Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,583 in Devon, South West.
Salcombe has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is health (A+): life expectancy 84.1 for men, 87.6 for women. Its weakest is schools (D−): primary results beat 1% of towns in England. The median home sold for £760,000 in the last three years, 14.1 times what households in the South Hams 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 Salcombe 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 Salcombe is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Salcombe’s built-up area.
30% 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 Salcombe.
Degrees are held by 38% of adults, above Devon’s towns (30%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. Over-65s are 38% of the population. Salcombe has a median age of 58.7 years. Aged 15 to 24: 7.5% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Salcombe | Devon | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 9% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.5% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 38% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.9% | 6.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 38% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Devon and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
37% of pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Its one school is below. 80 pupils attend Salcombe’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salcombe Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 80 | D |
One GP practice serves the town; 100% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Salcombe is Derriford Hospital, 19.4 miles away. At the census, 4.8% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below Devon’s towns (5.9%) and close to England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Salcombe | Devon | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.8% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 21% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Salcombe’s land, 100% lies in conservation areas, higher than both Devon’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (7%). This Devon town counts 57 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 4 Grade II*. Before 1919: that is when 30% of homes were built.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 31% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
About 34% of its commuters stay in Salcombe for work. 68% of commuters drove, lower than Devon’s towns (73%) and near England’s towns (70%). Unemployment benefit claims reached 1.6% of 16 to 64s in 2026.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Households that own their home make up 69%. Social housing holds 18% of households, above Devon’s towns (14%) and close to England’s towns (18%). The median sale, £760,000, comes from 142 standard sales inside Salcombe’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,100,000 | 46 |
| Semi-detached | £712,500 | 23 |
| Terraced | £572,500 | 30 |
| Flat or maisonette | £630,000 | 43 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police figures for Salcombe’s built-up area: 78 crimes and 13 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences made up 46% of the total. Homes saw 7.8 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, about level with both Devon’s towns (7.5) and England’s towns (9.4).
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Salcombe. Best known first.
Historic house · National TrustOverbeck's Museum and Gardensin town
CastleFort Charles100 m outside town, to the south
MuseumCookworthy Museum5 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumSalcombe Maritime Museumin townMuseumMuseumOverbeck's Housein townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salcombe | 1,583 | — | — | D | B | A+ |
| Kingsbridge | 5,682 | 3.4 | B− | C+ | C | B− |
| Chillington | 1,074 | 4.4 | — | C | A+ | A+ |
| Loddiswell | 1,032 | 6.1 | — | B− | B | A |
| Modbury | 1,687 | 9.3 | — | C− | A | A |
| Dartmouth | 5,260 | 11 | C− | C− | C+ | B |
Chillington, Loddiswell and Modbury have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £760,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £630,000, terraced houses £572,500, semi-detached houses £712,500 and detached houses £1,100,000.
Primary results trail almost all towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Devon council.
That is 14.8 times the typical UK town for its size.
Village in Devon, England
Salcombe is a built-up area of 1,583 people, in the South Hams 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.