Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town has 2,572 residents and lies in Gloucestershire, South West. 48% of households own their home outright.
With a C overall, Drybrook sits #44 of 48 in Gloucestershire. That leaves it better than 28% of UK towns. Few people walk, cycle or take the bus to work: 5% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its best grade is for cost of living (B): a typical home costs £290,000 and rent runs £828 a month. The rest of its grades are middling: C+ for safety, C+ for schools and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Gloucestershire Police published 29 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Drybrook 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 Drybrook is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 3 buildings inside Drybrook’s built-up area.
36% 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 Drybrook.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 29%, below both Gloucestershire’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (45%). At the census, nearly a quarter of workers worked mainly from home. Work in town: 7% of resident commuters. Income per household averages £50K a year, before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Attainment 8 at the 2 secondary schools within 3 km averages 41.1, and nearly a third of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. The one school in town appears below. At the 6 primary schools within 3 km, 66% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drybrook Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 147 | C |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
None of the 3 listed buildings reaches Grade II* or Grade I; all are Grade II. Drybrook has 12 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, below both Gloucestershire’s towns (105) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 94% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, four in five residents of Drybrook said they were in good or very good health. Also worth knowing: the nearest A&E to Drybrook is Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, 12.2 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Drybrook | Gloucestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Council and housing-body homes hold just over one in ten households. Nearly four in five households own their home, above Gloucestershire’s towns (68%) and England’s towns (61%) alike. Behind the median of £290,000: 87 standard sales inside Drybrook’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £342,500 | 44 |
| Semi-detached | £246,000 | 33 |
| Terraced | £192,000 | 9 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Violence and sexual offences made up 56% of the total. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 55 offences in Drybrook and 14 cases of nuisance behaviour. There were 14.2 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Gloucestershire’s towns (9.1) and England’s towns (7.8).
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.
10% of the population is aged 15 to 24, below Gloucestershire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Typical age in Drybrook: 47.5, the median. Children under 15 make up 16% of residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
| Drybrook | Gloucestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.7% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 34% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gloucestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Drybrook. Best known first.
Heritage railwayLea Bailey Light Railway1.3 km outside town, to the northArt galleryArt galleryForest of Dean Sculpture Trail4.9 km outside town, to the southwestAttractionAttractionLittledean Jail3.5 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
3 listed buildings in Drybrook.
Old Vicarage: Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Church of the Holy Trinity: Photo: Roger Davies · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drybrook | 2,572 | — | C | B | C+ | C+ |
| Mitcheldean | 2,163 | 1.4 | — | B+ | C+ | C |
| Ruardean | 1,195 | 1.5 | — | A− | B+ | C+ |
| Cinderford | 8,778 | 2.2 | C | A− | C− | C− |
| Welsh Bicknor | 1,988 | 2.9 | — | B | B+ | B− |
| Ruspidge | 2,431 | 3.1 | — | A− | B− | C− |
| Newnham | 1,054 | 4.4 | — | B− | B+ | C+ |
| Huntley | 1,152 | 4.9 | — | C+ | A | B+ |
Mitcheldean, Ruardean, Welsh Bicknor, Ruspidge, Newnham and Huntley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
3 on Historic England’s list.
About the middle for its size: 58% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades C+. Burglary was rare, with 2 reports in the year.
Band D council tax in Drybrook is £2,387 for 2026–27, less than in 61% 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 Gloucestershire, England
Drybrook is a built-up area of 2,572 people, in the Forest of Dean 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.
