Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0How Leicestershire stacks up
In Leicestershire, Oadby ranks #16 of 2,331 towns in the UK for schools, the best showing of any town here. Across its towns, 65% of residents live in one of the fastest-growing towns in the UK. Put together, the subjects come to a B+, 21st of 65 graded areas.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
26th of 65B61/100 A little safer than average. By police.uk’s count, violent crime here comes to 34.2 offences per 1,000 residents a year, 10% below the England and Wales figure. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Queniborough ranks highest, at #182.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 78 per 1,000 residents a year, 22nd highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Crime gathers in the bigger places
East Goscote leads its towns at #222 of 2,138, with Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt and Broughton Astley close behind. Leicester sit at the high-crime end of the ranking. Of residents of its towns, 30% live in the safest quarter and 42% in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Leicestershire | 30% | 42% |
What the two figures count
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Leicestershire, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
39th of 90B57/100 Somewhat above-average schools. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 63% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (18th highest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Oadby its best at #16 of 2,331.
GCSE: an average Attainment 8 score of 46.4, 18th highest. The grade weighs primary and GCSE results equally.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Cost of living
60th of 98C+39/100 Pricier than the typical area. Homes cost 5.2 times what the average household takes in a year: a typical sale of £270,000 against income of £51,800. Its best town is Broughton Astley, #179 of 2,515, and 42% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Typical sale price: £270,000 (10,419 sales, 35th highest).
Private rent £975 a month (33rd highest); Band D council tax £2,454 (29th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Health
35th of 98B+65/100 Slightly better health than average. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Countesthorpe ranks highest, at #178. Leicestershire ranks 23rd shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 65.5 years.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.9 years, 24th shortest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Jobs & income
40th of 98B60/100 Incomes a notch above average. Households take in £51,800 a year on average (35th highest), and 3.5% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits. Its claimant rate, 3.5%, ranks 27th highest, while household income ranks 35th highest. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe ranks highest, at #195.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.5% of working-age adults (27th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Getting about
49th of 98B−51/100 About average without a car. Leicestershire ranks 41st highest for getting to work without a car: 20% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. One town stands apart: Leicester, #160 in the UK, while nearly every other town sits lower.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 27% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Flood risk
42nd of 87B−52/100 Typical flood risk. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Leicester and Loughborough sit in the bottom quarter for the UK. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 6,175 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 1.5% of them.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 50 Leicestershire towns.
Growth
8th of 98A93/100 Among the fastest-growing areas. Leicestershire grew 15.6% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales. Its best town is Great Glen, #49 of 1,579, and 65% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +5.0% (6th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 40 Leicestershire towns.
How Leicestershire compares to its neighbours
It sits mid-table among Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland on every subject.
| Leicestershire | Nottinghamshire | Derbyshire | Warwickshire | Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 6921st of 65 | B 5828th of 65 | C 3046th of 65 | A− 8014th of 65 | B− 4536th of 65 |
| Safety | B 6129th official · 30% in top towns | B− 4751st official · 36% in top towns | C− 2157th official · 25% in top towns | A− 7520th official · 43% in top towns | B− 4530th official · 23% in top towns |
| Schools | B 5718th official · 8% in top towns | B+ 7214th official · 20% in top towns | C 2643rd official · 7% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 15% in top towns | C+ 3823rd official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 3963rd official · 42% in top towns | C+ 4051st official · 22% in top towns | B 5749th official · 69% in top towns | C 2972nd official · 18% in top towns | C− 2261st official · 0% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 6533rd official · 35% in top towns | C+ 3944th official · 18% in top towns | B− 4640th official · 19% in top towns | A− 8013th official · 37% in top towns | B 5625th official · 16% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B 6035th official · 25% in top towns | B− 4648th official · 15% in top towns | B− 4846th official · 11% in top towns | A− 7619th official · 31% in top towns | B 5627th official · 13% in top towns |
| Getting about | B− 5141st official · 0% in top towns | A 8524th official · 31% in top towns | C 2767th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 0% in top towns | C− 2471st official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B− 5233rd official · 26% in top towns | C+ 4239th official · 25% in top towns | B 6229th official · 29% in top towns | B− 4522nd official · 14% in top towns | A 902nd official · 47% in top towns |
| Growth | A 938th official · 65% in top towns | B 5839th official · 13% in top towns | C+ 4344th official · 3% in top towns | A 927th official · 57% in top towns | A+ 983rd official · 82% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.