The picture is mixed. Schools do well: primary results beat 70% of towns in England; secondary results beat 82% of towns in England. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A−): just over a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. A median £339,950 buys a home here, 5.9 times what households in the Harrogate council area earn in a year. What counts against it is hazard risk — 1.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Put together, the subjects come to an A− overall, ranking #12 of 54 in North Yorkshire. That leaves it better than nearly four fifths of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety and B for health.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
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 Knaresborough is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Knaresborough.
Who lives here
Knaresborough skews older, with 25% of residents 65 or over, more than North Yorkshire’s towns or England’s towns
48.6median age
Children are 16% of the town. The 15-to-24 age group: 9.1%, below both North Yorkshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). Residents of Knaresborough have a median age of 48.6. Degrees are held by 38% of adults.
KnaresboroughNorth YorkshireEngland
Ages · share of residents
25%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications14%
Apprenticeship6%
A levels or similar16%
Degree level38%
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
WomenEnglandMen
About 92 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
SchoolsA−
School results in Knaresborough are better than in 80% of towns in England
A−School Grade
Two of its 6 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Some 2,658 pupils attend Knaresborough’s four primaries and one secondary. Attainment 8 at the 4 secondary schools within 3 km averages 51, and 57% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
History
Listed buildings in Knaresborough: 206, with 2 at Grade I
206listed buildingsA−History Grade
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Knaresborough’s listed buildings include the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag, Grade I. Per 10,000 residents, Knaresborough counts 131 listed buildings, above North Yorkshire’s towns (58) and England’s towns (39) alike. 3 scheduled monuments lie in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Health
Bad health is less common in Knaresborough than in North Yorkshire’s towns or across England’s towns: 4.1% of residents
83%good or very good healthBHealth Grade
At the census, 83% of people in Knaresborough called their health good or very good, above North Yorkshire’s towns (81%) and England’s towns (82%) alike. 3 GP practices serve the town; 84% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Also worth knowing: a disability affects 17% of people in the town.
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Safety
Crime per resident in Knaresborough is higher than in 53% of UK towns
23.6violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a yearB−Safety Grade
Burglary and damage come to 10.2 per 1,000 residents a year. 766 crimes and 259 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Knaresborough’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. There were 15.4 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both North Yorkshire’s towns (10.3) and England’s towns (7.8). For its size, Knaresborough records less crime per resident than just over three quarters of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 76% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: less crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
More crimeLess crime
Reports by type · Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
Violence & sexual383
Damage & arson98
Shoplifting54
Public order54
Other theft42
Burglary35
Drugs26
Vehicle crime22
Anti-social259
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.
23.6
violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
10.2
burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
15.4
anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 (not graded)
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL
HousingCost of living grade B−
Knaresborough is a town of owners: 75% of households own their home, above North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
£340Kmedian sale
Private tenants account for 13% of households. 10% live in social housing, lower than both North Yorkshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). The £339,950 median rests on 833 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026).
Median sale price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
Knaresborough£340K
Typical UK town£277K
By type
Median
Sales
Detached
£442,475
312
Semi-detached
£298,393
326
Terraced
£255,000
153
Flat or maisonette
£157,577
42
75%
of households own their home · England 61%
13%
rent privately · England 21%
£849
average private rent a month, North Yorkshire council area
William Stubbs: Hubert von Herkomer, Public domain · Darren Manning: Manningmbd, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Metcalf: Lumos3 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Augustus Frederick Adolphus Greeves: H. S Sadd (Henry Samuel), engraver, John Noone, photographer., Public domain
About Knaresborough
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Knaresborough is a built-up area of 15,781 people, in the Harrogate 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.
Spofforth, Killinghall and Hampsthwaite have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about Knaresborough
How many listed buildings are there in Knaresborough?
That is 5.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Are schools in Knaresborough good?
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 82% of towns in England. Primary results beat 70%.
Is Knaresborough safe?
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades B−. Police recorded 766 crimes inside Knaresborough’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 50% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
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.
