Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 3,316 residents, it is a town in Lincolnshire, East Midlands.
Homes are affordable here, though not without reasons. Its strongest is cost of living — the median home sold for £233,000, 4.3 years of area income. At B+ overall, Heckington is better than 66% of UK towns and ranks #22 of 61 in Lincolnshire. Recorded crime is low: 16.5 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 4 home and vehicle crimes. What counts against it is schools — primary results beat 16% of towns in England. It lags on health as well (C): life expectancy is 78.7 for men and 82.6 for women.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS.
The 3 things Heckington 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 Heckington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 25 buildings inside Heckington’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
16% 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 Heckington.
Private renters make up 14% of households, below both Lincolnshire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (21%). The social rented sector houses just over one in ten households. The median sale, £233,000, comes from 196 standard sales inside Heckington’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £310,000 | 109 |
| Semi-detached | £209,000 | 63 |
| Terraced | £158,750 | 24 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
53% of pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Its one school is below. 161 pupils attend Heckington’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heckington St Andrew's Church of England SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 161 | C |
Violence and sexual offences accounted for 57% of recorded crime. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 18.5 reports per 1,000, higher than both Lincolnshire’s towns (9.5) and England’s towns (7.8). Police recorded 94 crimes inside Heckington’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 36 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.
At the census, 78% of people in Heckington called their health good or very good, close to Lincolnshire’s towns (79%) and below England’s towns (82%). The nearest A&E to Heckington is Pilgrim Hospital, 12.2 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Heckington | Lincolnshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Scaled to its population, Heckington has 75 listed buildings per 10,000 people, higher than both Lincolnshire’s towns (42) and England’s towns (39). Its listed buildings include the Church of St Andrew, Grade I. It has one scheduled monument.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 1.9%. The car took 86% of commuters, above both Lincolnshire’s towns (79%) and England’s towns (70%). Of the commuters living in Heckington, 12% work in the town itself. The town counts 0.8 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Children under 15 make up just over one in ten residents. The 15-to-24 age group: 7.5%, below Lincolnshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Heckington has a median age of 53.9 years. 26% of adults hold a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
| Heckington | Lincolnshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.5% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 32% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 6.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 25% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lincolnshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
25 listed buildings in Heckington, 2 of them Grade I.
Church of St Andrew: Photo: Warofdreams · CC BY 2.5 · Signal Box: Photo: Richard Hoare · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Nag's Head Public House: Photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0 · Henry Godson's Almshouses: Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heckington | 3,316 | — | B+ | A | A− | C |
| Sleaford | 18,028 | 4.8 | B− | A+ | C− | C+ |
| Ruskington | 5,650 | 5.6 | B+ | A | B+ | B− |
| Leasingham | 1,552 | 6 | — | A+ | A+ | B− |
| Greylees | 1,989 | 6.2 | — | A | B− | A− |
| Swineshead | 2,653 | 6.3 | C− | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Billingborough | 1,390 | 6.3 | — | A+ | B+ | B− |
| Donington | 3,192 | 6.7 | D | C+ | C+ | C+ |
Leasingham, Greylees and Billingborough have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Church of St Andrew. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Primary results trail 85% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Lincolnshire council.
Town in Lincolnshire, England
Heckington is a built-up area of 3,316 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.