Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,735 in Kent, South East.
Minster (Swale) grades D overall against UK towns: better than 8% of UK towns, and #76 of 87 in Kent. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £49,148; 3.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £315,000 in the last three years, 5.7 times what households in the Swale council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Minster (Swale) 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 Minster (Swale) is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 9 buildings inside Minster (Swale)’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
3% 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 Minster (Swale).
Ages in Minster (Swale) split evenly at 45.8: half are older, half younger. People 65 and over make up 23% of the town. Young adults of 15 to 24 are one in ten residents, lower than both Kent’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%), and under-15s account for 16% of the population.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Minster (Swale) | Kent | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 19% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Minster (Swale)’s three primaries have 1,303 pupils between them. Of its 3 schools, one is shown below, with the reason. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 33.2, and 16% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minster in Sheppey Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 572 | A+ |
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 3% of the total, lower than both Kent’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (16%). Minster (Swale)’s listed buildings include The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Sexburga, Grade I. For its size, Minster (Swale) has 5 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · 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.
Home was the main workplace for 21% of workers at the census. 88% of commuters drove, above both Kent’s towns (75%) and England’s towns (70%). For nearly two in five commuters, work was under 5 km away. Of the commuters living in Minster (Swale), 8% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
At the census, 21% of people here had a disability, higher than both Kent’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). 79% of people in Minster (Swale) rate their own health good or very good. The town has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 2 miles away. Also worth knowing: life expectancy here is 82.2 for women and 78.4 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Minster (Swale) | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 18% | 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.
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 837 crimes and 275 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Minster (Swale)’s built-up area. Homes saw 13 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above Kent’s towns (12.3) and England’s towns (9.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 50% of recorded crime.
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.
Private renters make up 14% of households, lower than both Kent’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (21%). 10% of households rent from a council or housing body. The £315,000 median rests on 708 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £385,000 | 361 |
| Semi-detached | £290,000 | 204 |
| Terraced | £265,000 | 113 |
| Flat or maisonette | £165,000 | 30 |
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 Minster (Swale). Best known first.
CastleQueenborough Castle2.2 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumEastchurch Aviation Museum2.3 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumQueenborough Guildhall Museum2.6 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
9 listed buildings in Minster (Swale), 2 of them Grade I.
The Abbey Gatehouse: Photo: Glyn Baker · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bell Farm Park House and Club: Photo: Glyn Baker · CC BY-SA 2.0
4 notable people were born in Minster (Swale).
Harry May: Unknown photographer, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minster (Swale) | 16,735 | — | D | C+ | C | C− |
| Halfway Houses | 4,396 | 1.4 | C | B− | C+ | C |
| Sheerness | 13,253 | 2.1 | D | B+ | D− | D− |
| Queenborough | 3,915 | 2.3 | D | B | D | C− |
| Eastchurch | 3,381 | 2.8 | D− | B+ | D− | D− |
| Warden | 1,817 | 4.4 | — | B | C | D− |
| Iwade | 4,533 | 4.5 | C+ | C | A− | C+ |
| Grain | 1,728 | 4.6 | — | B− | C+ | D |
Warden and Grain have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
About the middle for its size: 44% 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.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Kent, England
Minster (Swale) is a built-up area of 16,735 people, in the Swale 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.
