Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
4,062 people call this town in Leicestershire, East Midlands home.
With an A+ overall, Great Glen is better than 98% of UK towns and ranks #1 of 50 in Leicestershire. Pupils here do better than most: primary results beat 98% of towns in England; secondary results beat 96% of towns in England. Most journeys need a car (D): 7% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Homes sell for a median £355,000, about 5.7 years of what households in the Harborough council area earn.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS.
The 3 things Great Glen 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 Great Glen is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 20 buildings inside Great Glen’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
12% 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 Great Glen.
GCSE results at the 3 secondary schools within 3 km: just over two thirds of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 56.6. The town has one school, shown below. Key Stage 2 results at the 5 primary schools within 3 km: 79% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Glen St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 321 | C+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 34% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Great Glen counts 0.5 jobs per working resident. The car took 92% of commuters, above both Leicestershire’s towns (77%) and England’s towns (70%). Income per household averages £64K a year, before tax. About 6% of its commuters stay in Great Glen for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Social renters account for 8% of households. Owners make up four in five households, above Leicestershire’s towns (65%) and England’s towns (61%) alike. Great Glen is the second most expensive of the 50 towns in Leicestershire, at £355,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £425,000 | 109 |
| Semi-detached | £271,500 | 48 |
| Terraced | £245,000 | 21 |
| Flat or maisonette | £157,500 | 7 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest A&E to Great Glen is Leicester Royal Infirmary, 5.6 miles away. At the census, 87% of people in Great Glen called their health good or very good, above Leicestershire’s towns (83%) and England’s towns (82%) alike. 13% of residents in Great Glen live with a disability. The town has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 2 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Great Glen | Leicestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2.9% | 4.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Of all the crimes, 44% were violence and sexual offences. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 163 crimes and 17 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Great Glen’s built-up area. For its size, Great Glen records less crime per resident than 72% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
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. Homes built before 1919 account for 12% of the housing. Scaled to its population, Great Glen has 49 listed buildings per 10,000 people, higher than both Leicestershire’s towns (33) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
People 65 and over make up nearly a quarter of the town, above Leicestershire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The 15-to-24 age group makes up one in ten residents.
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.
| Great Glen | Leicestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 11% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 45% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Leicestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Great Glen. Best known first.
GardenUniversity of Leicester Botanic Garden4.1 km outside town, to the northwestZooZooStoughton Grange Farm Park3.8 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumFramework Knitters Museum4.4 km outside town, to the westGardenGardenHarold Martin Botanic Garden4.1 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
20 listed buildings in Great Glen.
Old Grey Hound Inn Public House: Photo: the bitterman · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Great Glen Methodist Church: Photo: Steve Rowe · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Glen | 4,062 | — | A+ | A | B+ | A |
| Oadby | 24,039 | 2.3 | A− | C | B− | A− |
| Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt | 7,329 | 3 | A+ | A | A− | A− |
| Fleckney | 4,926 | 3.1 | A | A+ | B− | A− |
| Houghton on the Hill | 1,738 | 3.6 | — | A− | B | A |
| Wigston | 34,728 | 3.6 | C | B | C | C |
| Countesthorpe | 7,674 | 5 | B+ | B | B | A |
| Leicester | 406,612 | 5.6 | D | D− | D | C− |
Houghton on the Hill has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Among the strongest in England: GCSE results beat 96% of towns in England, and primary results beat 98% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Leicestershire council.
That is 2 times the typical UK town for its size.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £355,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £157,500, terraced houses £245,000, semi-detached houses £271,500 and detached houses £425,000. Household incomes are higher than in 79% of UK towns, so cost of living still grades A.
Town in Leicestershire, England
Great Glen is a built-up area of 4,062 people, in the Harborough 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.
