Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Norfolk, East of England, home to 11,349 people. 43% of households own their home with no mortgage.
The weak point is jobs & income (C−) — the mean household earns £42,902 a year. Hazard risk is low (A). A median £257,000 buys a home here, 5.4 times what households in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk council area earn in a year. Walkability is a strength too: 18% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. All told, that adds up to a C overall, better than 27% of UK towns. It ranks #28 of 51 in Norfolk.
Figures: flood risk, Environment Agency · commuting, Census 2021 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Downham Market 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 Downham Market is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 118 buildings inside Downham Market’s built-up area, 1 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 Downham Market.
24% of adults hold a degree, below Norfolk’s towns (26%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. The 15-to-24 age group makes up 8.3% of residents. Line up the people of Downham Market by age and the one in the middle is 48.2.
52% women, 48% 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.
| Downham Market | Norfolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 30% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.5% | 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
Of its 3 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. At the town’s 2 primary schools, 64% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 2,119 pupils in Downham Market.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downham Market, Hillcrest Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 404 | B− |
| Downham Market AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,329 | C− |
The social rented sector houses 11% of households. 593 standard sales inside Downham Market’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £257,000. Nearly two thirds of households own their home, near Norfolk’s towns (64%) and higher than England’s towns (61%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £315,000 | 309 |
| Semi-detached | £230,000 | 126 |
| Terraced | £207,500 | 105 |
| Flat or maisonette | £135,000 | 53 |
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 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
80% of commuters drove, higher than both Norfolk’s towns (77%) and England’s towns (70%). The census counted 20% of workers working mainly from home. About just over a fifth of its commuters stay in Downham Market for work. In 2026, 2.9% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
78% of people in Downham Market rate their own health good or very good. The nearest A&E to Downham Market is The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 11 miles away. 4 GP practices serve the town; 78% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Downham Market | Norfolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.8% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 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.
Listed buildings per head: 104 for every 10,000 residents of Downham Market. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of St Edmund, Grade I. Before 1919: that is when 8% of homes were built.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Downham Market has less crime per resident than 76% of them. Per 1,000 residents, 24.6 violent crimes are recorded each year. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 557 crimes and 102 reports of anti-social behaviour inside the town’s built-up area. Violence and sexual offences were 45% of the crimes.
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.
118 listed buildings in Downham Market, 1 of them Grade I.
Railway Station: Photo: Andy F · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Castle Hotel: Photo: FromMorningToMidnight · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Town Hall: Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Former Methodist Church and Sunday School Adjoining, South: Photo: Jonathan Thacker · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downham Market | 11,349 | — | C | C− | B− | C |
| Watlington | 2,593 | 4.9 | D | C | B+ | C |
| Southery | 1,258 | 5.3 | — | C− | A− | C |
| Stoke Ferry | 1,191 | 6 | — | D | B+ | C |
| Upwell and Outwell | 3,664 | 6.4 | D− | C | C | C |
| Marshland St James | 1,025 | 6.9 | — | D | B+ | C− |
| Marham | 2,608 | 7.7 | A− | B− | A+ | B |
| West Winch | 2,828 | 7.9 | C+ | D | A− | B |
Southery, Stoke Ferry and Marshland St James have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 4.3 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Edmund.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades B−.
Town in Norfolk, England
Downham Market is a built-up area of 11,349 people, in the King's Lynn and West 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.