Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It has 185 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I. This village in Norfolk, East of England has a population of 2,151.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: 37% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its schools fall short (D−): primary results beat 1% of towns in England; secondary results beat 2% of towns in England. It also trails on cost of living: a typical home costs £440,000 and rent runs £865 a month. The local economy is weaker than most: the mean household earns £47,780 a year.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income, ONS · claimants, DWP. Below 2,500 residents there is no overall grade, so Wells-next-the-Sea has its subject grades alone.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Wells-next-the-Sea is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Wells-next-the-Sea does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists them inside Wells-next-the-Sea’s built-up area.
32% 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 Wells-next-the-Sea.
The under-15s are 13% of the population here. The 15-to-24 age group: 6.3%, below both Norfolk’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Typical age in Wells-next-the-Sea: 58.5, the median. 28% of adults hold a degree.
54% women, 46% men
About 84 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.
| Wells-next-the-Sea | Norfolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 6.3% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 15% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 39% | 24% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 13% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 26% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Norfolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Below are its two schools. GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 16% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 39.6. Some 803 pupils attend Wells-next-the-Sea’s one primary and one secondary.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wells-Next-the-Sea Primary and Nursery SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 197 | D |
| Alderman Peel High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 606 | D |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Wells-next-the-Sea’s land, 26% lies in conservation areas, above both Norfolk’s towns (5%) and England’s towns (7%). The town has 185 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 4 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up nearly a third of the total.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took three in five commuters, lower than both Norfolk’s towns (77%) and England’s towns (70%); what’s more, nearly two in five commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Work in town: 36% of resident commuters. At the census, 21% of workers worked mainly from home.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Owners make up 58% of households, lower than both Norfolk’s towns (64%) and England’s towns (61%). Private tenants account for 14% of households. Half of the 120 standard sales inside Wells-next-the-Sea’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £440,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £512,500 | 46 |
| Semi-detached | £443,000 | 29 |
| Terraced | £380,000 | 35 |
| Flat or maisonette | £368,500 | 10 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; nine in ten patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, three quarters of residents of Wells-next-the-Sea said they were in good or very good health. Also worth knowing: the nearest A&E to Wells-next-the-Sea is The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 21.8 miles away. Life expectancy here is 85.3 for women and 83.1 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Wells-next-the-Sea | Norfolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 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.
Violence came to 26.2 per 1,000 residents a year, above Norfolk’s towns (18.9) and England’s towns (22) alike. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 132 offences in Wells-next-the-Sea and 18 cases of nuisance behaviour. Among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Wells-next-the-Sea has more crime per resident than nearly four fifths of them. 56% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Wells-next-the-Sea. Best known first.
MuseumRNLB Lucy Laversin town
Historic houseHolkham Hall2.5 km outside town, to the west
Heritage railwayWells and Walsingham Light Railway2.6 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumHolkham Stories Experience2.4 km outside town, to the westAttractionAttractionWalled Garden3.2 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Village in Norfolk, England
Wells-next-the-Sea is a built-up area of 2,151 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells-next-the-Sea | 2,151 | — | — | D− | C+ | A− |
| Fakenham | 8,390 | 8.3 | D | D | B− | C |
| Melton Constable | 1,176 | 10 | — | C+ | A− | B |
| Holt | 4,014 | 11 | D | D− | C | B |
| Briston | 1,983 | 11 | — | D | A− | B |
Melton Constable and Briston have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Wells-next-the-Sea has 2 state schools; places are handled by Norfolk council.
That is 35.3 times the typical UK town for its size.
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.