Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Secondary school results beat 95% of towns in England. 15,050 residents make their home in this town in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: on the way to work, 30% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Overall, Skipton earns a B, which places it #27 of 54 in North Yorkshire. Set against the rest, it does better than 58% of UK towns. Hazard risk is higher than most: just over one in ten homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Homes sell for a median £244,500, about 4.9 years of what households in the Craven council area earn. Its other grades sit near the middle: C+ for health and B− for jobs & income.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP.
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 Skipton 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 Skipton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 108 buildings inside Skipton’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I.
30% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1810.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Skipton.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over two thirds of commuters drove, below North Yorkshire’s towns (74%) and close to England’s towns (70%). For every resident in work, Skipton has 2.4 jobs. The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 2.4%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Skipton Girls' High School’s results beat 96% of schools in England like it. Three of its 12 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Secondary results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 56.8, with 64% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skipton Parish Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 221 | C− |
| Skipton Girls' High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 862 | A+ |
| Ermysted's Grammar SchoolTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 836 | A+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Skipton’s listed buildings include the Church of the Holy Trinity, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 30% of the total, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (16%). Historic England’s list names 108 listed buildings in the town: 4 Grade I, 2 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Of all the crimes, 51% were violence and sexual offences. Violence came to 31.3 per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (19.7) and England’s towns (22). A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 914 offences in Skipton and 313 cases of nuisance behaviour.
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.
One GP practice serves the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 4.7% of people here described their health as bad or very bad. 18% of residents have a disability, close to both North Yorkshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Skipton | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 19% | 17% |
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.
Social housing holds 13% of households. Behind the median of £244,500: 976 standard sales inside Skipton’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Private rents average £849 a month across the North Yorkshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £479,997 | 188 |
| Semi-detached | £300,000 | 262 |
| Terraced | £188,250 | 410 |
| Flat or maisonette | £175,000 | 116 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The 65-and-over age group makes up nearly a quarter of residents. Typical age in Skipton: 45.9, the median. Among adults, 36% have a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Skipton | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.2% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 36% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Skipton. Best known first.
CastleSkipton Castlein town
MuseumCraven Museumin townAttractionAttractionCanal tripsin townAttractionAttractionSkipton Boat Tripsin townHeritage railwayHeritage railwayEmbsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway1 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionBilly Bob's Parlour4 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
108 listed buildings in Skipton, 4 of them Grade I.
Skipton Castle: Photo: Davegill70 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church of the Holy Trinity: Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domain · Devonshire Hotel: Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Brindley Mill: Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.0
34 notable people were born in Skipton.
Henry Sidgwick: Elliott & Fry, Public domain · Anne Clifford: William Larkin, Public domain · Blake Morrison: Victuallers, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Glen Chapple: University of Salford Press Office, CC BY 2.0 · Ruzwana Bashir: Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skipton | 15,050 | — | B | C+ | C | C+ |
| Embsay | 1,723 | 1.6 | — | D | A+ | A+ |
| Carleton-in-Craven | 1,060 | 1.6 | — | B+ | A | A |
| Low Bradley | 1,203 | 2 | — | C− | A+ | B− |
| Gargrave | 1,502 | 4 | — | C+ | A | A− |
| Cross Hills | 4,809 | 4.2 | B | B− | B | B− |
| Silsden | 8,392 | 4.5 | B | B | C | C+ |
| Sutton-in-Craven | 2,719 | 4.7 | B− | B | B− | C+ |
Embsay, Carleton-in-Craven, Low Bradley and Gargrave have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
That is 2.9 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Former Chapel at Skipton Castle.
Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 52%.
About the middle for its size: 49% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C.
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Skipton is a built-up area of 15,050 people, in the Craven 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.