Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 2,423 residents, it is a village in Herefordshire, West Midlands.
Kington’s strongest subject is walkability: nearly a quarter of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Buying a home costs less than in most towns: a typical home costs £210,000 and rent runs £821 a month. Where it falls short is schools: primary results beat 1% of towns in England; secondary results beat 50% of towns in England. Hazard risk is weaker too — 4.8% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency. An overall grade needs 2,500 residents, so Kington is graded subject by subject only.
The 3 things Kington 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 Kington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 136 buildings inside Kington’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
38% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1911.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kington.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Kington’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. It has 561 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents. Of the town’s land, 26% lies in conservation areas, above Herefordshire’s towns (10%) and England’s towns (7%) alike. The top grade, Grade I, goes to 1 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Key Stage 2 results at the one primary school within 3 km: 39% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Both of its schools are shown below. Secondary results at the one secondary school within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 44.7, with 47% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kington Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 207 | D |
| Lady Hawkins' SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 281 | B− |
Half the people of Kington are older than 50.3. One measure of family life: 15% of residents are under 15. 9.3% of residents are 15 to 24, close to Herefordshire’s towns (9.7%) and below England’s towns (12%).
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
| Kington | Herefordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 9.7% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.4% | 6.1% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Herefordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Work in town: 30% of resident commuters. The car took 75% of commuters, close to Herefordshire’s towns (75%) and above England’s towns (70%). Also worth knowing: a household here earns £48K a year before tax, on average.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Police figures for Kington’s built-up area: 137 crimes and 16 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Kington has more crime per resident than 87% of them. Of all the crimes, 58% were violence and sexual offences.
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.
Owners make up 51% of households, below Herefordshire’s towns (63%) and England’s towns (61%) alike. From September 2023 to August 2026, 106 homes sold inside Kington’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £210,000. That is the middle of 106 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area over three years, against £277,000 in the typical UK town.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £282,500 | 32 |
| Semi-detached | £210,000 | 33 |
| Terraced | £175,000 | 36 |
| Flat or maisonette | £87,000 | 5 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
At the census, 7.7% of people here described their health as bad or very bad. Nearly a quarter of residents have a disability, above both Herefordshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (17%). One GP practice serves the town; 73% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Kington | Herefordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.7% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 19% | 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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Kington. Best known first.
MuseumKington Museumin town
CastleHuntington Castle4.4 km outside town, to the southwestZooZooSmall Breeds Farm Park1.2 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
5 notable people were born in Kington.
Walter Russell Hall: Frederick McCubbin, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kington | 2,423 | — | — | B+ | C | C+ |
| Presteigne | 1,929 | 4.7 | — | B− | C− | B− |
| Weobley | 1,273 | 7.4 | — | C | C+ | B− |
| Knighton | 2,911 | 9.6 | C | B | C | B− |
| Hay-on-Wye | 2,065 | 10 | — | C | B− | B− |
Presteigne, Weobley and Hay-on-Wye have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 23 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Burglary was rare, with 2 reports in the year.
Village in Herefordshire, England
Kington is a built-up area of 2,423 people, in the Herefordshire 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.