Photo: Steve Daniels · CC BY-SA 2.0How Northamptonshire stacks up
Only one area has fewer homes at risk of flooding: in Northamptonshire, 0.3% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding. Only one area puts more of its town residents in the fastest-growing quarter of towns: 82% of Northamptonshire’s do. All told, Northamptonshire grades B−, 36th of 65 graded areas with a score of 45.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
36th of 65B−45/100 About average for crime. By police.uk’s count, violent crime here comes to 34.7 offences per 1,000 residents a year, 8% below the England and Wales figure. It trails all of its neighbours on safety. Middleton Cheney leads its towns at #91 of 2,138; 23% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 72 per 1,000 a year (32nd highest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Low crime nearly everywhere
Its safest towns are Bugbrooke (#148), Deanshanger (#206) and Brackley (#207), ranked against every graded town in the UK.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Northamptonshire | 23% | 0% |
Where crimes are counted
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Northamptonshire, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
56th of 90C+38/100 Schools a notch below average. Brixworth leads its towns at #58 of 2,331; 5% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. 62% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of primary school, against 64% across England (23rd highest).
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 45.5 (20th lowest), weighed equally with the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Cost of living
77th of 98C−22/100 Expensive against local pay. At £275,000 for a typical home and £53,800 of household income, prices run 5.1 times income, the 38th highest ratio of 98 areas. Even its best town, Northampton, ranks #1,007 of 2,515.
The middle home sold for £275,000 over the past year, 32nd highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,042 a month (28th highest); Band D council tax £2,458 (27th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Health
44th of 98B56/100 Slightly better health than average. It trails all of its neighbours on health. Of a life expectancy of 80.9 years, 66.0 are expected in good health (25th longest among the areas). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Silverstone its best at #68 of 2,515.
Total life expectancy is 80.9 years (24th shortest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Jobs & income
44th of 98B56/100 Incomes a notch above average. Incomes and work tell different stories: 27th highest household income, but the 35th highest share claiming out-of-work benefits (3.4%). At £53,800 a year, household incomes here are the 27th highest of 98 areas. Leicestershire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire all do better on incomes.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.4% of working-age adults (35th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Getting about
75th of 98C−24/100 More car-dependent than most areas. 16% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work, against 26% across England and Wales (28th lowest of 98 areas). Even its best town, Oundle, ranks #251 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 27% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Flood risk
10th of 87A90/100 Low flood risk nearly everywhere. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 871 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 0.3% of them. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Desborough and Rothwell are typical. No neighbour beats it on flood risk; Buckinghamshire comes closest.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 31 Northamptonshire towns.
Growth
3rd of 98A+98/100 Growing with few exceptions. Only Bedfordshire puts more town residents in the fastest-growing quarter of towns. Since 2011 it has grown 17.3%, the 3rd fastest change of 98 areas. 82% of town residents live in a top-quarter town; Burton Latimer ranks highest, at #48.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.4%, 34th fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 22 Northamptonshire towns. Covers 95% of residents of Northamptonshire’s graded towns.
How Northamptonshire compares to its neighbours
Northamptonshire beats every neighbour on flood risk; on safety, health and jobs and income, every neighbour beats it.
| Northamptonshire | Leicestershire | Bedfordshire | Buckinghamshire | Warwickshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 4536th of 65 | B+ 6921st of 65 | B− 5331st of 65 | A− 8411th of 65 | A− 8014th of 65 |
| Safety | B− 4530th official · 23% in top towns | B 6129th official · 30% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 33% in top towns | B+ 7223rd official · 39% in top towns | A− 7520th official · 43% in top towns |
| Schools | C+ 3823rd official · 5% in top towns | B 5718th official · 8% in top towns | D 844th official · 0% in top towns | A− 843rd official · 19% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 15% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 2261st official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3963rd official · 42% in top towns | C− 2183rd official · 14% in top towns | C− 1690th official · 13% in top towns | C 2972nd official · 18% in top towns |
| Health | B 5625th official · 16% in top towns | B+ 6533rd official · 35% in top towns | B+ 6828th official · 28% in top towns | A 894th official · 39% in top towns | A− 8013th official · 37% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B 5627th official · 13% in top towns | B 6035th official · 25% in top towns | B 6410th official · 30% in top towns | A− 775th official · 34% in top towns | A− 7619th official · 31% in top towns |
| Getting about | C− 2471st official · 0% in top towns | B− 5141st official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4445th official · 0% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A 902nd official · 47% in top towns | B− 5233rd official · 26% in top towns | B+ 719th official · 18% in top towns | B+ 7310th official · 24% in top towns | B− 4522nd official · 14% in top towns |
| Growth | A+ 983rd official · 82% in top towns | A 938th official · 65% in top towns | A+ 1001st official · 92% in top towns | A+ 974th official · 73% in top towns | A 927th official · 57% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.