Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 9,195 residents, it is a town in Derbyshire, East Midlands.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: on the way to work, 24% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Homes sell for a median £260,000, about 5.1 years of what households in the High Peak council area earn. Schools lag: primary results beat just over one in ten towns in England; secondary results beat 63% of towns in England. The overall grade lands at B, #23 of 59 in Derbyshire. Set against the rest, it does better than 58% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for safety, C+ for health, B− for jobs & income and B for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 2 things New Mills 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 New Mills is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 26 buildings inside New Mills’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
41% 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 1900.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in New Mills.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, nearly three quarters of commuters went by car. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 39%, below both Derbyshire’s towns (42%) and England’s towns (45%). About 27% of its commuters stay in New Mills for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.6.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 48.5, and 47% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. New Mills’s five primaries and one secondary have 1,242 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mills Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 216 | D |
| New Mills SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 692 | B |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
New Mills counts 26 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 1 Grade II*. Conservation areas cover 14% of New Mills’ land, higher than both Derbyshire’s towns (6%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Social housing holds just over one in ten households, below Derbyshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The £260,000 median rests on 450 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Private rents average £940 a month across the High Peak council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £434,975 | 86 |
| Semi-detached | £289,085 | 118 |
| Terraced | £240,000 | 205 |
| Flat or maisonette | £150,000 | 41 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
58% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 400 offences in New Mills and 54 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violent crime ran at 27.1 per 1,000 residents a year, above Derbyshire’s towns (25.6) and England’s towns (22) alike.
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.
2 GP practices serve the town; 90% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to New Mills is Stepping Hill Hospital, 5.5 miles away. At the census, nearly a fifth of people here had a disability, about level with Derbyshire’s towns (20%) and above England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | New Mills | Derbyshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.4% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
16% are under 15, below Derbyshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Typical age in New Mills: 45.3, the median. Degrees are held by 36% of adults.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| New Mills | Derbyshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.5% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 36% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Derbyshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near New Mills. Best known first.
MuseumNew Mills Heritage Centrein town
Historic house · National TrustLyme Hall3.3 km outside town, to the southwest
MuseumAnson Engine Museum4.5 km outside town, to the west
AttractionThe Lantern2.8 km outside town, to the southwestAttractionAttraction · National TrustThe Cage2.7 km outside town, to the southwestZooZooThe Garden House3.3 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
26 listed buildings in New Mills.
Church of St James the Less and attached Almshouses: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Footbridge at New Mills Station: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The George Hotel: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Bridge: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mills | 9,195 | — | B | B | C+ | C+ |
| Furness Vale | 1,069 | 1.3 | — | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Disley | 3,891 | 1.5 | A | C | A− | A |
| Hayfield | 1,878 | 2.4 | — | B− | B | C |
| Whaley Bridge | 4,618 | 2.7 | A− | C+ | B− | A− |
| High Lane | 4,617 | 2.8 | — | D− | — | B− |
| Marple Bridge | 4,702 | 3.1 | — | D− | — | A+ |
| Chinley | 1,913 | 3.2 | — | C+ | A− | B |
Furness Vale, Hayfield and Chinley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. High Lane and Marple Bridge have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, it grades C+. Burglary was rare, with 12 reports in the year.
Town in Derbyshire, England
New Mills is a built-up area of 9,195 people, in the High Peak 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.