Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its listed buildings number 100, with 3 at Grade I. 14,483 people live in this town in Gloucestershire, South West.
Jobs and pay hold up well: the mean household earns £66,492 a year. It is easy to get around without a car (B+): on the way to work, 18% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Its lowest grade is for cost of living: the median home sold for £360,000, 5.9 years of area income. Police record more crime here than in most towns: 30 violent and sexual offences and 8.1 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 66%. The overall grade lands at B−, #26 of 48 in Gloucestershire. Set against the rest, it does better than 54% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for schools and B for health.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Thornbury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Thornbury does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 100 buildings inside Thornbury’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
7% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →100 listed buildings in Thornbury, 3 of them Grade I.
Thornbury Castle, Inner Court: Photo: nick sarebi · CC BY 2.0 · Lock Up and Pound: Photo: Neil Owen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Royal George Public House: Photo: Mike Faherty · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Baptist Church: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Thornbury.
11% rent privately, below Gloucestershire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. Private rents average £1,464 a month across the South Gloucestershire council area. 740 standard sales inside Thornbury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £360,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £499,500 | 285 |
| Semi-detached | £330,000 | 211 |
| Terraced | £275,000 | 164 |
| Flat or maisonette | £199,225 | 80 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 49.4, with 48% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Below are two of its 10 schools, each with why it was picked. Some 3,238 pupils attend Thornbury’s six primaries and two secondaries.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manorbrook Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 288 | A− |
| The Castle SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,416 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 38% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Four in five commuters drove to work at the census. Of the commuters living in Thornbury, 26% work in the town itself. This Gloucestershire town counts 0.8 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
3 GP practices serve the town; 84% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Thornbury is Southmead Hospital, 8.6 miles away. 4.3% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, close to Gloucestershire’s towns (4.5%) and below England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Thornbury | Gloucestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.3% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The 12 months to August 2026 brought 849 recorded crimes inside Thornbury’s built-up area, and 171 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 53% of recorded crime. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 10.4 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 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 7% of the total, below Gloucestershire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Thornbury’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Grade I. It has 100 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 3 Grade I, 5 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The 15-to-24 age group: 9%, lower than both Gloucestershire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Retirement age and beyond: nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or older. Typical age in Thornbury: 43.5, the median.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
| Thornbury | Gloucestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 15% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.5% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 41% | 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 Thornbury. Best known first.
CastleThornbury Castlein town
Historic houseActon Court4.7 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumThornbury and District Museumin townAttractionAttractionThe Lake4.9 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
13 notable people were born in Thornbury.
Charles Harford Lloyd: Walker Hodgson (1864–floruit 1923), Public domain · W. N. Hodgson: Credit line says "Langfier", most likely a photographic studio. There were several Langfier photographers (see here). It may not be possible to determine which one took this photograph., Public domain · Handel Cossham: James Briggs at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Town in Gloucestershire, England
Thornbury is a built-up area of 14,483 people, in the South Gloucestershire 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornbury | 14,483 | — | B− | C− | C+ | B |
| Alveston | 2,065 | 1.7 | — | D | C+ | A |
| Olveston | 1,009 | 3.2 | — | D | A+ | A |
| Almondsbury | 2,937 | 4.2 | B− | D | B | B |
| Charfield | 2,833 | 5 | B+ | C | B+ | A |
| Wickwar | 1,701 | 5.3 | — | D | B | A |
| Bradley Stoke | 25,194 | 5.6 | A− | C | B− | A− |
| Beachley | 1,120 | 5.9 | — | B+ | A+ | B+ |
Alveston, Olveston, Wickwar and Beachley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.8 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Thornbury Castle, Inner Court. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
About the middle for its size: 34% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £360,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £199,225, terraced houses £275,000, semi-detached houses £330,000 and detached houses £499,500.
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.