Photo: David Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0How Devon stacks up
Next to Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, Devon has the best cost of living and getting about and the weakest flood risk. It stands out for fast growth (+10% since 2011) and long healthy lives (66.4 years of healthy life expectancy). Weighed together, that earns a C+ (44 of 100), 37th among the areas.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
42nd of 65C+36/100 A bit above-average crime. Devon records 37.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Budleigh Salterton ranks highest, at #97.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 71 per 1,000 a year (32nd lowest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Quiet towns, busier ones
Its safest towns are Bovey Tracey (#139), Fremington (#153) and Northam (#154), ranked against every graded town in the UK. At the other end are Torquay and Ilfracombe, in the quarter of town residents living with the most recorded crime. Of residents of its towns, 26% live in the safest quarter and 7% in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Devon | 26% | 7% |
Where crimes are counted
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Devon, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
43rd of 90B−53/100 Average schools. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Ivybridge its best at #116 of 2,331. Devon’s eleven-year-olds rank 23rd lowest in the national tests: 62% reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.
At GCSE, pupils average 46.9 on Attainment 8 (13th highest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Cost of living
86th of 98D12/100 Harder to afford than most areas. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £277,500, or 5.6 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Even its best town, Tiverton, ranks #1,053 of 2,515. Among its neighbours it does best on affordability, with Somerset second.
Typical sale price: £277,500 (14,553 sales, 31st highest).
Private rent £979 a month (32nd highest); Band D council tax £2,557 (14th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Health
29th of 98B+71/100 Healthy, town after town. People here can expect 66.4 years in good health, against 65.2 across England and Wales (20th longest of 55 areas with figures). Ottery St Mary leads its towns at #91 of 2,515; 22% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Life expectancy at birth: 82.0 years, 15th longest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Jobs & income
34th of 98B+66/100 A little better off than average. At £49,800 a year, household incomes here are the 42nd highest of 98 areas. Ivybridge leads its towns at #658 of 2,156; 16% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.7% of working-age adults (28th lowest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Getting about
21st of 98A−79/100 Less car-bound than most areas. Devon ranks 25th highest for getting to work without a car: 22% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. It leads its neighbours on walkability, ahead of Somerset. 16% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 10% in a bottom-quarter one; Exeter ranks highest.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 26% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Flood risk
85th of 87D−2/100 Among the most flood-exposed areas. Even its best town, Willand, ranks #432 of 2,452. 2.8% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, against 1.6% across England and Wales (8th highest). Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset all do better on flood risk.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 47 Devon towns.
Growth
25th of 98A−75/100 Growing faster than most. ONS estimates put 1.25 million people here in 2024, +10.5% on 2011 (26th fastest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; South Molton ranks highest, at #87.
Since the 2021 Census: +2.9%, 45th fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 35 Devon towns. Covers 93% of residents of Devon’s graded towns.
How Devon compares to its neighbours
Against Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, Devon leads on cost of living and getting about but trails on flood risk.
| Devon | Cornwall | Somerset | Dorset | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C+ 4437th of 65 | C 2549th of 65 | B 5629th of 65 | B+ 7318th of 65 |
| Safety | C+ 3644th official · 26% in top towns | B− 5238th official · 31% in top towns | C 2848th official · 26% in top towns | A 8611th official · 61% in top towns |
| Schools | B− 5325th official · 5% in top towns | C 2934th official · 4% in top towns | B− 5438th official · 13% in top towns | A− 7529th official · 33% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D 1279th official · 0% in top towns | D 691st official · 0% in top towns | D 1082nd official · 0% in top towns | D 593rd official · 0% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 7120th official · 22% in top towns | B− 5330th official · 18% in top towns | A 8710th official · 49% in top towns | A− 8212th official · 38% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B+ 6642nd official · 16% in top towns | C− 2459th official · 1% in top towns | A− 8424th official · 28% in top towns | B 6232nd official · 12% in top towns |
| Getting about | A− 7925th official · 16% in top towns | B 6265th official · 13% in top towns | B+ 7340th official · 15% in top towns | B+ 7037th official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D− 248th official · 2% in top towns | C− 2438th official · 14% in top towns | C 2842nd official · 19% in top towns | B− 4915th official · 13% in top towns |
| Growth | A− 7526th official · 25% in top towns | A− 7937th official · 47% in top towns | B+ 6920th official · 20% in top towns | B− 5445th official · 11% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.