Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
81,286 people live in this large town in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Low prices, and some weak spots to weigh against them. Crime runs high: 58 violent and sexual offences and 24.6 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Against UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has more crime per resident than 90%. Health is weaker too (D) — life expectancy is 76.2 for men and 81.7 for women. Prices are modest for what you get: homes sell for a median £150,000, about 3.3 times local household income. Add walkability to its strengths (A−): on the way to work, 21% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. The overall grade lands at C+, #39 of 61 in Lincolnshire. That leaves it better than 35% of UK towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS.
The 3 things Scunthorpe 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 Scunthorpe is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 24 buildings inside Scunthorpe’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I.
8% 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 Scunthorpe.
Scunthorpe has a median age of 39.5 years. 18% are under 15, above both Lincolnshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). Retirement age and beyond: 18% of residents are 65 or older.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Scunthorpe | Lincolnshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.9% | 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
Scunthorpe’s 22 primaries and six secondaries have 12,075 pupils between them. Holme Valley Primary School’s results beat 94% of schools in England like it. Three of its 33 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. At the town’s 18 primary schools, just over three in five pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oasis Academy Henderson AvenueLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 651 | C− |
| Frederick Gough SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,334 | C |
| Holme Valley Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 417 | A |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 10,503 offences in Scunthorpe and 1,000 cases of nuisance behaviour. Just over two fifths of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 12.8 reports per 1,000, 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.
Private rents average £653 a month across the North Lincolnshire council area. The median sale, £150,000, comes from 2,796 standard sales inside Scunthorpe’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Three in five households are owner-occupiers.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £219,000 | 614 |
| Semi-detached | £149,972 | 1,652 |
| Terraced | £110,000 | 455 |
| Flat or maisonette | £75,000 | 75 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
6.4% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above Lincolnshire’s towns (5.9%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. 9 GP practices serve the town; 77% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Self-reported good health: 78% of Scunthorpe’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Scunthorpe | Lincolnshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.4% | 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.
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.
A household here earns £42K a year before tax, on average. About 71% of its commuters stay in Scunthorpe for work. For every resident in work, Scunthorpe has 1.2 jobs. 69% of commuters travelled under 5 km, above Lincolnshire’s towns (46%) and England’s towns (45%) alike.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Scunthorpe’s listed buildings include the Church of St Lawrence, Grade I. Scaled to its population, that is 3 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in the town. Homes from before 1919 make up 8% of the total, below Lincolnshire’s towns (14%) and England’s towns (16%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Scunthorpe. Best known first.
MuseumNorth Lincolnshire Museumin townArt galleryArt gallery2021 Visual Arts Centrein townMuseumMuseumNormanby Hall Country Park1.5 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
24 listed buildings in Scunthorpe, 2 of them Grade I.
Brumby Hall: Photo: David Wright · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Lawrence: Photo: David Wright · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Queen Bess public house: Photo: Simon Reinhardt · CC BY 4.0 · North Lincolnshire Council Offices Formerly Scunthorpe Civic Centre: Photo: Jonathan Billinger · CC BY-SA 2.0
92 notable people were born in Scunthorpe.
John Gregory: Jonesy702 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Kevin Doyle: Vbrunophotog, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Howard Devoto: Rsub8 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5 · Max Poole: Nicola, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Reece Mastin: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tony Jacklin: Unknown (Keystone, U.S. Office), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scunthorpe | 81,286 | — | C+ | A | D− | D |
| Messingham | 3,375 | 3.2 | A− | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Keadby | 1,446 | 3.7 | — | A | C− | C− |
| Broughton | 4,499 | 4.2 | A− | A | B | C+ |
| Burton upon Stather | 2,370 | 5.1 | — | A− | A | C |
| Scotter | 2,946 | 5.4 | B+ | A | A− | B− |
| Scawby | 1,606 | 5.6 | — | B+ | A | B |
| Winterton | 4,764 | 5.9 | B | A | C− | C |
Keadby, Burton upon Stather and Scawby have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £150,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £75,000, terraced houses £110,000, semi-detached houses £149,972 and detached houses £219,000.
Large town in Lincolnshire, England
Scunthorpe is a built-up area of 81,286 people, in the North 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.