Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
People aged 65 and over make up 23% of residents. The town has 6,320 residents and lies in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Malton grades low on several counts. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the median home sold for £259,950, 5.6 years of area income. Health is a weak point: life expectancy 77.9 for men, 81.9 for women. Fewer journeys need a car (A): just over a quarter of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. The overall grade comes out at C−, better than 19% of UK towns. That places it #48 of 54 in North Yorkshire.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS.
ONS publishes one rent for all of North Yorkshire, so this town's Cost Grade uses house prices and council tax only.
The 3 things Malton 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 Malton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 231 buildings inside Malton’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
21% 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 Malton.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Malton’s listed buildings include the Priory Church of St Mary, Grade I. It has 231 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 2 Grade I, 13 Grade II*. Just over a fifth of its homes were built before 1919, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
GCSE results at the 2 secondary schools within 3 km: 44% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 46. At the town’s 2 primary schools, 57% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Malton’s two primaries and one secondary have 1,397 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 225 | B− |
| Malton SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 999 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Unemployment benefit claims reached 2.8% of 16 to 64s in 2026. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 52%, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (48%) and England’s towns (45%). Of the commuters living in Malton, 27% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Malton has 1.4 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Private rents average £849 a month across the North Yorkshire council area. Also worth knowing: the median sale, £259,950, comes from 291 standard sales inside Malton’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £380,000 | 88 |
| Semi-detached | £246,000 | 117 |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 65 |
| Flat or maisonette | £100,000 | 21 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
People 65 and over make up nearly a quarter of the town, about level with North Yorkshire’s towns (22%) and above England’s towns (18%). The age that splits Malton in two is 44.6. Under-15s account for 16% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
| Malton | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
There is no GP practice in Malton: the nearest is 0.5 miles off. The nearest A&E to Malton is The York Hospital, 16.6 miles away. Asked at the census, 81% of residents of Malton said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Malton | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.1% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Police recorded 330 crimes inside Malton’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 94 reports of anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 19.5 reports per 1,000, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (10.3) and England’s towns (7.8). Nearly half 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 Malton. Best known first.
MuseumMalton Museumin town
MuseumEden Camp Museum400 m outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumDickens Museum & Scrooges Counting Housein townMuseumMuseumNorton and Malton Heritage Centre100 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
231 listed buildings in Malton, 2 of them Grade I.
Priory Church of St Mary: Photo: David Hillas · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Malton Lodge: Photo: David Rogers · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Spotted Cow Public House: Photo: Pauline E · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Baptist Church: Photo: Pauline E · CC BY-SA 2.0
17 notable people were born in Malton.
Brian Dutton: Me677 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · James Martin: Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 · George Baker: Photo by E Hawkins, Brighton, CC0 · Ryan Swain: Lens Craft Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Charles Hall: Unknown photographer, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malton | 6,320 | — | C− | D | C+ | C |
| Norton-on-Derwent | 7,909 | 0.8 | B− | C | B | C+ |
| Rillington | 1,206 | 4.4 | — | D | B+ | B |
| Thornton-le-Dale | 1,858 | 7.2 | — | D− | A | B |
| Pickering | 7,260 | 7.4 | C | D | C+ | B− |
| Kirkbymoorside | 2,763 | 11 | C | C | C+ | A− |
| Stamford Bridge | 4,487 | 11 | A | B+ | A+ | B+ |
Rillington and Thornton-le-Dale have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 15 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Priory Church of St Mary. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
About the middle for its size: 58% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades C+.
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Malton is a built-up area of 6,320 people, in the Ryedale 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.