Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It skews young: one resident in 4 is 15 to 24. Population 64,850: a large town in Leicestershire, East Midlands.
Prices are modest for what you get: homes sell for a median £240,000, about 4.3 times local household income. Loughborough’s overall grade is B, better than nearly two thirds of UK towns. It ranks #30 of 50 in Leicestershire. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A): on the way to work, 29% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. The drawback is safety — 35.6 violent and sexual offences and 22 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Against UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has more crime per resident than 43%. Health is a weak point (C): life expectancy is 78.2 for men and 81.9 for women. Hazards are a real consideration: 4.6% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Loughborough is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The thing Loughborough does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 73 buildings inside Loughborough’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
15% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1903.
Explore the history →73 listed buildings in Loughborough, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of All Saints: Photo: kjn1961 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The Old Rectory Museum: Photo: kjn1961 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Loughborough Railway Station: Photo: Andrewrabbott · CC BY-SA 4.0 · General Baptist Meeting House: Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Loughborough.
Under-15s account for 14% of the population. The age that splits Loughborough in two is 31.4. The 65-and-over age group makes up 14% of residents.
48% women, 52% men
About 109 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Loughborough | Leicestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 28% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 20% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.4% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 30% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Leicestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Of its 19 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 13 primary schools: 62% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Loughborough’s 14 primaries and four secondaries have 7,637 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountfields Lodge SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 468 | C− |
| De Lisle College Loughborough LeicestershireLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,376 | A |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Voluntary AcademyTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 203 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 29% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 53%, above Leicestershire’s towns (46%) and England’s towns (45%) alike. The car carried 69% of commuters at the census. Nearly half of commuters who live in Loughborough also work there. Unemployment benefit claims reached 2.8% of 16 to 64s in 2026.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Owners make up 56% of households, below both Leicestershire’s towns (65%) and England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £960 a month across the Charnwood council area. Behind the median of £240,000: 1,726 standard sales inside Loughborough’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £350,000 | 496 |
| Semi-detached | £238,501 | 631 |
| Terraced | £191,500 | 439 |
| Flat or maisonette | £134,500 | 160 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Reported offences in Loughborough came to 6,233 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 1,074. There were 14.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Leicestershire’s towns (6.7) and England’s towns (7.8) alike. Also worth knowing: of all the crimes, 36% 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.
8 GP practices serve the town; nearly three quarters of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Loughborough is Leicester Royal Infirmary, 10.2 miles away. At the census, 4.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, about level with Leicestershire’s towns (4.7%) and below England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Loughborough | Leicestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 4.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 16% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Loughborough’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. Grade II* covers 3 of them, Grade I 1. For its size, Loughborough has 11 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Loughborough. Best known first.
MuseumLoughborough Carillonin town
MuseumCharnwood Museumin town
Heritage railwayGreat Central Railwayin town
Abbey or prioryMount St Bernard Abbey4.7 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseStanford Hall3 km outside town, to the northeast
Heritage railwayMountsorrel Railway4.1 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
58 notable people were born in Loughborough.
Hamza Choudhury: Timmy96, CC0 · Liam Moore: Ben Sutherland, CC BY 2.0 · Richard Pulteney: Painted by T. Beach Engraved by P. Roberts, Public domain · John Cleveland: Unidentified engraver, Public domain · Billy Kee: Skippo10, Public domain · Paul Sturgess: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large town in Leicestershire, England
Loughborough is a built-up area of 64,850 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loughborough | 64,850 | — | B | A | D | C |
| Quorndon | 5,576 | 2.3 | B+ | B− | B− | A |
| Hathern | 2,351 | 2.6 | — | A− | B+ | B+ |
| Woodhouse Eaves | 1,618 | 2.9 | — | B− | B | A |
| Barrow upon Soar | 6,823 | 3.2 | B+ | A− | C+ | B− |
| Shepshed | 14,873 | 3.2 | B+ | A | C− | C |
| Burton on the Wolds | 1,260 | 4 | — | B− | A | A |
| Sutton Bonington | 2,064 | 4.1 | — | A− | A | B |
Hathern, Woodhouse Eaves, Burton on the Wolds and Sutton Bonington have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades D.
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.