Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,958 in Devon, South West.
Great Torrington grades D overall against UK towns: better than 13% of UK towns, and #39 of 47 in Devon. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 25% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £43,949; 2.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £240,000 in the last three years, 5.6 times what households in the Torridge council area earn in a year.
Devon And Cornwall Police published 33 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Great Torrington 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 Great Torrington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 90 buildings inside Great Torrington’s built-up area, 5 of them Grade II*.
29% 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 Great Torrington.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For Great Torrington, that is above both Devon’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (16%). Great Torrington has 151 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents. Great Torrington has 90 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 5 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Torrington Bluecoat Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 476 | D |
| Great Torrington SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 863 | C+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 16% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Great Torrington sits below both Devon’s towns (51%) and England’s towns (45%) on this measure. 16% of workers worked mainly from home at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
That puts Great Torrington below both Devon’s towns (30%) and England’s towns (34%). Those 65 and older account for 26% of residents. Great Torrington has a median age of 47.4.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Great Torrington | Devon | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Devon and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Half the homes sold went for more than £240K, below both Devon’s towns (£308K) and England’s towns (£308K). Social housing holds 12% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £305,000 | 77 |
| Semi-detached | £241,250 | 58 |
| Terraced | £202,500 | 134 |
| Flat or maisonette | £115,000 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
On this, Great Torrington is above both Devon’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Great Torrington is North Devon District Hospital, 10.4 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 | Great Torrington | Devon | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.3% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 21% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Police recorded 274 crimes inside Great Torrington’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 27 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 55% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking, so it runs higher than U.S. “violent crime”.
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
90 listed buildings in Great Torrington.
Market House: Photo: Nilfanion · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chapel of St Mary Magdalene: Photo: Stephen Bashford · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Black Horse Hotel: Photo: Derek Voller · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Vaughan Tapscott Gloving Factory: Photo: Chris Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0
8 notable people were born in Great Torrington.
James Frederick Palmer: Unknown authorUnknown author After a photograph by the studio of Perez Mann Batchelder (1818–1873) and Benjamin Pierce Batchelder (1826–1891), Public domain · William Sandford: Unknown photographer, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Torrington | 5,958 | — | D | C− | B− | C |
| Bideford | 19,493 | 5.4 | D− | C− | C− | C |
| Northam | 5,191 | 6.8 | C | D− | A− | C+ |
| Westward Ho! | 3,468 | 7.4 | D− | D | C | B− |
| Appledore | 1,711 | 7.4 | — | D− | B | C+ |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 8.1 | B− | D | A− | B− |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 8.5 | — | D | B+ | B |
| Barnstaple | 31,271 | 9.3 | D | C | D | C |
Appledore and Bickington have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 6.2 times the typical UK town for its size.
Great Torrington has 2 state schools; places are handled by Devon council.
Band D council tax in Great Torrington is £2,657 for 2026–27, more than in 93% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Town in Devon, England
Great Torrington is a built-up area of 5,958 people, in the Torridge 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.