Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,104 in Kent, South East.
Leigh has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is schools (A+): primary results beat 95% of towns in England; secondary results beat 99% of towns in England. Its weakest is cost of living (D): median sale £700,000, 10.1 years of area income; rent £1,809 a month.
The 3 things Leigh 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 Leigh is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Leigh’s built-up area, along with 1 scheduled monument.
37% 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 Leigh.
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leigh Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 126 | B |
Women here live to 87.5 on average and men to 83.4 (2019–23). At the census, 14% of people here had a disability, below both Kent’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). Leigh has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Leigh | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.8% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 14% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
That puts Leigh above both Kent’s towns (52) and England’s towns (39). Leigh has 39 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. 37% of homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
On this, Leigh is below both Kent’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (21%). Social housing holds 20% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £897,000 | 11 |
| Semi-detached | £705,000 | 10 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
In the comparison, Leigh comes below both Kent’s towns (12.3) and England’s towns (9.4). Violent crime runs at 13.3 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 20 crimes inside Leigh’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 3 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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 49% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For Leigh, that is below both Kent’s towns (42%) and England’s towns (45%). 49% of workers worked mainly from home at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Leigh sits above both Kent’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (34%) on this measure. Those 65 and older account for 24% of residents. The median resident of Leigh is 48.2 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
| Leigh | Kent | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 43% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Leigh. Best known first.
CastleTonbridge Castle Gatehouse3.3 km outside town, to the east
CastleChiddingstone Castle3.9 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseSalomons Museum4.8 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leigh | 1,104 | — | — | D | A | A+ |
| Hildenborough | 4,943 | 1.8 | A+ | C− | A | A |
| Tonbridge | 36,136 | 2.7 | B+ | C+ | C | B− |
| Southborough | 9,632 | 3.3 | A− | C | B− | B− |
| Rusthall and Langton Green | 7,783 | 4.3 | A | C | B | B |
| Royal Tunbridge Wells | 51,215 | 4.7 | A− | C+ | C | B |
| Hadlow | 3,168 | 5.6 | C+ | C+ | B | B− |
| Plaxtol | 1,137 | 5.9 | — | D | A+ | A |
Plaxtol has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £700,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: semi-detached houses £705,000 and detached houses £897,000.
Among the strongest in England: GCSE results beat 99% of towns in England, and primary results beat 95% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Kent council.
That is 14.5 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Village in Kent, England
Leigh is a built-up area of 1,104 people, in the Sevenoaks 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.