Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0How Rutland stacks up
No area can expect more years in good health than Rutland: healthy life expectancy at birth is 71.2 years. It beats every neighbour (Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire) on safety, schools and health. Only one area scores higher overall; Rutland grades A+ with 98 of 100.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
4th of 65A+95/100 Crime is rare here. No neighbour beats it on safety; Leicestershire comes closest. Rutland records 17.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 42 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 10th lowest.
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.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Schools
14th of 90A85/100 Strong results in the classroom. No neighbour beats it on schools; Leicestershire comes closest. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 65% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (9th highest).
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 49.2 (7th highest), 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.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Cost of living
73rd of 98C26/100 Homes cost a lot of income here. At £335,000 for a typical home and £62,300 of household income, prices run 5.4 times income, the 28th highest ratio of 98 areas. Over five years, typical prices have risen 10%.
The middle home sold for £335,000 over the past year, 15th highest of the areas.
Private rent £961 a month (34th highest); Band D council tax £2,738 (the 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.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Health
2nd of 98A+99/100 Long, healthy lives. No area can expect more years in good health than Rutland: healthy life expectancy at birth is 71.2 years. Among its neighbours it does best on health, with Leicestershire second.
Total life expectancy is 83.9 years (the longest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Jobs & income
1st of 98A+99/100 Among the best-off areas. It leads its neighbours on incomes, ahead of Leicestershire. Households take in £62,300 a year on average before tax, against £55,600 across England and Wales (7th highest of 98 areas).
Claimant rate: 1.8% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 3rd lowest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Getting about
32nd of 98B+68/100 A bit less car-bound than most. At the 2021 Census, 21% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 5 points below the England and Wales figure. No neighbour beats it on walkability; Leicestershire comes closest.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 34% 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.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Flood risk
5th of 87A+95/100 Among the lowest flood risk. Among its neighbours it does best on flood risk, with Northamptonshire second. 0.4% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, against 1.6% across England and Wales (5th lowest).
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Rutland has two graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Growth
22nd of 98A−78/100 Healthy growth. The population grew 10.3% between 2011 and 2024, to 41,443, against 10.0% across England and Wales (28th fastest).
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +0.2% (10th slowest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Rutland has one graded town of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
How Rutland compares to its neighbours
Against Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Rutland leads on safety, schools and health.
| Rutland | Leicestershire | Lincolnshire | Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A+ 982nd of 65 | B+ 6921st of 65 | C+ 3642nd of 65 | B− 4536th of 65 |
| Safety | A+ 954th official | B 6129th official · 30% in top towns | C+ 4147th official · 29% in top towns | B− 4530th official · 23% in top towns |
| Schools | A 859th official | B 5718th official · 8% in top towns | C+ 3731st official · 9% in top towns | C+ 3823rd official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 2671st official | C+ 3963rd official · 42% in top towns | B 5843rd official · 57% in top towns | C− 2261st official · 0% in top towns |
| Health | A+ 991st official | B+ 6533rd official · 35% in top towns | B− 4737th official · 22% in top towns | B 5625th official · 16% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A+ 997th official | B 6035th official · 25% in top towns | C 3161st official · 7% in top towns | B 5627th official · 13% in top towns |
| Getting about | B+ 6838th official | B− 5141st official · 0% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2471st official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A+ 955th official | B− 5233rd official · 26% in top towns | C 3054th official · 28% in top towns | A 902nd official · 47% in top towns |
| Growth | A− 7828th official | A 938th official · 65% in top towns | B 5943rd official · 16% in top towns | A+ 983rd official · 82% 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.