Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber has a population of 4,727.
Schools lag: primary results beat 19% of towns in England; secondary results beat 4% of towns in England. Homes are affordable: the median home sold for £250,000, 4.7 years of area income. All told, that adds up to a B− overall and a rank of #35 of 54 in North Yorkshire. On that grade it does better than nearly half of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: C+ for safety, B for health and C+ for jobs & income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy and income, 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 Sowerby 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 Sowerby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 24 buildings inside Sowerby’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
16% 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 Sowerby.
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 23% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 38.4. Sowerby’s three primaries and one secondary have 1,606 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sowerby Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 279 | C |
| Thirsk School & Sixth Form CollegeLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,029 | D |
The 15-to-24 age group makes up nearly one in ten residents. Half of Sowerby is older than 45, half younger. The under-15s are 17% of the population here.
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
| Sowerby | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.5% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The social rented sector houses 13% of households. Private renters make up 17% of households, below North Yorkshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. 243 standard sales inside Sowerby’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £250,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £348,750 | 72 |
| Semi-detached | £245,000 | 77 |
| Terraced | £225,000 | 61 |
| Flat or maisonette | £168,000 | 33 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 82% of commuters, above North Yorkshire’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. For every resident in work, Sowerby has 0.7 jobs. About just over a tenth of its commuters stay in Sowerby for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Sowerby is Harrogate District Hospital, 17.4 miles away. Women here live to 85 on average and men to 81.7 (2019–23). One GP practice serves the town; 88% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Sowerby | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.5% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 19% | 17% |
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.
Violence came to 25.3 per 1,000 residents a year, above both North Yorkshire’s towns (19.7) and England’s towns (22). Police recorded 204 crimes inside Sowerby’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 38 reports of anti-social behaviour. Of all the crimes, 62% were 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. Conservation areas cover 16% of Sowerby’s land, above North Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (7%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Sowerby. Best known first.
MuseumThe World of James Herriot200 m outside town, to the north
MuseumThirsk Museum200 m outside town, to the northArt galleryArt galleryZillah Bell Contemporary Art200 m outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumThirsk Hall Sculpture Park300 m outside town, to the northZooZooMonk Park Farm3.4 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sowerby | 4,727 | — | B− | B+ | C+ | B |
| Thirsk | 5,891 | 0.7 | C+ | B | C | B |
| Dishforth | 1,266 | 5.9 | — | A− | A | A− |
| Romanby | 3,825 | 8.3 | A− | B+ | A− | B− |
| Leeming | 1,712 | 8.4 | — | B+ | A+ | A |
| Northallerton | 13,314 | 8.6 | C | B+ | D | C |
| Langthorpe | 1,294 | 8.9 | — | C | C | A− |
| Boroughbridge | 3,064 | 9.4 | B | B | C | B+ |
Dishforth, Leeming and Langthorpe have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.1 times the typical UK town for its size.
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+. Burglary was rare, with 4 reports in the year.
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Sowerby is a built-up area of 4,727 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.