Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,599 in Norfolk, East of England.
Diss grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 43% of UK towns, and #20 of 51 in Norfolk. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £252,500, 4.4 years of area income; rent £981 a month. Its weakest is schools (D): primary results beat 3% of towns in England; secondary results beat 25% of towns in England.
The 3 things Diss 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 Diss is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 160 buildings inside Diss’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
14% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1911.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Diss.
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roydon Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 255 | D |
| Diss High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 877 | C |
For Diss, that is above both Norfolk’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (18%). Children under 15 make up 15% of residents. Half the people of Diss are older than 46.3.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Diss | Norfolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.1% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 26% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 26% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Norfolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Half the homes sold went for more than £253K, close to Norfolk’s towns (£280K) and below England’s towns (£308K).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £335,000 | 157 |
| Semi-detached | £241,000 | 93 |
| Terraced | £209,750 | 114 |
| Flat or maisonette | £125,000 | 44 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
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.
Diss sits above both Norfolk’s towns (2.5%) and England’s towns (2.3%) on this measure. The average household earns £47K a year before tax.
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.
That puts Diss above both Norfolk’s towns (42) and England’s towns (39). Diss’s listed buildings include Church of St Mary, Grade I. Diss has 160 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 2 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
On this, Diss is above both Norfolk’s towns (18.9) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 695 crimes inside Diss’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 68 reports of anti-social behaviour. Burglary and damage come to 10.2 per 1,000 residents a year.
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
79% of Diss’s residents described their health as good or very good in 2021, against 79% across Norfolk’s towns. These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Diss | Norfolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.3% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
160 listed buildings in Diss, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St Mary: Photo: David P Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dolphin House: Photo: Evelyn Simak · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 2, Mount Street: Photo: Evelyn Simak · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Saracens Head Inn: Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0
8 notable people were born in Diss.
Declan Rudd: Preston_North_End_v_Liverpool_FC_-_July_2013.jpg: Ross Bradley derivative work: Dudek1337, CC BY 2.0 · Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx: Robert LeRoy Knudsen, Public domain · Trevor Hedge: Lawson Speedway, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diss | 9,599 | — | C+ | A | C+ | C+ |
| Roydon (South Norfolk) | 1,117 | 1.2 | — | A | A− | B− |
| Scole | 1,037 | 1.9 | — | A | A | B |
| Dickleburgh | 1,166 | 3.3 | — | A | A | B |
| Eye | 2,211 | 4 | — | A− | B | B |
| Rickinghall and Botesdale | 1,842 | 5.4 | — | A− | A | A |
| Gislingham | 1,172 | 6 | — | A | A | A |
| Stradbroke | 1,190 | 7.9 | — | A− | A+ | A− |
Roydon (South Norfolk), Scole, Dickleburgh, Eye, Rickinghall and Botesdale, Gislingham and Stradbroke have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 6.8 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary.
About the middle for its size: 65% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades C+. Police recorded 695 crimes inside Diss’ built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 42% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Town in Norfolk, England
Diss is a built-up area of 9,599 people, in the South Norfolk 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.