Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This large town in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and The Humber has a population of 85,915.
Grimsby grades low on several counts. Safety is its weak spot: 69.6 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 32.4 home and vehicle crimes. Against UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has more crime per resident than 98%. Its strongest is walkability (A): on the way to work, 25% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Prices are modest for what you get: a typical home costs £138,000 and rent runs £643 a month. Overall, that makes a C−, better than 17% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #47 of 61 in Lincolnshire. Residents’ health trails most towns: life expectancy is 76.3 for men and 80.4 for women.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS.
The 3 things Grimsby 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 Grimsby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 125 buildings inside Grimsby’s built-up area, 6 of them Grade I.
25% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1896 and a map from 1949.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Grimsby.
People 65 and over make up 18% of the town, below Lincolnshire’s towns (22%) and close to England’s towns (18%). The median resident of Grimsby is 39.7 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Grimsby | Lincolnshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 26% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 6.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 20% | 25% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lincolnshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Great Coates Primary School’s results beat 93% of schools in England like it. Below are three of its 34 schools, each with why it was picked. 64% of pupils at the town’s 22 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisle Marsden Church of England Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 603 | B |
| John Whitgift AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,070 | A− |
| Great Coates Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 254 | A |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Grimsby logged 13,432 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 1,083 complaints of anti-social conduct. Violence and sexual offences made up two fifths of the total. There were 13.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Lincolnshire’s towns (9.5) 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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 12% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 1.1 jobs in Grimsby for each resident in work. 57% of commuters who live in Grimsby also work there. For 70% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Households had £39K a year before tax, lower than both Lincolnshire’s towns (£48K) and England’s towns (£55K).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
77% of people in Grimsby rate their own health good or very good. At the census, 6.9% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than both Lincolnshire’s towns (5.9%) and England’s towns (5.2%). A disability affects just over a fifth of people here. Also worth knowing: 14 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Grimsby | Lincolnshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.9% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
58% of households own their home, lower than both Lincolnshire’s towns (65%) and England’s towns (61%). No town in Lincolnshire costs less to buy into than Grimsby, at £138,000, the lowest of 64. From September 2023 to August 2026, 3,068 homes sold inside the town’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £138,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £248,950 | 504 |
| Semi-detached | £160,000 | 1,123 |
| Terraced | £92,000 | 1,316 |
| Flat or maisonette | £82,500 | 125 |
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.
Grimsby’s listed buildings include the Church of St Giles, Grade I. Conservation areas cover 8% of the town’s land, above both Lincolnshire’s towns (2%) and England’s towns (7%). It has one registered historic park or garden.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Grimsby. Best known first.
Historic shipRoss Tigerin town
PierCleethorpes Pier1 km outside town, to the eastAquariumAquariumElite Koiin townZooZooNunnys Farmin townTheme parkTheme parkPleasure Island Family Theme Park2.8 km outside town, to the eastAttractionAttractionWaltham Windmill1.6 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
125 listed buildings in Grimsby, 6 of them Grade I.
Grimsby Minster, formerly the Church of St James: Photo: David Wright · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Dock Tower: Photo: David Wright · CC BY-SA 2.0 · People's Park: Photo: Jack1956 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Victoria Mills: Photo: Reading Tom from Reading, UK · CC BY 2.0
208 notable people were born in Grimsby.
Matija Sarkic: Struway2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stuart Carrington: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Whitgift: Unidentified painter, Public domain · Richard Buck: Eckhard Pecher (Arcimboldo), CC BY 2.5 · Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack: Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grimsby | 85,915 | — | C− | A− | D− | D |
| Cleethorpes | 29,660 | 2.4 | C− | A− | D− | C− |
| Waltham | 6,204 | 2.9 | B+ | C+ | A− | A− |
| Humberston and New Waltham | 14,861 | 3.1 | B | B− | C+ | B+ |
| Healing | 3,201 | 3.1 | B | C− | B | B− |
| Laceby | 3,284 | 3.2 | B | B | C+ | C+ |
| Holton le Clay | 3,823 | 3.9 | B+ | C+ | B+ | B+ |
| Stallingborough | 1,190 | 4.1 | — | B | A− | B− |
Stallingborough has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
At the 2021 Census, 11% of Grimsby’s 85,915 residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over, against 12% and 18% across England’s towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £138,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £82,500, terraced houses £92,000, semi-detached houses £160,000 and detached houses £248,950.
Large town in Lincolnshire, England
Grimsby is a built-up area of 85,915 people, in the North East Lincolnshire 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.