Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 33,808 in Lancashire, North West.
Nelson grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 15% of UK towns, and #48 of 65 in Lancashire. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 24% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is health (D): life expectancy 75.2 for men, 79.8 for women. The median home sold for £92,000 in the last three years, 2.3 times what households in the Pendle council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Nelson 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 Nelson is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 28 buildings inside Nelson’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
61% 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 Nelson.
5 GP practices serve the town; 72% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Nelson is Airedale General Hospital, 10.9 miles away. At the census, 6.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, close to Lancashire’s towns (6.3%) and above England’s towns (5.2%). 17% of residents in Nelson live with a disability.
| Census 2021 | Nelson | Lancashire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 6.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 10 primary schools: three in five pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Lomeshaye Junior School’s results beat 87% of schools in England like it. Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 41.7, with 34% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Below are three of its 17 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walverden Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 448 | B− |
| Marsden Heights Community CollegeLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,047 | C |
| Lomeshaye Junior SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 352 | A |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Nelson has more crime per resident than 78% of them. Burglary and damage came to 15.6 per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both Lancashire’s towns (9.8) and England’s towns (9.4). Reported offences in the town came to 3,069 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 768. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 51% 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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 14% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Nelson counts 0.8 jobs per working resident. Of the commuters living in the town, 27% work in the town itself. Household income averages £37K a year before tax. 63% of commuters travelled under 5 km, above both Lancashire’s towns (49%) and England’s towns (45%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Owners make up 54% of households. Nelson is the cheapest of the 65 towns in Lancashire: its median sale is £92,000. Private rents average £670 a month across the Pendle council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £230,000 | 61 |
| Semi-detached | £149,950 | 202 |
| Terraced | £80,250 | 690 |
| Flat or maisonette | £85,000 | 10 |
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.
Nelson counts 28 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 1 Grade II*. For its size, Nelson has 8 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, lower than both Lancashire’s towns (16) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Line up the people of Nelson by age and the one in the middle is 33.4. People 65 and over make up just over a tenth of the town, lower than both Lancashire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). The share aged 15 to 24 is 14%.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Nelson | Lancashire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 25% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 14% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 21% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 12% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 33% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.3% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 19% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lancashire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Nelson. Best known first.
MuseumPendle Heritage Centre600 m outside town, to the north · 100K visitors a year
CastleCastercliff400 m outside town, to the east
MuseumWeavers' Triangle4.8 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumQueen Street Mill Textile Museum1.3 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
28 listed buildings in Nelson.
The Station Hotel: Photo: Robert Wade · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Leeds and Liverpool Canal Warehouse: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Mary: Photo: RailwayJG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Spring Cottage: Photo: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0
35 notable people were born in Nelson.
Mike Phelan: Saadick Dhansay, CC BY 2.0 · Ted Koppel: Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | 33,808 | — | C− | B+ | D | D |
| Barrowford | 5,887 | 1 | C+ | B | C+ | A− |
| Brierfield | 10,723 | 1.3 | D | B | D | C− |
| Fence | 1,585 | 2 | — | C− | A | A− |
| Colne | 18,914 | 2.2 | D | B+ | D | D |
| Trawden | 1,204 | 3 | — | C+ | C | B |
| Foulridge | 1,212 | 3.1 | — | C | B+ | B |
| Burnley | 78,266 | 3.2 | D | B+ | D− | D |
Fence, Trawden and Foulridge have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £92,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £85,000, terraced houses £80,250, semi-detached houses £149,950 and detached houses £230,000.
GCSE results trail 83% of towns in England, and primary results trail 61% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in Lancashire, England
Nelson is a built-up area of 33,808 people, in the Pendle 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.