Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,155 in Northumberland, North East.
Ovingham has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £197,500, 4.2 years of area income; rent £695 a month. Its weakest is hazard risk (C+): 0.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Northumbria Police published 34 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Ovingham 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 Ovingham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 16 buildings inside Ovingham’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
16% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1882.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ovingham.
That puts Ovingham below both Northumberland’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (21%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-detached | £238,350 | 10 |
| Terraced | £195,000 | 25 |
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.
On this, Ovingham is above both Northumberland’s towns (2%) and England’s towns (7%). For its size, Ovingham has 139 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Ovingham’s listed buildings include Church of St Mary, Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
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.
In the comparison, Ovingham comes below both Northumberland’s towns (34%) and England’s towns (45%). At the census, 12% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
79% of Ovingham’s residents described their health as good or very good in 2021, against 78% across Northumberland’s towns. 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.
| Census 2021 | Ovingham | Northumberland | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 78% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.1% | 6.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 22% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Police recorded 46 crimes inside Ovingham’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 29 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 43% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking, so it runs higher than U.S. “violent crime”.
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
For Ovingham, that is below both Northumberland’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (18%). 27% of residents are 65 or over. The median resident of Ovingham is 50.6 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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.
| Ovingham | Northumberland | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 9.4% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 22% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 25% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7% | 7.1% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Northumberland and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Ovingham. Best known first.
Castle · English HeritagePrudhoe Castle600 m outside town, to the southeast
Museum · National TrustCherryburn - Thomas Bewick Museum1.3 km outside town, to the southwest
CastleBywell Castle3.8 km outside town, to the southwest
Historic houseBywell Hall4.2 km outside town, to the southwest
Museum · National TrustGeorge Stephenson's Birthplace3.5 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumRailway Museum2.7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ovingham | 1,155 | — | — | A− | B− | B |
| Prudhoe | 10,285 | 0.9 | B− | A | C | C− |
| Wylam | 1,661 | 1.8 | — | C+ | A+ | B+ |
| Stocksfield | 1,944 | 2.4 | — | B− | A+ | A |
| Crawcrook and Greenside | 7,544 | 3.2 | B+ | B− | B | C |
| Heddon-on-the-Wall | 1,300 | 3.4 | — | C+ | A | A+ |
| Chopwell | 2,530 | 4.1 | D | B | D− | D |
| High Spen | 1,933 | 4.4 | — | C+ | B | D |
Wylam, Stocksfield, Heddon-on-the-Wall and High Spen have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 5.7 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Mary.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £197,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £195,000 and semi-detached houses £238,350.
Village in Northumberland, England
Ovingham is a built-up area of 1,155 people, in the Northumberland 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.