Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
5,657 people call this town in Gloucestershire, South West home.
Where it does best is schools: primary results beat just over four in five towns in England. The drawback is safety — 31.5 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 10.2 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 30%. Homes sell for a median £325,000, about 5.7 years of what households in the Stroud council area earn. Overall, that makes a B+, better than 68% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #17 of 48 in Gloucestershire. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for health, B− for jobs & income, B− for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Gloucestershire Police published 29 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Nailsworth 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 Nailsworth is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 136 buildings inside Nailsworth’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
27% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Nailsworth. Best known first.
Museum · English HeritageDunkirk Mill Museumin town
Historic houseGatcombe Park2 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseOwlpen Manor3.7 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseChavenage House4.1 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseWoodchester Mansion2.9 km outside town, to the northwestCastleCastleBeverston Castle4.8 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Nailsworth.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 27% of the total, higher than both Gloucestershire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (16%). Nailsworth has 136 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 11 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Below is its only school. Just over two thirds of pupils at the 9 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The town’s primary school has 176 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nailsworth Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 176 | B |
Nearly a tenth of the population is aged 15 to 24, lower than both Gloucestershire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Children under 15 count for 16% of the people here. Line up the people of Nailsworth by age and the one in the middle is 48.8. Among adults, 42% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Nailsworth | Gloucestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.2% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.9% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 42% | 34% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gloucestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Nailsworth logged 122 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 29 complaints of anti-social conduct. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Nailsworth has more crime per resident than 70% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for half of recorded crime. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 13.1 reports per 1,000, above Gloucestershire’s towns (9.1) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
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.
The nearest A&E to Nailsworth is Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, 11.8 miles away. At the census, nearly a fifth of people here had a disability, above both Gloucestershire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (17%). One GP practice serves the town; 91% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Nailsworth | Gloucestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
16% rent privately, below both Gloucestershire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%). The owner-occupied share of households is 68%. The median sale, £325,000, comes from 248 standard sales inside Nailsworth’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £587,500 | 82 |
| Semi-detached | £320,000 | 57 |
| Terraced | £323,750 | 36 |
| Flat or maisonette | £171,000 | 73 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 83% of commuters, above Gloucestershire’s towns (78%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. 36% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Of the commuters living in Nailsworth, 20% work in the town itself. The town counts 1 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
136 listed buildings in Nailsworth, 1 of them Grade I.
Bannut Tree Chapel: Photo: OrangeStarling1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stokes Croft: Photo: OrangeStarling1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Britannia Inn: Photo: OrangeStarling1997 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St George: Photo: Robert Cutts from Bristol, England, UK · CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nailsworth | 5,657 | — | B+ | B− | C | B |
| Amberley | 1,300 | 1.3 | — | C | A+ | A |
| Minchinhampton | 3,412 | 1.7 | A− | C | B+ | A |
| Brimscombe and Thrupp | 2,187 | 2.3 | — | B− | B− | A |
| Avening | 1,054 | 2.7 | — | C− | A | A |
| Leonard Stanley and King's Stanley | 3,584 | 3.2 | A | B− | A | A− |
| Stroud | 26,073 | 3.4 | B | B | D | B− |
| Chalford | 6,665 | 3.7 | A | B− | A | A |
Amberley, Brimscombe and Thrupp and Avening have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 9.9 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, boundary walls and railings.
Primary results beat 81% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Gloucestershire council.
Burglary was rare, with 5 reports in the year.
Town in Gloucestershire, England
Nailsworth is a built-up area of 5,657 people, in the Stroud 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.