Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
In Lancashire, North West, this large town has 23,683 residents.
Where it falls short is health: men here can expect to live to 77.8, women to 81.1. The median home sold for £199,972, 4.4 times what households in the Rossendale council area earn in a year. Natural hazards weigh more here: 3.2% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. All told, that adds up to a C− overall and a rank of #43 of 65 in Lancashire. Set against the rest, it does better than just over a fifth of UK towns. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for schools and B− for walkability.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021.
The 2 things Rawtenstall 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 Rawtenstall is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 78 buildings inside Rawtenstall’s built-up area, 7 of them Grade II*.
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 Rawtenstall.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Rawtenstall counts 78 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 7 Grade II*. Conservation areas cover 6% of the town’s land, between Lancashire’s towns (2%) and England’s towns (7%). It has 33 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Some 4,888 pupils attend Rawtenstall’s nine primaries and four secondaries. Of its 15 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Attainment 8 at the town’s 4 secondary schools averages 50.2, and 54% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crawshawbooth Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 296 | B |
| Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,087 | A+ |
| St James-the-Less Roman Catholic Primary School, RawtenstallTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 211 | A |
The nearest A&E to Rawtenstall is Fairfield General Hospital, 7.3 miles away. 3 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, 81% of residents of Rawtenstall said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Rawtenstall | Lancashire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.9% | 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.
Police recorded 1,780 crimes inside Rawtenstall’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 465 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence comes to 33.5 per 1,000 residents a year. There were 28.6 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Lancashire’s towns (17.2) and England’s towns (7.8). Also worth knowing: of all the crimes, 49% were violence and sexual offences.
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 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Walking, cycling and public transport carried 13% of commuters at the census. About 24% of its commuters stay in Rawtenstall for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.7. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 36%, below 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 68% of households, close to Lancashire’s towns (65%) and above England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £811 a month across the Rossendale council area. The median sale, £199,972, comes from 1,074 standard sales inside Rawtenstall’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £392,000 | 222 |
| Semi-detached | £250,000 | 267 |
| Terraced | £160,000 | 537 |
| Flat or maisonette | £171,000 | 48 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The middle age in Rawtenstall is 42.7. 33% of adults hold a degree. Over-65s are nearly a fifth of the population.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Rawtenstall | Lancashire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.7% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 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 Rawtenstall. Best known first.
MuseumThe Whitakerin town
MuseumHaworth Art Gallery3.9 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumHelmshore Mills Textile Museum1.9 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumWhitakers' Mill1.9 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumHigher Mill1.9 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumAccrington Dome4.9 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
78 listed buildings in Rawtenstall.
Crawshaw Hall: Photo: Dangerousismyname · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Crawshawbooth Quaker Meeting House: Photo: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Lower Laund Mill: Photo: Dangerousismyname · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Queens Arms Hotel: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0
21 notable people were born in Rawtenstall.
Jane Horrocks: richiiebam, CC BY-SA 2.0 · David Shackleton: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rawtenstall | 23,683 | — | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Haslingden | 16,005 | 2 | C | B | C | C− |
| Edenfield | 2,048 | 2.7 | — | C | B | B− |
| Bacup | 13,559 | 3.3 | C− | B | D | D |
| Weir | 1,290 | 3.7 | — | C | B | C− |
| Accrington | 34,897 | 4.8 | D− | B+ | D− | D− |
| Ramsbottom | 17,074 | 5 | — | D | — | B |
| Whitworth | 6,713 | 5.3 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
Edenfield and Weir have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Ramsbottom has no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 1.4 times the typical UK town for its size.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
About the middle for its size: 59% 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−.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £199,972, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £171,000, terraced houses £160,000, semi-detached houses £250,000 and detached houses £392,000.
Large town in Lancashire, England
Rawtenstall is a built-up area of 23,683 people, in the Rossendale 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.