Photo: Ian Greig · CC BY-SA 2.0How Dorset stacks up
Dorset’s strongest suits are long healthy lives (67.5 years of healthy life expectancy) and easy getting about (21% of commuters on foot, bike, bus or train). Weighed together, that earns a B+ (73 of 100), 18th among the areas. Next to Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire, it has the best safety and schools and the weakest cost of living and jobs and income.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
10th of 65A86/100 Safe, town after town. Town after town lands in the top quarter for the UK: 61% of residents live in one. At 25.1 violent offences per 1,000 residents, Dorset sits 11th lowest among the areas. Merley is among the ten best towns in the UK for safety (#9).
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 54 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 11th 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Few weak spots, town by town
At the quiet end sit West Parley (#62), Lytchett Matravers (#78) and Verwood (#108) of 2,138 towns.
| 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% | |
| Dorset | 61% | 0% |
Town centres and the people who live there
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 Dorset, 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
23rd of 90A−75/100 Strong results in the classroom. Secondary schools pull ahead of primaries here: 19th lowest at eleven, but 10th highest at GCSE. Dorset’s eleven-year-olds rank 19th lowest in the national tests: 62% reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. It leads its neighbours on schools, ahead of Somerset.
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 47.5 (10th highest), weighed equally with 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Cost of living
93rd of 98D5/100 Among the least affordable areas. At £337,000 for a typical home and £52,100 of household income, prices run 6.5 times income, the 6th highest ratio of 98 areas. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Fortuneswell comes closest, at #1,607 of 2,515. It trails all of its neighbours on affordability.
The middle home sold for £337,000 over the past year, 14th highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,232 a month (18th highest); Band D council tax £2,596 (8th 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Health
18th of 98A−82/100 Healthy, town after town. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 67.5 years (men and women averaged), 2.3 years more than the England and Wales figure. 38% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, almost none in a bottom-quarter one; Ashley Heath ranks highest.
Total life expectancy is 82.2 years (10th 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Jobs & income
38th of 98B62/100 Incomes a notch above average. Dorset ranks 32nd highest for household income, at £52,100 a year before tax. Every neighbour scores higher, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire among them. Merley leads its towns at #166 of 2,156; 12% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.8% of working-age adults (34th 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Getting about
30th of 98B+70/100 Easier to get about than most. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (37th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Dorchester ranks highest, at #69.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 29% 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. 30 Dorset towns.
Flood risk
45th of 87B−49/100 Middle of the table on flooding. 0.9% 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 (15th lowest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Shaftesbury its best at #420 of 2,452.
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. 30 Dorset towns.
Growth
46th of 98B−54/100 Average growth. It trails all of its neighbours on growth. The population grew 7.2% between 2011 and 2024, to 798,914, against 10.0% across England and Wales (45th fastest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Chickerell its best at #51 of 1,579.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +2.2% (44th slowest).
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. 24 Dorset towns. Covers 95% of residents of Dorset’s graded towns.
How Dorset compares to its neighbours
Dorset beats every neighbour on safety and schools; on cost of living, jobs and income and growth, every neighbour beats it.
| Dorset | Devon | Somerset | Wiltshire | Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 7318th of 65 | C+ 4437th of 65 | B 5629th of 65 | A− 8312th of 65 | A− 7815th of 65 |
| Safety | A 8611th official · 61% in top towns | C+ 3644th official · 26% in top towns | C 2848th official · 26% in top towns | A− 8014th official · 45% in top towns | B 6331st official · 35% in top towns |
| Schools | A− 7529th official · 33% in top towns | B− 5325th official · 5% in top towns | B− 5438th official · 13% in top towns | C+ 4340th official · 11% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 13% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D 593rd official · 0% in top towns | D 1279th official · 0% in top towns | D 1082nd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3565th official · 30% in top towns | C 3178th official · 34% in top towns |
| Health | A− 8212th official · 38% in top towns | B+ 7120th official · 22% in top towns | A 8710th official · 49% in top towns | A 868th official · 39% in top towns | A 8510th official · 49% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B 6232nd official · 12% in top towns | B+ 6642nd official · 16% in top towns | A− 8424th official · 28% in top towns | B+ 7316th official · 17% in top towns | A 918th official · 49% in top towns |
| Getting about | B+ 7037th official · 3% in top towns | A− 7925th official · 16% in top towns | B+ 7340th official · 15% in top towns | B− 4643rd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6933rd official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B− 4915th official · 13% in top towns | D− 248th official · 2% in top towns | C 2842nd official · 19% in top towns | B+ 6618th official · 23% in top towns | C+ 4031st official · 20% in top towns |
| Growth | B− 5445th official · 11% in top towns | A− 7526th official · 25% in top towns | B+ 6920th official · 20% in top towns | A 8914th official · 50% in top towns | B+ 6539th official · 23% 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.