Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 28,992 in Kent, South East.
Deal grades D overall against UK towns: better than 11% of UK towns, and #74 of 87 in Kent. Its strongest subject is walkability (A−): 21% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is schools (D): primary results beat 20% of towns in England; secondary results beat 0% of towns in England. The median home sold for £295,000 in the last three years, 5.6 times what households in the Dover council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Deal 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 Deal is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 370 buildings inside Deal’s built-up area, 6 of them Grade II*, and 2 scheduled monuments.
30% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1820.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Deal.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Deal has 370 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 6 Grade II*. For its size, Deal has 128 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, above both Kent’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39). 30% of homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warden House Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 380 | D |
| Goodwin AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 780 | D− |
For Deal, that is above both Kent’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%). Children under 15 make up 15% of residents. The median resident of Deal is 50.3 years old.
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.
| Deal | Kent | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Deal sits below both Kent’s towns (£61K) and England’s towns (£55K) on this measure. For 35% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
That puts Deal above both Kent’s towns (23.9) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 1,416 crimes inside Deal’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 356 reports of anti-social behaviour. Burglary and damage come to 12.8 per 1,000 residents a year.
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
On this, Deal is above both Kent’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Deal is Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, 11.2 miles away. 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.
| Census 2021 | Deal | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.6% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Social housing holds 12% of households, close to Kent’s towns (14%) and below England’s towns (18%). Owners make up 68% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £450,000 | 215 |
| Semi-detached | £300,000 | 394 |
| Terraced | £290,000 | 503 |
| Flat or maisonette | £178,000 | 237 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Deal. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritageDeal Castlein town
MuseumTime Ball Towerin town
PierDeal Pierin town
Castle · English HeritageWalmer Castle100 m outside town, to the south
CastleSandown Castle100 m outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumKent MOMIin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
370 listed buildings in Deal.
Artillery castle at Deal: Photo: JimRussell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Walmer Castle: Photo: Lieven Smits · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin: Photo: David Buckden · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Clarendon Hotel: Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.0
33 notable people were born in Deal.
Elizabeth Carter: John Fayram, Public domain · Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope: Herbert Watkins, Public domain · John Hassall: Lafayette photography studio, CC BY-SA 4.0 · James Arbuthnot: ©House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0 · Edward Millen: Alice Mills (1870-1929), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deal | 28,992 | — | D | C+ | C | C |
| Kingsdown | 1,687 | 2.2 | — | C− | B+ | A− |
| Eastry | 2,388 | 4.3 | — | C | B+ | C+ |
| St Margaret's at Cliffe | 2,399 | 4.4 | — | D | B | A− |
| Sandwich | 4,258 | 4.6 | C− | C− | D | C+ |
| Eythorne | 1,487 | 5.4 | — | C | B | C+ |
| Whitfield | 6,509 | 5.8 | C | C | C− | C+ |
| Guston | 1,684 | 6 | — | C+ | A+ | C− |
Kingsdown, Eastry, St Margaret's at Cliffe, Eythorne and Guston have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 5.2 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
GCSE results trail almost all towns in England, and primary results trail 80% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Large town in Kent, England
Deal is a built-up area of 28,992 people, in the Dover 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.