Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 3,825 residents in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Cheap to live in, with trade-offs. Safety is its strong suit — 14.2 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 5.1 home and vehicle crimes. Romanby grades A− overall, better than just over three quarters of UK towns, and ranks #14 of 54 in North Yorkshire. Jobs & income is another plus (A−): households earn a mean £51,502 a year, and 1.6% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The trade-off is schools (D): primary results beat 29% of towns in England; secondary results beat 5% of towns in England. It takes 4.7 years of household income in the Hambleton council area to buy the median home, at £250,000. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for health and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
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 Romanby 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 Romanby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 4 buildings inside Romanby’s built-up area.
3% 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 Romanby.
One measure of family life: 14% of residents are under 15. Young adults of 15 to 24 are nearly one in ten residents, lower than both North Yorkshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). Line up the people of Romanby by age and the one in the middle is 52.4.
52% women, 48% men
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.
| Romanby | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.2% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 30% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 37.9, and 26% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Its one school is below. 57% of pupils at the 7 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romanby Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 237 | C |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Relative to its size, Romanby keeps 10 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Homes from before 1919 make up 3% of the total, lower than both North Yorkshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (16%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 121 crimes and 18 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Romanby’s built-up area. 52% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. There were 7.4 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), lower than North Yorkshire’s towns (10.4) and near England’s towns (7.8).
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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 31% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
By car: that was how 80% of commuters travelled at the census. 4% of commuters who live in Romanby also work there. This North Yorkshire town counts 0.2 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Home ownership stands at 76% of households. Social housing holds 14% of households, below both North Yorkshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 157 homes sold inside Romanby’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £250,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £325,000 | 42 |
| Semi-detached | £237,000 | 90 |
| Terraced | £199,500 | 20 |
| Flat or maisonette | £115,000 | 5 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 83% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Romanby is Darlington Memorial Hospital, 14.6 miles away. Life expectancy here is 82.8 for women and 78.9 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Romanby | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 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.
4 listed buildings in Romanby.
Romanby War Memorial Clock Tower: Photo: David Cowling · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St James the Great: Photo: Gordon Hatton · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanby | 3,825 | — | A− | B+ | A− | B− |
| Northallerton | 13,314 | 0.9 | C | B+ | D | C |
| Brompton | 2,034 | 2.2 | — | A | C | B |
| Leeming | 1,712 | 4 | — | B+ | A+ | A |
| Leeming Bar | 1,063 | 4.9 | — | A− | C− | B+ |
| Aiskew | 1,759 | 6.1 | — | B | B+ | B |
| Bedale | 3,289 | 6.6 | A− | B | C | B |
| Thirsk | 5,891 | 7.9 | C+ | B | C | B |
Brompton, Leeming, Leeming Bar and Aiskew have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by North Yorkshire council.
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Romanby is a built-up area of 3,825 people, in the Hambleton 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.
