The data are hard on it. Incomes are on the low side: the mean household earns £35,180 a year. Filey’s overall grade of D puts it better than 13% of UK towns, #51 of 54 in North Yorkshire. It lags on cost of living as well: homes sell for a median £205,000, about 5.2 times local household income. Fewer journeys need a car: on the way to work, 26% walk, cycle or take a bus or train.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
ONS publishes one rent for all of North Yorkshire, so this town's Cost Grade uses house prices and council tax only.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Filey is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Filey.
Who lives here
Older residents shape Filey: 38% are 65 or over, above North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
Degrees are held by 24% of adults, below North Yorkshire’s towns (32%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. Aged 15 to 24: 7.2% of residents. At 57.8, the median resident of Filey sits in the middle of the age range. Under 15: 12% of residents.
57.8median age
FileyNorth YorkshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
38%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications24%
Apprenticeship10%
A levels or similar15%
Degree level24%
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
WomenEnglandMen
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.
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
SchoolsC−
On exam results, Filey’s schools trail 82% of towns in England
GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 48% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 38.9. Some 914 pupils attend Filey’s two primaries and one secondary. At the 2 primary schools within 3 km, 54% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
Department for Education · GIAS, Key Stage 2 and GCSE resultsSee all 3 schools →
Work & commuteJobs & income grade D
Commuters in Filey travel far: only 35% go under 5 km, fewer than in both North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 16% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Unemployment benefit claims reached 3% of 16 to 64s in 2026. 27% of commuters who live in Filey also work there. This North Yorkshire town counts 0.6 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
HousingCost of living grade D
For cost of living grade, Filey gets a D
Social renters account for 13% of households. Private rents average £849 a month across the North Yorkshire council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 492 homes sold inside Filey’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £205,000.
£205Kmedian sale
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Filey£205K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£300,000
138
Semi-detached
£204,995
149
Terraced
£165,000
95
Flat or maisonette
£135,000
110
66%
of households own their home · England 61%
19%
rent privately · England 21%
£849
average private rent a month, North Yorkshire council area
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Health
Fewer people in Filey say their health is good than in North Yorkshire’s towns or across England’s towns: 73%
Nearly one in ten residents report bad or very bad health. At the census, just over a quarter of people here had a disability, above North Yorkshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (17%) alike. The nearest A&E to Filey is Scarborough Hospital, 7.4 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 72% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
History
Filey keeps more of its old housing than North Yorkshire’s towns or England’s towns: 27% built before 1919
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Historic England’s list names 26 listed buildings in Filey: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. Its listed buildings include the Church of St Oswald, Grade I. It has 39 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, below North Yorkshire’s towns (59) and close to England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Safety
Violent crime runs high in Filey: 25.9 per 1,000 residents a year, above North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
Police figures for Filey’s built-up area: 341 crimes and 155 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 23.3 reports per 1,000, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (10.3) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences made up half of the total.
25.9violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearB−Safety Grade
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 49% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: about the middle for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual171
Damage & arson45
Public order32
Other theft24
Shoplifting19
Other crime17
Burglary11
Drugs7
Anti-social155
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.
25.9
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
7.5
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
23.3
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
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.
Nearby attractions
Filey Museum and 5 more in and around Filey
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Filey. Best known first.
Seamer (Scarborough), Bempton and Scalby have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Filey
How many listed buildings are there in Filey?
That is 1.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Oswald.
Are schools in Filey good?
GCSE results trail 69% of towns in England, and primary results trail 83% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). Filey has 3 state schools; places are handled by North Yorkshire council.
Is Filey expensive to live in?
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £205,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £135,000, terraced houses £165,000, semi-detached houses £204,995 and detached houses £300,000. Household incomes are lower than in 99% of UK towns, so cost of living grades D.
About Filey
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Filey is a built-up area of 6,664 people, in the Scarborough 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
Population
6,664 (Census 2021)
Council
Scarborough
County
North Yorkshire
Region
Yorkshire and The Humber
Area
0.8 sq mi (2.1 km²)
ONS code
E63000454
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.
