Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
5,650 people call this town in Lincolnshire, East Midlands home.
A town of contrasts. Its strongest subject is cost of living: a typical home costs £225,000 and rent runs £824 a month. Crime is low: 20 violent and sexual offences and 6.8 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. What holds it back is schools (C) — primary results beat 36% of towns in England. The local economy is weaker than most: mean household income £53,394; 2.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Hazard risk is weaker too — 1.5% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Put together, the subjects come to a B+ overall, better than two thirds of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #21 of 61 in Lincolnshire.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Ruskington 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 Ruskington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Ruskington’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
7% 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 Ruskington.
Children under 15 make up 14%, lower than both Lincolnshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up one in ten residents. Line up the people of Ruskington by age and the one in the middle is 51.2.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
| Ruskington | Lincolnshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 29% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 6.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 25% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lincolnshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Between them, two primaries teach 366 pupils in Ruskington. Of its 2 schools, one is shown below, with the reason. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 2 primary schools: 59% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winchelsea Primary School RuskingtonLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 212 | C− |
14% rent privately, below both Lincolnshire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (21%). Council and housing-body homes hold just over one in ten households. 287 standard sales inside Ruskington’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £225,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £275,000 | 127 |
| Semi-detached | £205,000 | 139 |
| Terraced | £188,000 | 21 |
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.
Ruskington’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 7% of the total. For its size, Ruskington has 19 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, lower than both Lincolnshire’s towns (42) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Ruskington has less crime per resident than 70% of them. Over the year to August 2026, 231 offences were reported in the town, along with 55 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 61% of recorded crime.
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 22% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 85% of commuters went by car. Of the commuters living in Ruskington, 13% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Ruskington has 0.7 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Ruskington is Lincoln County Hospital, 14.1 miles away. Self-reported good health: 78% of the town’s residents. One GP practice serves the town; just over two thirds of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Ruskington | Lincolnshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.8% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Ruskington. Best known first.
Abbey or prioryHaverholme Priory2.1 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumNorth Ings Farm Museum1.5 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumSleaford Museum4.9 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
11 listed buildings in Ruskington, 1 of them Grade I.
The Close: Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Brook Farmhouse: Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · 2, Manor Street: Photo: Richard Croft · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 1, Pinfold Lane: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruskington | 5,650 | — | B+ | A | B+ | B− |
| Leasingham | 1,552 | 2.1 | — | A+ | A+ | B− |
| Sleaford | 18,028 | 3.4 | B− | A+ | C− | C+ |
| Cranwell | 2,583 | 3.5 | A+ | A+ | A+ | B+ |
| Billinghay | 2,198 | 4.9 | — | A+ | A− | C− |
| Greylees | 1,989 | 5.2 | — | A | B− | A− |
| Heckington | 3,316 | 5.6 | B+ | A | A− | C |
| Metheringham | 3,524 | 6.6 | B | A | A− | C+ |
Leasingham, Billinghay and Greylees 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.
Primary results trail 64% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). Ruskington has 2 state schools; places are handled by Lincolnshire council.
Town in Lincolnshire, England
Ruskington is a built-up area of 5,650 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.