Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 6,823: a town in Leicestershire, East Midlands. 41% of households own their home with no mortgage.
A strong record with one exception. Its best grade is for jobs & income — the mean household earns £61,162 a year. With a B+ overall, Barrow upon Soar is better than two thirds of UK towns and ranks #27 of 50 in Leicestershire. Few people walk, cycle or take the bus to work: just over one in ten commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Homes sell for a median £284,000, about 5.1 years of what households in the Charnwood council area earn. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for schools and B− for health.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Barrow upon Soar is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Barrow upon Soar does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 24 buildings inside Barrow upon Soar’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
15% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →24 listed buildings in Barrow upon Soar.
The Round House: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 22-24, Beveridge Street: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Chippindall House: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · 13-21, Church Street: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Barrow upon Soar.
9% live in social housing, lower than both Leicestershire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). Private renters make up 13% of households. 354 standard sales inside Barrow upon Soar’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £284,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £383,500 | 134 |
| Semi-detached | £270,000 | 130 |
| Terraced | £240,700 | 78 |
| Flat or maisonette | £138,500 | 12 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Some 1,434 pupils attend Barrow upon Soar’s one primary and one secondary. Both of the town’s schools appear below. GCSE results at the 2 secondary schools within 3 km: just over two in five pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 44.6.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrow Hall Orchard Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 571 | B+ |
| Humphrey Perkins SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 863 | C+ |
Degrees are held by 37% of adults, above Leicestershire’s towns (30%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. People 65 and over make up 22% of the town. The age that splits Barrow upon Soar in two is 44.5.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Barrow upon Soar | Leicestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Leicestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 35% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For every resident in work, Barrow upon Soar has 0.6 jobs. The car took 88% of commuters, above both Leicestershire’s towns (77%) and England’s towns (70%). On top of that, just over a third of workers did their job mainly from home at the census. Of the commuters living locally, 8% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Police figures for Barrow upon Soar’s built-up area: 341 crimes and 67 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Of all the crimes, 43% were violence and sexual offences. There were 10.6 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Leicestershire’s towns (6.7) and England’s towns (7.8) alike.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. Conservation areas cover a tenth of Barrow upon Soar’s land, higher than both Leicestershire’s towns (6%) and England’s towns (7%). The pre-1919 share of homes is 15%.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 4.1% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below both Leicestershire’s towns (4.7%) and England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Barrow upon Soar is Leicester Royal Infirmary, 8.8 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 79% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Barrow upon Soar | Leicestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.1% | 4.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 16% | 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 Barrow upon Soar. Best known first.
Heritage railwayMountsorrel Railway900 m outside town, to the south
MuseumLoughborough Carillon3.5 km outside town, to the west
Heritage railwayGreat Central Railway2.7 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumCharnwood Museum3.6 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumStonehurst Motor Museum1.1 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumJohn Taylor Bellfoundry Museum2.9 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
8 notable people were born in Barrow upon Soar.
William Beveridge: Skara kommun, CC BY 2.0 · Sally Barker: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0 · Cynthia Cockburn: Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung, CC BY 2.0 · Franklin Gimson: unknown, uploader was Clithering at zh.wikipedia, Public domain
Town in Leicestershire, England
Barrow upon Soar is a built-up area of 6,823 people, in the Charnwood 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrow upon Soar | 6,823 | — | B+ | A− | C+ | B− |
| Quorndon | 5,576 | 1.3 | B+ | B− | B− | A |
| Sileby | 8,954 | 2.2 | B− | A | C | C+ |
| Burton on the Wolds | 1,260 | 2.3 | — | B− | A | A |
| Mountsorrel | 12,879 | 2.4 | A− | A− | C | B+ |
| Loughborough | 64,850 | 3.2 | B | A | D | C |
| Woodhouse Eaves | 1,618 | 3.8 | — | B− | B | A |
| Wymeswold | 1,364 | 4 | — | C+ | B− | A |
Burton on the Wolds, Woodhouse Eaves and Wymeswold have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
An older town. At the 2021 Census, 22% of residents were 65 or over and 27% were 45 to 64, against 18% and 25% across England’s towns; 17% were under 15.
About the middle for its size: 61% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades C+.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.