Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 34,693 people, this large town lies in Lancashire, North West. Mortgage-free owners make up 40% of households.
Schools are its strong suit: primary results beat 86% of towns in England; secondary results beat 82% of towns in England. It is strong on walkability as well (A−): a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Health outcomes fall short of most towns (C): men here can expect to live to 79, women to 82.1. The median home sold for £222,000, 4.8 times what households in the Preston council area earn in a year. Overall, that makes a B, good for #18 of 65 in Lancashire. That leaves it better than 58% of UK towns.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Fulwood 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 Fulwood is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 29 buildings inside Fulwood’s built-up area.
7% 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 Fulwood.
Attainment 8 at the town’s 4 secondary schools averages 52.3, and 54% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Of its 17 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. The Olive School, Preston’s results beat 98% of schools in England like it. Between them, 13 primaries and four secondaries teach 7,291 pupils in Fulwood.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen's Drive Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 434 | A− |
| Fulwood AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 973 | C+ |
| The Olive School, PrestonTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 421 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 77% of commuters, close to Lancashire’s towns (78%) and above England’s towns (70%). Unemployment benefit claims reached 3.2% of 16 to 64s in 2026. Work in town: 28% of resident commuters. For every resident in work, Fulwood has 1.4 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
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 7% of the total, lower than both Lancashire’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (16%). Fulwood has one registered historic park or garden. Scaled to its population, that is 8 listed buildings for every 10,000 people locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
2 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Nearly a fifth of residents have a disability, below Lancashire’s towns (20%) but above England’s towns (17%). At the census, 5.5% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2021 | Fulwood | Lancashire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.5% | 6.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Burglary and damage come to 12.7 per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 2,248 crimes and 503 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Fulwood’s built-up area. There were 22.1 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both Lancashire’s towns (17.2) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences accounted for 53% 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.
Retirement age and beyond: 22% of residents are 65 or older. 10% of the population is aged 15 to 24, below both Lancashire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). The median resident of Fulwood is 43.5 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Fulwood | Lancashire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lancashire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Owners make up 72% of households, above both Lancashire’s towns (65%) and England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £790 a month across the Preston council area. Half of the 1,492 standard sales inside Fulwood’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £222,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £305,000 | 473 |
| Semi-detached | £210,000 | 729 |
| Terraced | £147,000 | 173 |
| Flat or maisonette | £78,000 | 117 |
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 Fulwood. Best known first.
MuseumLancashire Infantry Museumin town
CathedralSyro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa, Preston1.4 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumHarris Museum1.9 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumMuseum of Lancashire1.7 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumRibble Steam Railway1.8 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumDuke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry Museum1.7 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulwood | 34,693 | — | B | B− | C | C |
| Preston | 94,502 | 1.4 | C− | B+ | D− | D |
| Cottam | 5,507 | 1.8 | C+ | C | C− | B |
| Broughton | 2,468 | 2 | — | C− | C− | B+ |
| Penwortham | 20,489 | 2.9 | A− | A− | B− | B− |
| Goosnargh | 1,892 | 3.2 | — | C+ | C− | C+ |
| Barton | 1,492 | 3.3 | — | D | B+ | B+ |
| Grimsargh | 2,594 | 3.8 | C+ | C− | B− | B− |
Broughton, Goosnargh and Barton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
GCSE results beat 82% of towns in England, and primary results beat 86% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
About the middle for its size: 50% 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.
Large town in Lancashire, England
Fulwood is a built-up area of 34,693 people, in the Preston 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.