Photo: Robert Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0How Norfolk stacks up
Only one English county gets fewer of its pupils to the expected standard at the end of primary school than Norfolk: 57% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. On balance it grades B−, which places it 35th. The good news is the 24th lowest violent-crime rate of any area; the bad news, high costs against local pay.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
18th of 65B+73/100 Safe nearly everywhere. Among its neighbours it does best on safety, with Suffolk second. Violent crime runs at 32.0 offences per 1,000 residents a year, the 24th lowest rate of 65 areas with police.uk figures. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Mulbarton ranks highest, at #13.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 63 per 1,000 a year (18th lowest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Low crime nearly everywhere
Its safest towns are Dersingham (#27), Spixworth (#28) and Snettisham (#33), ranked against every graded town in the UK. Of residents of its towns, 40% live in the safest quarter and 5% in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Norfolk | 40% | 5% |
Where crimes are counted
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Norfolk, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
72nd of 90C−20/100 Pupils score below most of England. At the end of primary school it ranks 2nd lowest of 47 English counties, with 57% of pupils at the expected standard in all three Rs. Secondary schools pull ahead of primaries here: 2nd lowest at eleven, but 19th lowest at GCSE. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Norwich and King's Lynn sit in the bottom quarter for the UK.
GCSE: an average Attainment 8 score of 45.4, 19th lowest. The grade weighs primary and GCSE results equally.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Cost of living
75th of 98C−24/100 Harder to afford than most areas. 52% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Norwich and North Walsham. A typical home sold for £270,000 over the past year, 5.4 times the average household’s income (25th highest of 98 areas). It trails all of its neighbours on affordability.
The middle home sold for £270,000 over the past year, 35th highest of the areas.
Private rent £957 a month (35th highest); Band D council tax £2,455 (28th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Health
46th of 98B−54/100 About average health. 21% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 5% in a bottom-quarter one; Poringland ranks highest. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 65.6 years (men and women averaged).
Total life expectancy is 81.6 years (17th longest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Jobs & income
50th of 98B−49/100 About average for incomes. Cringleford leads its towns at #259 of 2,156; 10% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. Households take in £49,700 a year on average (44th highest), and 3.1% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.1% of working-age adults (47th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Getting about
33rd of 98B+67/100 Slightly easier on foot than average. 6% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 34% in a bottom-quarter one; Great Yarmouth ranks highest. Norfolk ranks 47th lowest for getting to work without a car: 19% of commuters walk, cycle or ride.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 25% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Flood risk
32nd of 87B64/100 Slightly lower flood risk than average. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (24th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Sheringham ranks highest, at #192.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 51 Norfolk towns.
Growth
39th of 98B61/100 Steady growth. Since 2011 it has grown 9.4%, the 36th fastest change of 98 areas. Queen's Hills ranks #7 of 1,579 towns in the UK for growth.
Since the 2021 Census: +2.4%, 47th slowest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 37 Norfolk towns. Covers 90% of residents of Norfolk’s graded towns.
How Norfolk compares to its neighbours
Next to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, it comes out ahead on safety and behind on cost of living.
| Norfolk | Suffolk | Cambridgeshire | Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 4735th of 65 | B− 5033rd of 65 | A 8610th of 65 | C+ 3642nd of 65 |
| Safety | B+ 7324th official · 40% in top towns | B+ 6917th official · 33% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 37% in top towns | C+ 4147th official · 29% in top towns |
| Schools | C− 2046th official · 3% in top towns | D 1141st official · 1% in top towns | B+ 7134th official · 30% in top towns | C+ 3731st official · 9% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 2474th official · 11% in top towns | C+ 3767th official · 41% in top towns | C+ 4362nd official · 57% in top towns | B 5843rd official · 57% in top towns |
| Health | B− 5432nd official · 21% in top towns | A− 7913th official · 36% in top towns | A− 8416th official · 54% in top towns | B− 4737th official · 22% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B− 4944th official · 10% in top towns | B− 5423rd official · 7% in top towns | A 889th official · 44% in top towns | C 3161st official · 7% in top towns |
| Getting about | B+ 6752nd official · 6% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | A 8617th official · 23% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B 6432nd official · 32% in top towns | A− 8116th official · 57% in top towns | D 753rd official · 12% in top towns | C 3054th official · 28% in top towns |
| Growth | B 6136th official · 13% in top towns | B− 4842nd official · 4% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 65% in top towns | B 5943rd official · 16% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.