Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The village, home to 1,847 people, lies in Shropshire, West Midlands. 82 buildings are listed here, 0 at Grade I.
Bishop's Castle’s strongest subject is walkability — 30% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. The weak point is jobs & income (D) — the mean household earns £49,689 a year. It takes 5.5 years of household income in the Shropshire council area to buy the median home, at £275,000. Pupils here do less well than most: primary results beat 1% of towns in England; secondary results beat 41% of towns in England. The rest of its grades are middling: C+ for safety and B− for health.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. An overall grade needs 2,500 residents, so Bishop's Castle is graded subject by subject only.
The 3 things Bishop's Castle 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 Bishop's Castle is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists them inside Bishop's Castle’s built-up area, along with 1 scheduled monument.
31% 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 Bishop's Castle.
Aged 15 to 24: 7.7% of residents. Children under 15 make up 13%, lower than both Shropshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). Typical age in Bishop's Castle: 53.7, the median.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Bishop's Castle | Shropshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 32% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.2% | 5.9% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Shropshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Both of its schools are shown below. Bishop's Castle’s one primary and one secondary have 635 pupils between them. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 45.5, and just over two in five pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishops Castle Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 128 | D |
| The Community College, Bishop's CastleLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 507 | C+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Bishop's Castle counts 82 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 5 Grade II*. The pre-1919 share of homes is 31%. Conservation areas cover 25% of the town’s land, above Shropshire’s towns (7%) and England’s towns (7%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In 2026, 2.8% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits. 68% of commuters drove, below both Shropshire’s towns (80%) and England’s towns (70%). There are 0.9 jobs in Bishop's Castle for each resident in work. About 38% of its commuters stay in Bishop's Castle for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
49% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. 108 crimes and 12 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Bishop's Castle’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Homes saw 10.8 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above Shropshire’s towns (8.5) and England’s towns (9.4) alike. For its size, Bishop's Castle records more crime per resident than 77% of the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people.
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 nearest A&E to Bishop's Castle is Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, 17.4 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 95% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 6.1% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Bishop's Castle | Shropshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.1% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
71 standard sales inside Bishop's Castle’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £275,000. Private rents average £823 a month across the Shropshire council area. Also worth knowing: 18% live in social housing, higher than Shropshire’s towns (17%) and near England’s towns (18%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 27 |
| Semi-detached | £254,000 | 21 |
| Terraced | £182,500 | 18 |
| Flat or maisonette | £192,500 | 5 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop's Castle | 1,847 | — | — | B− | C+ | B− |
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | 7.6 | C+ | A− | C− | B− |
| Church Stretton | 3,576 | 8.8 | B+ | C | B+ | A− |
| Knighton | 2,911 | 10 | C | B | C | B− |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 11 | — | A− | C+ | C+ |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 12 | — | C+ | B− | B− |
Minsterley and Pontesbury have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 18.2 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Band D council tax in Bishop's Castle is £2,708 for 2026–27, more than in 96% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Bishop's Castle has 2 state schools; places are handled by Shropshire council.
Village in Shropshire, England
Bishop's Castle is a built-up area of 1,847 people, in the Shropshire 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.