Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1,858 people call this village in North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber home.
Thornton-le-Dale’s strongest is safety (A) — 9.2 violent and sexual offences and 5.4 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Buying in is costly: the median home sold for £348,500, 7.5 years of area income. It also trails on hazard risk — 5.3% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. The rest of its grades are middling: B for health and B− for jobs & income.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP. Thornton-le-Dale has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
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 Thornton-le-Dale 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 Thornton-le-Dale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Thornton-le-Dale’s built-up area, along with 1 scheduled monument.
32% 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 Thornton-le-Dale.
Those 65 and older account for two in five residents. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 6.5% of residents, below both North Yorkshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (12%). Typical age in Thornton-le-Dale: 59.5, the median. Graduates make up 37% of adults.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
| Thornton-le-Dale | North Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 11% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 6.5% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 15% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 40% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · North Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
At the one primary school within 3 km, 71% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Its only school is listed below. The town’s primary school has 146 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thornton Dale CofE Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 146 | A− |
The social rented sector houses 7% of households. Private renters make up 15% of households, below both North Yorkshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (21%). 106 standard sales inside Thornton-le-Dale’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £348,500.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £383,750 | 56 |
| Semi-detached | £286,250 | 28 |
| Terraced | £315,000 | 21 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Conservation areas cover 50% of Thornton-le-Dale’s land, above both North Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (7%). The town counts 69 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 2 Grade II*. Homes built before 1919 account for nearly a third of the housing.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Reported offences in Thornton-le-Dale came to 40 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 15. Among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Thornton-le-Dale has less crime per resident than 88% of them. 35% 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.
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.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 25%, below both North Yorkshire’s towns (48%) and England’s towns (45%). 88% of commuters drove to work at the census. About 7% of its commuters stay in Thornton-le-Dale for work. The average household earns £42K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Thornton-le-Dale is Scarborough Hospital, 12.1 miles away. Seeing a GP means leaving Thornton-le-Dale: the nearest practice is 2.5 miles away. Also worth knowing: a fifth of residents in Thornton-le-Dale live with a disability.
| Census 2021 | Thornton-le-Dale | North Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Thornton-le-Dale. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritagePickering Castle3.3 km outside town, to the northwest
Heritage railwayNorth Yorkshire Moors Railway3.4 km outside town, to the northwest
MuseumBeck Isle Museum3.4 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
3 notable people were born in Thornton-le-Dale.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornton-le-Dale | 1,858 | — | — | D− | A | B |
| Pickering | 7,260 | 2.4 | C | D | C+ | B− |
| Rillington | 1,206 | 5.3 | — | D | B+ | B |
| Malton | 6,320 | 7.2 | C− | D | C+ | C |
| Norton-on-Derwent | 7,909 | 7.5 | B− | C | B | C+ |
| Kirkbymoorside | 2,763 | 8.9 | C | C | C+ | A− |
| East Ayton and West Ayton | 2,809 | 9.8 | C− | D− | A− | B |
| Seamer (Scarborough) | 2,120 | 11 | — | D− | A | C |
Rillington and Seamer (Scarborough) have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 15.2 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Primary results beat 90% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by North Yorkshire council.
Village in North Yorkshire, England
Thornton-le-Dale is a built-up area of 1,858 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.