyshire’s towns (67%) and England’s towns (61%). Social housing holds 8% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £333,500 | 48 |
| Semi-detached | £222,000 | 37 |
| Terraced | £181,250 | 18 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Heage sits below both Derbyshire’s towns (9) and England’s towns (9.4) on this measure. Police recorded 92 crimes inside Heage’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 7 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violent crime runs at 18.3 per 1,000 residents a year.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
That puts Heage above both Derbyshire’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (16%). Heage has 8 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 79% of people in Heage called their health good or very good, close to Derbyshire’s towns (80%) and below England’s towns (82%). Heage has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1.1 miles away. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Heage | Derbyshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.7% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
8 listed buildings in Heage.
Church of St Luke: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 4, Gun Lane: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heage | 2,584 | — | B+ | A− | A− | B |
| Ambergate | 1,566 | 1.2 | — | B+ | B | B |
| Belper | 19,076 | 1.6 | B+ | B+ | B− | B− |
| Ripley | 20,191 | 2.1 | C | A− | D | C− |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 2.4 | — | A | B | B− |
| Crich | 2,070 | 2.8 | — | C+ | B+ | B+ |
| Holbrook | 1,802 | 2.9 | — | B− | A+ | B+ |
| Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse | 4,447 | 3.1 | B | A | B− | B− |
Ambergate, Denby Bottles, Crich and Holbrook have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 1.3 times the typical UK town for its size.
An older town. At the 2021 Census, 29% of residents were 65 or over and 32% were 45 to 64, against 18% and 25% across England’s towns; 13% were under 15.
It has less crime than most places its size: less crime per resident than 81% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Police recorded 92 crimes inside Heage’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 63% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
GCSE results trail 55% of towns in England, and primary results trail 78% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Derbyshire council.
Town in Derbyshire, England
Heage is a built-up area of 2,584 people, in the Amber Valley 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.
