Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
On the way to work, 12% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. In Lincolnshire, East Midlands, this town has 4,285 residents.
Easy on the wallet, harder on other counts. Buying a home costs less than in most towns: homes sell for a median £250,000, about 4.6 times local household income. Schools lag (C): primary results beat just over a third of towns in England; secondary results beat 27% of towns in England. Overall, that makes a B+, good for #19 of 61 in Lincolnshire. It comes out better than 70% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety, B− for health, B− for jobs & income and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Branston 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 Branston is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 14 buildings inside Branston’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 →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Branston. Best known first.
CathedralLincoln Cathedral4.2 km outside town, to the northwest
CastleLincoln Castle4.5 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumLincoln Museum4.1 km outside town, to the northwest
Historic house · English HeritageMedieval Bishop's Palace4.2 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumUsher Gallery4.1 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumInternational Bomber Command Centre2.4 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Branston.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 8.5% of the town. At 50, the median resident of Branston sits in the middle of the age range. 31% of adults hold a degree, above Lincolnshire’s towns (25%) but below England’s towns (34%).
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
| Branston | Lincolnshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 29% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.7% | 6.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 25% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lincolnshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Two of its 3 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 1,438 pupils in Branston. At the 5 primary schools within 3 km, nearly three in five pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branston Junior AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 174 | B− |
| Branston Community AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,132 | C |
Households that own their home make up 73%. Social housing holds 11% of households, below Lincolnshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Private rents average £824 a month across the North Kesteven council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £286,250 | 154 |
| Semi-detached | £223,000 | 67 |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 35 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Just over one in ten homes were built before 1919. Grade II* covers 1 of them. Relative to its size, Branston keeps 33 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Lincolnshire’s towns (42) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Branston logged 173 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 40 complaints of anti-social conduct. 57% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. For its size, Branston records less crime per resident than nearly two thirds 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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
By car: that was how 85% of commuters travelled at the census. Household income came to £55K a year before tax, above Lincolnshire’s towns (£48K) and close to England’s towns (£55K). About 8% of its commuters stay in Branston for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.9.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
A disability affects a fifth of people in Branston. One GP practice serves the town; 63% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Branston is Lincoln County Hospital, 3.2 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Branston | Lincolnshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 20% | 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.
14 listed buildings in Branston.
Hainton House: Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Summerdale: Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Branston Hall and Outbuildings: Photo: Nickfraser · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 29, Lincoln Road: Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
3 notable people were born in Branston.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Branston | 4,285 | — | B+ | A | B | B− |
| Washingborough and Heighington | 6,386 | 1.5 | A | A | A | B+ |
| Bracebridge Heath | 5,794 | 2.4 | A− | A+ | B+ | B |
| Cherry Willingham | 3,446 | 3.2 | B+ | A | A− | B− |
| Fiskerton | 1,202 | 3.3 | — | A | A− | C+ |
| Waddington | 6,828 | 3.6 | A | A+ | A− | C+ |
| Lincoln | 104,553 | 3.8 | D− | C+ | D | D |
| Metheringham | 3,524 | 4.8 | B | A | A− | C+ |
Fiskerton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Branston has 3 state schools; places are handled by Lincolnshire council.
About the middle for its size: 34% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades B.
Town in Lincolnshire, England
Branston is a built-up area of 4,285 people, in the North Kesteven 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.