Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 20,191 in Derbyshire, East Midlands.
Ripley grades C overall against UK towns: better than 29% of UK towns, and #43 of 59 in Derbyshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £214,475, 4.4 years of area income; rent £799 a month. Its weakest is safety (D): 52.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.8 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 15%.
The 3 things Ripley 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 Ripley is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 14 buildings inside Ripley’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
28% 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 Ripley. Best known first.
CastleCodnor Castle1.1 km outside town, to the east
Heritage railwayMidland Railway – Butterley200 m outside town, to the north
MuseumStrutt's North Mill4.4 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseCarnfield Hall4.6 km outside town, to the north
MuseumThe Great British Car Journey4.9 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ripley.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence came to 52.3 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Derbyshire’s towns (25.6) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 1,946 crimes inside Ripley’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 264 reports of anti-social behaviour. For its size, Ripley records more crime per resident than 85% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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
Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ripley St John's Church of England Primary School and NurseryLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 359 | B |
| The Ripley AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 920 | C |
That puts Ripley below both Derbyshire’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (34%). 23% of residents are 65 or over. The median resident of Ripley is 46.5 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Ripley | Derbyshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.6% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Derbyshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
On this, Ripley is above both Derbyshire’s towns (67%) and England’s towns (61%). Private renters make up 15% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £284,950 | 404 |
| Semi-detached | £195,000 | 344 |
| Terraced | £152,000 | 247 |
| Flat or maisonette | £125,000 | 15 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Women here live to 81.3 on average and men to 77.5 (2019–23). At the census, 21% of people here had a disability, above both Derbyshire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Ripley is King's Mill Hospital, 9.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Ripley | Derbyshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.1% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In the comparison, Ripley comes below both Derbyshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (27%). 84% of commuters drove to work 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.
For Ripley, that is above both Derbyshire’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (16%). Ripley has 14 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
14 listed buildings in Ripley.
Church of St James: Photo: PaleCloudedWhite · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Codnor Gate Farm House: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Coppice Farmhouse: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Butterley Hall: Photo: Arctic16 · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ripley | 20,191 | — | C | A− | D | C− |
| Somercotes and Swanwick | 15,105 | 2.1 | C | A | C− | C− |
| Heage | 2,584 | 2.1 | B+ | A− | A− | B |
| Ironville | 1,824 | 2.3 | — | A | D | D |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 2.6 | — | A | B | B− |
| Jacksdale and Westwood | 2,758 | 3 | C | B− | B | C |
| Ambergate | 1,566 | 3 | — | B+ | B | B |
| Heanor | 24,264 | 3.1 | C− | A | D | C− |
Ironville, Denby Bottles and Ambergate have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Police recorded 1,946 crimes inside Ripley’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 52% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
GCSE results trail 65% of towns in England, and primary results trail 80% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in Derbyshire, England
Ripley is a built-up area of 20,191 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.