Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,014 in Norfolk, East of England.
Holt grades D overall against UK towns: better than 12% of UK towns, and #38 of 51 in Norfolk. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 28% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is cost of living (D−): median sale £360,000, 8 years of area income; rent £865 a month.
The 3 things Holt 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 Holt is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 112 buildings inside Holt’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
12% 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 Holt.
Holt sits above both Norfolk’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (18%) on this measure. Children are 13% of the town. Half the people of Holt are older than 57.5.
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.
| Holt | Norfolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 14% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 40% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.5% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 26% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Norfolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holt Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 176 | C− |
That puts Holt below both Norfolk’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (21%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £435,000 | 161 |
| Semi-detached | £287,497 | 52 |
| Terraced | £275,000 | 53 |
| Flat or maisonette | £160,000 | 21 |
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 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
70% of commuters drove, below Norfolk’s towns (77%) and close to England’s towns (70%). 3.5% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026.
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.
On this, Holt is above both Norfolk’s towns (42) and England’s towns (39). Holt has 112 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up 12% of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
In the comparison, Holt comes above both Norfolk’s towns (6) and England’s towns (9.4). Violence comes to 29.2 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 268 crimes inside Holt’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 107 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
Holt has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1 miles away. 23% of residents have a disability, above both Norfolk’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (17%). Women here live to 85.3 on average and men to 82.2 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Holt | Norfolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.9% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Holt. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritageBaconsthorpe Castle2.9 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseBayfield Hall2.8 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumThe Shell Museum3.8 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumThe Muckleburgh Military Collection3.8 km outside town, to the northeast
Heritage railwayNorth Norfolk Railway3.8 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumWilliam Marriott Museum400 m outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
112 listed buildings in Holt.
Fighting Henry Public House: Photo: Stavros1 · CC BY 3.0 · School House: Photo: Jim Osley · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Methodist Church: Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Greenways: Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.0
8 notable people were born in Holt.
Matthew Pinsent: Keith Page, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Edmund Rogers: Emma Hardinge Britten, Public domain · John Gresham: Flemish school, artist unknown., Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holt | 4,014 | — | D | D− | C | B |
| Briston | 1,983 | 4.1 | — | D | A− | B |
| Melton Constable | 1,176 | 4.2 | — | C+ | A− | B |
| Sheringham | 7,087 | 5.2 | C | D | B | B |
| West Runton and Beeston Regis | 1,463 | 5.8 | — | D | A+ | B |
| Cromer | 7,522 | 8.6 | C− | C− | C+ | C |
| Foulsham | 1,025 | 9.4 | — | A | B+ | B |
| Reepham | 2,317 | 9.8 | — | B+ | B+ | B+ |
Briston, Melton Constable, West Runton and Beeston Regis, Foulsham and Reepham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary results trail 92% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Norfolk council.
That is 11.4 times the typical UK town for its size.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 68% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Police recorded 268 crimes inside Holt’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 53% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking. Burglary was rare, with 1 report in the year.
Town in Norfolk, England
Holt is a built-up area of 4,014 people, in the North 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.