Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,199 in Devon, South West.
Ilfracombe grades D overall against UK towns: better than 7% of UK towns, and #43 of 47 in Devon. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 34% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £38,815; 4.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £220,000 in the last three years, 4.6 times what households in the North Devon 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 Ilfracombe 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 Ilfracombe is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 128 buildings inside Ilfracombe’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I.
52% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 8 old photos and postcards going back to 1840.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ilfracombe.
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.
The car took 63% of commuters, below both Devon’s towns (73%) and England’s towns (70%). 18% 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
Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ilfracombe Church of England Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 326 | D− |
| The Ilfracombe Church of England AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,016 | B+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
That puts Ilfracombe above both Devon’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (16%). For its size, Ilfracombe has 139 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Ilfracombe’s listed buildings include Parish Church of Holy Trinity, Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
On this, Ilfracombe is above both Devon’s towns (21.4) and England’s towns (22). Burglary and damage come to 16.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 996 crimes inside Ilfracombe’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 226 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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 81.2 on average and men to 76.1 (2019–23). 24% of residents have a disability, above both Devon’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Ilfracombe is North Devon District Hospital, 8.4 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Ilfracombe | Devon | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.6% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 21% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
In the comparison, Ilfracombe comes above both Devon’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). Owners make up 56% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £310,000 | 71 |
| Semi-detached | £273,100 | 49 |
| Terraced | £217,500 | 155 |
| Flat or maisonette | £140,000 | 124 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
For Ilfracombe, that is below both Devon’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). 24% of residents are 65 or over. The median resident of Ilfracombe is 47.4 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Ilfracombe | Devon | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.1% | 6.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Devon and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Ilfracombe. Best known first.
MuseumIlfracombe Museumin town
Theme parkWatermouth Castle2.5 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseChambercombe Manor600 m outside town, to the eastAquariumAquariumIlfracombe Aquariumin townMuseumMuseumHele Cornmill500 m outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumCombe Martin Museum4.8 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
128 listed buildings in Ilfracombe, 2 of them Grade I.
Parish Church of Holy Trinity: Photo: Richard Croft · CC BY-SA 2.0 · St Nicholas' Chapel and Lighthouse: Photo: Nilfanion · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Parish Church of Saint Philip and St James: Photo: Nilfanion · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Castle House: Photo: Simon Cobb · CC0
9 notable people were born in Ilfracombe.
James Bowen: British school of the 19th century, Public domain · John Richards Lapenotière: geni James Leakey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Peter Venables: Department of Psychology, University of York, Public domain · Richard Bowen: H. R. Cook, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilfracombe | 9,199 | — | D | C+ | D | D |
| Chambercombe | 1,502 | 0.8 | — | C− | B+ | C− |
| Combe Martin | 2,707 | 4 | C | D | B− | B |
| Braunton | 6,610 | 7 | B | D | B+ | B |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 7.7 | — | C− | B+ | B− |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 9.2 | — | D | B+ | B |
| Barnstaple | 31,271 | 9.3 | D | C | D | C |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 9.3 | B− | D | A− | B− |
Chambercombe, Chivenor and Wrafton and Bickington have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
That is 5.7 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Parish Church of Holy Trinity.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 94% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Police recorded 996 crimes inside Ilfracombe’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 44% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Band D council tax in Ilfracombe is £2,678 for 2026–27, more than in 94% 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
Ilfracombe is a built-up area of 9,199 people, in the North Devon 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.