Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,783 in Kent, South East.
Pembury grades B− overall against UK towns: better than 46% of UK towns, and #32 of 87 in Kent. Its strongest subject is jobs & income (A−): mean household income £65,018; 1.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its weakest is safety (C−): 36.8 violent and sexual offences and 11.5 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 20%. The median home sold for £460,000 in the last three years, 6.8 times what households in the Tunbridge Wells council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Pembury 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 Pembury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 54 buildings inside Pembury’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
15% 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 Pembury.
Children under 15 make up 17%, lower than both Kent’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.4% of the population. At 47.2, the median resident of Pembury sits in the middle of the age range. Among adults, 35% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
| Pembury | Kent | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Kent and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Below is its only school. 63% of pupils at the 9 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Its one primary school teaches 400 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pembury SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 400 | B− |
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 374 crimes and 90 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Pembury’s built-up area. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Pembury has more crime per resident than four fifths of them. Violence and sexual offences were 61% of the crimes.
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.
Home ownership stands at 72% of households. 199 standard sales inside Pembury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £460,000. Private rents average £1,533 a month across the Tunbridge Wells council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £609,100 | 67 |
| Semi-detached | £478,750 | 64 |
| Terraced | £363,600 | 51 |
| Flat or maisonette | £337,500 | 17 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Scaled to its population, that is 93 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Pembury. The town’s listed buildings include the Old Church of St Peter, Grade I. It has 54 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
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.
38% of workers did their job mainly from home at the census. The car took four in five commuters, above both Kent’s towns (75%) and England’s towns (70%). Of the commuters living in Pembury, 22% work in the town itself. There are 1.6 jobs in Pembury for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Men in Pembury can expect to live to 79.3, women to 82 (2019–23). One GP practice serves the town; 77% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. A disability affects 17% of people here.
| Census 2021 | Pembury | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.6% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Pembury. Best known first.
CastleTonbridge Castle Gatehouse4.8 km outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or priory · English HeritageBayham Old Abbey4.2 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleSomerhill House2.4 km outside town, to the northwest
Historic houseSalomons Museum4.7 km outside town, to the westAttractionAttractionMatfield House1.7 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumThe Amelia Scott3.3 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
54 listed buildings in Pembury, 1 of them Grade I.
Upper Church of St Peter: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Almshouses: Photo: N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Camden Arms: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Lodge: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pembury | 5,783 | — | B− | C | C− | B− |
| Royal Tunbridge Wells | 51,215 | 2.6 | A− | C+ | C | B |
| Five Oak Green | 1,436 | 2.9 | — | C+ | B | B− |
| Southborough | 9,632 | 3 | A− | C | B− | B− |
| Paddock Wood | 7,616 | 3.5 | C | C | C− | B |
| Rusthall and Langton Green | 7,783 | 4.4 | A | C | B | B |
| Tonbridge | 36,136 | 4.5 | B+ | C+ | C | B− |
| Horsmonden | 1,580 | 4.5 | — | C | A− | A+ |
Five Oak Green and Horsmonden have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.8 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Old Church of St Peter.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £460,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £337,500, terraced houses £363,600, semi-detached houses £478,750 and detached houses £609,100.
Town in Kent, England
Pembury is a built-up area of 5,783 people, in the Tunbridge Wells 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.