Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
6,339 people call this town in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber home.
Few extremes here. Fewer journeys need a car (B+): on the way to work, 19% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. At B overall, Tadcaster is better than 64% of UK towns and ranks #22 of 54 in North Yorkshire. What counts against it is hazard risk (C): 1.1% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. It takes 5.2 years of household income in the Selby council area to buy the median home, at £268,000. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety, B for schools, B− 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 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · 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 2 things Tadcaster 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 Tadcaster is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 47 buildings inside Tadcaster’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
15% 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 Tadcaster.
25% of residents are 65 or over, higher than both North Yorkshire’s towns (22%) and England’s towns (18%). At 49.4, the median resident of Tadcaster sits in the middle of the age range. Degrees are held by 27% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Tadcaster | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.7% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
At the town’s 3 primary schools, 57% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 52, and 56% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Tadcaster’s three primaries have 541 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside School, TadcasterLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 361 | C+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 27% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Tadcaster counts 1.1 jobs per working resident. Nearly four in five commuters drove, above both North Yorkshire’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%). The average household earns £48K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 3 of them. One scheduled monument lies in Tadcaster. Also worth knowing: for its size, Tadcaster has 74 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, above North Yorkshire’s towns (58) and England’s towns (39) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The nearest A&E to Tadcaster is The York Hospital, 9.4 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 77% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. A disability affects 18% of people here.
| Census 2021 | Tadcaster | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Police recorded 259 crimes inside Tadcaster’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 91 reports of anti-social behaviour. Homes saw 10.3 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above North Yorkshire’s towns (7.4) and England’s towns (9.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences were 48% of the crimes.
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 owner-occupied share of households is 67%. Private rents average £849 a month across the North Yorkshire council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 227 homes sold inside Tadcaster’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £268,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £381,500 | 60 |
| Semi-detached | £267,500 | 91 |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 57 |
| Flat or maisonette | £136,000 | 19 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Tadcaster. Best known first.
CastleHazlewood Castle2.4 km outside town, to the southwest
Historic houseBramham Park4.4 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumThe Second World War Experience Centre4.1 km outside town, to the northwestAttractionAttractionAction Karts3.8 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
47 listed buildings in Tadcaster.
Church of St Mary: Photo: Paul Glazzard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Ark: Photo: Milestone Society · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Old Brewery: Photo: Mtaylor848 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Barclay's Bank: Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
16 notable people were born in Tadcaster.
Kevin Barron: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · Felicity Lane-Fox: Shamanken, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mark Westaby: Munsterbusiness.ie, CC BY 3.0 · Thomas Potter: Artist Samuel William Reynolds the younger, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tadcaster | 6,339 | — | B | B− | B− | B− |
| Thorp Arch | 1,782 | 3.4 | — | D− | D− | C |
| Bramham | 1,764 | 3.7 | — | D | A− | A |
| Boston Spa | 6,358 | 4 | A− | D | B+ | A |
| Church Fenton | 1,643 | 4.4 | — | C+ | A | A |
| Aberford | 1,551 | 4.8 | — | D | A | A− |
| Copmanthorpe | 3,671 | 5.5 | A | C− | A+ | A |
| Tockwith | 1,788 | 5.6 | — | C | C+ | A |
Thorp Arch, Bramham, Church Fenton, Aberford and Tockwith have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in North Yorkshire, England
Tadcaster is a built-up area of 6,339 people, in the Selby 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.