Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The village has 2,025 residents and lies in Northumberland, North East.
Schools do well: primary results beat 88% of towns in England. Crime is low: police record 14.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 8 home and vehicle crimes. Its weakest subject is jobs & income (C): the mean household earns £49,732 a year. Buying the median home, at £270,000, takes 5.8 years of household income in the Northumberland council area. Hazards are a real consideration: 1.5% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years. Rothbury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Northumbria Police published 34 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published.
The 3 things Rothbury 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 Rothbury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Rothbury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 35 buildings inside Rothbury’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
33% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1898.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rothbury.
People aged 15 to 24 are 6.7% of the population. 36% of residents are 65 or over, above Northumberland’s towns (25%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. At 57.7, the median resident of Rothbury sits in the middle of the age range. Graduates make up 39% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Rothbury | Northumberland | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 15% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 6.7% | 9.4% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 13% | 22% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 32% | 28% | 25% |
| 65+ | 36% | 25% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.6% | 7.1% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Northumberland and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Below are its two schools. 70% of pupils at the one primary school within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 278 pupils in Rothbury.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rothbury First SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 94 | – |
| Dr Thomlinson Church of England Middle SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 184 | B+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For its size, Rothbury has 173 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, above both Northumberland’s towns (45) and England’s towns (39). Historic England’s list names 35 listed buildings in the town: 2 Grade II*. Also worth knowing: the national list protects one ancient monument in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 45 offences in Rothbury and 14 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violence and sexual offences made up 47% of the total. There were 10.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), lower than Northumberland’s towns (16.9) yet higher than England’s towns (7.8).
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 29% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 20% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, above Northumberland’s towns (18%) but below England’s towns (27%). 23% of commuters who live in Rothbury also work there. There are 0.6 jobs in Rothbury for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 93% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Rothbury is Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, 21.1 miles away. At the census, nearly four fifths of people in Rothbury called their health good or very good, between Northumberland’s towns (78%) and England’s towns (82%).
| Census 2021 | Rothbury | Northumberland | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 78% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.9% | 6.5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 22% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
15% of households are private tenants. Social housing holds 13% of households, below both Northumberland’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £695 a month across the Northumberland council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £366,653 | 41 |
| Semi-detached | £245,000 | 17 |
| Terraced | £209,000 | 37 |
| Flat or maisonette | £163,000 | 8 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
6 notable people were born in Rothbury.
Alexander Armstrong: StormCab, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rothbury | 2,025 | — | — | B− | A− | A− |
| Longframlington | 1,357 | 4.3 | — | C | A+ | A− |
| Felton | 1,270 | 7.8 | — | C+ | A+ | B− |
| Shilbottle | 1,787 | 9.6 | — | A− | A− | C |
| Alnwick | 8,432 | 11 | C+ | B | D | C |
| South Broomhill | 1,520 | 11 | — | B | C− | D |
| Warkworth | 1,412 | 12 | — | C | B+ | C+ |
Longframlington, Felton, Shilbottle, South Broomhill and Warkworth have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 7.1 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Primary results beat 88% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). Rothbury has 2 state schools; places are handled by Northumberland council.
Against all UK towns, it grades A−.
Village in Northumberland, England
Rothbury is a built-up area of 2,025 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.