Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
68,164 residents make their home in this large town in Northamptonshire, East Midlands.
The data are hard on it. Corby ranks #28 of 31 in Northamptonshire, with a C− overall. Nationally, it does better than 16% of UK towns. Its lowest grade is for health — life expectancy 76.6 for men, 80.5 for women. Prices are modest for what you get: the median home sold for £225,000, 4.4 years of area income. The rest of its grades are middling: B for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Corby 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 Corby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 14 buildings inside Corby’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
1% 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 Corby.
20% are under 15, above Northamptonshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Retirement age and beyond: 13% of residents are 65 or older. At 37, the median resident of Corby sits in the middle of the age range.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Corby | Northamptonshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 31% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 13% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.3% | 6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Northamptonshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
54% of pupils at the town’s 16 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Below are two of its 26 schools, each with why it was picked. GCSE results at the town’s 5 secondary schools: just over two in five pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 43.8.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodnewton- A Learning CommunityLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 771 | C− |
| Kingswood Secondary AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,208 | B− |
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. For its size, Corby has the fewest listed buildings of the towns in Northamptonshire. One scheduled monument lies here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The nearest A&E to Corby is Kettering General Hospital, 5.9 miles away. 4 GP practices serve the town; 69% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Also worth knowing: at the census, 5.6% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than both Northamptonshire’s towns (4.5%) and England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Corby | Northamptonshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 4.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 16% | 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.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Of all the crimes, 47% were violence and sexual offences. Homes saw 13.2 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above both Northamptonshire’s towns (8) and England’s towns (9.4). Over the year to August 2026, 5,258 offences were reported in Corby, along with 1,397 incidents of anti-social 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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 17% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
79% of commuters drove, about level with Northamptonshire’s towns (81%) and above England’s towns (70%). About 56% of its commuters stay in Corby for work. There are 0.9 jobs in Corby for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
No town in Northamptonshire costs less to buy into than Corby, at £225,000, the lowest of 31. Social housing holds 20% of households, above both Northamptonshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). The median sale, £225,000, comes from 2,294 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £327,500 | 593 |
| Semi-detached | £222,394 | 842 |
| Terraced | £195,000 | 699 |
| Flat or maisonette | £135,000 | 160 |
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 Corby. Best known first.
CastleRockingham Castle900 m outside town, to the north
Historic house · English HeritageKirby Hall1 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseBoughton House4.7 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseDeene Park2.4 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumCorby Heritage Centrein townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
14 listed buildings in Corby.
The Old School House and Attached Studio: Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Weldon Lodge: Photo: Tim Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0
17 notable people were born in Corby.
Brendan Coyle: Moonfilmsvideo, CC BY 3.0 · Emma Kennedy: Loz Pycock from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Stuart Campbell: Hayden Schiff from Cincinnati, USA, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corby | 68,164 | — | C− | B | C− | D |
| Cottingham and Middleton | 1,365 | 2.6 | — | C− | A− | C+ |
| Weldon | 3,042 | 3.2 | B− | C+ | B+ | C |
| Geddington | 1,525 | 3.4 | — | C− | A | A− |
| Gretton | 1,519 | 3.9 | — | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Brigstock | 1,436 | 4.5 | — | C− | B− | B |
| Desborough | 11,899 | 5.6 | C+ | B− | C+ | C+ |
| Rothwell | 8,623 | 5.9 | C− | B− | C− | C+ |
Cottingham and Middleton, Geddington, Gretton and Brigstock have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
A young town. At the 2021 Census, 20% of residents were under 15 and 31% were 25 to 44, against 18% and 27% across England’s towns; only 13% were 65 or over.
It has less crime than most places its size: less crime per resident than 67% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more. Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C−.
GCSE results trail 64% of towns in England, and primary results trail 82% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in Northamptonshire, England
Corby is a built-up area of 68,164 people, in the North Northamptonshire 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.
