Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Gloucestershire, South West, home to 5,360 people.
Newent’s grades pull in different directions. Pupils here do less well than most (D): primary results beat 1% of towns in England; secondary results beat 22% of towns in England. Work and incomes lag: households earn a mean £48,977 a year, and 3.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Walkability is its strong suit: a fifth of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. At a median £265,000, a home costs 5.4 times the yearly income of households in the Forest of Dean council area. The overall grade comes out at C, better than 26% of UK towns.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
Gloucestershire Police published 29 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Newent 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 Newent is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 106 buildings inside Newent’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
12% 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 Newent.
Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 1,265 pupils in Newent. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Just over two in five pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picklenash Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 157 | D− |
| Newent Community School and Sixth Form CentreLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 976 | C |
People aged 15 to 24 are nearly a tenth of the population. The middle age in Newent is 44.7. Degrees are held by 30% of adults, below both Gloucestershire’s towns (34%) and England’s towns (34%).
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.
| Newent | Gloucestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.1% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 34% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gloucestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Each year, 10.7 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded per 1,000 residents. Reported offences in Newent came to 160 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 28. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Newent has more crime per resident than just over four fifths of them. There were 14.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), 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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 3.8%. Working mainly from home: 21% of workers, lower than both Gloucestershire’s towns (32%) and England’s towns (31%). The car carried 78% of commuters at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
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 just over a tenth of the total, below Gloucestershire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Of Newent’s 106 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 1 and Grade II* 1. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 5.6% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than both Gloucestershire’s towns (4.5%) and England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Newent is Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, 8.6 miles away. Asked at the census, 81% of residents of Newent said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Newent | Gloucestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
From September 2023 to August 2026, 279 homes sold inside Newent’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £265,000. Owners make up 61% of households. Private rents average £828 a month across the Forest of Dean council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 103 |
| Semi-detached | £255,000 | 88 |
| Terraced | £221,000 | 65 |
| Flat or maisonette | £107,500 | 23 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
106 listed buildings in Newent, 1 of them Grade I.
Market House: Photo: Julian P Guffogg · CC BY-SA 2.0 · George Hotel: Photo: David Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bradfords Cottage: Photo: Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Albion House: Photo: Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0
6 notable people were born in Newent.
Michael Park: Rally Paradise / Pasi Piesanen, Mauri, Joni, Henri and Markus Lehtiranta, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Lightfoot: John Lightfoot (author), Moses Griffiths (artist), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newent | 5,360 | — | C | B | C− | B |
| Huntley | 1,152 | 3.9 | — | C+ | A | B+ |
| Moor End | 1,168 | 4.4 | — | A− | A | B+ |
| Corse | 1,217 | 4.6 | — | C+ | A | A− |
| Mitcheldean | 2,163 | 5.7 | — | B+ | C+ | C |
| Highnam | 1,920 | 5.7 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Drybrook | 2,572 | 7.1 | C | B | C+ | C+ |
| Ledbury | 8,344 | 7.5 | B+ | C+ | C+ | B |
Huntley, Moor End, Corse, Mitcheldean and Highnam have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 8.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary.
Newent has 3 state schools; places are handled by Gloucestershire council.
Police recorded 160 crimes inside Newent’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 58% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking. Burglary was rare, with 3 reports in the year.
Town in Gloucestershire, England
Newent is a built-up area of 5,360 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.