Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2,563 residents make their home in this town in Shropshire, West Midlands.
What it saves you on housing, it gives back elsewhere. Incomes are on the low side: the mean household earns £46,709 a year. Safety lags (C−): 42.4 violent and sexual offences and 8.3 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 17%. Cost of living is where it shines — the median home sold for £235,000, 4.7 years of area income. Getting around on foot or by bus is easy (A): nearly a quarter of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. The overall grade comes out at C+, better than 44% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #9 of 19 in Shropshire.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Craven Arms is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 2 things Craven Arms does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 9 buildings inside Craven Arms’s built-up area.
23% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →9 listed buildings in Craven Arms.
The Old Rectory: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2 and 3, Newton: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Craven Arms.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 14% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Nearly two in five commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Working mainly from home: 14% of workers, below Shropshire’s towns (24%) and England’s towns (31%) alike. Driving is how 75% of commuters got to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
At the 2 primary schools within 3 km, nearly three in five pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Stokesay Primary School’s results beat nearly nine in ten schools in England like it. There is one school here; it is shown below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stokesay Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 150 | A |
The 65-and-over age group makes up 24% of residents. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.4% of residents, lower than both Shropshire’s towns (11%) and England’s towns (12%). Half the people of Craven Arms are older than 45.4.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Craven Arms | Shropshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.1% | 5.9% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Shropshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Owners make up 56% of households, below both Shropshire’s towns (64%) and England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £823 a month across the Shropshire council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 89 homes sold inside Craven Arms’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £235,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £370,000 | 33 |
| Semi-detached | £217,500 | 30 |
| Terraced | £165,000 | 22 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police recorded 181 crimes inside Craven Arms’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 16 reports of anti-social behaviour. 58% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Craven Arms has 35 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, lower than both Shropshire’s towns (75) and England’s towns (39). Of Craven Arms’ land, 8% lies in conservation areas, higher than both Shropshire’s towns (7%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 7.3% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, higher than both Shropshire’s towns (5.7%) and England’s towns (5.2%). Just over a fifth of residents in Craven Arms live with a disability. The nearest A&E to Craven Arms is Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, 18.7 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 96% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Craven Arms | Shropshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.3% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Craven Arms. Best known first.
MuseumLand of Lost Contentin town
Castle · English HeritageStokesay Castle600 m outside town, to the south
Historic houseStokesay Court3.7 km outside town, to the southAttractionAttractionShropshire Hills Discovery Centrein townHistoric siteHistoric siteFlounders' Folly3.1 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Shropshire, England
Craven Arms is a built-up area of 2,563 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | — | C+ | A− | C− | B− |
| Church Stretton | 3,576 | 6.8 | B+ | C | B+ | A− |
| Ludlow | 10,037 | 7.1 | C | B+ | C | C+ |
| Bishop's Castle | 1,847 | 7.6 | — | B− | C+ | B− |
| Knighton | 2,911 | 11 | C | B | C | B− |
Bishop's Castle has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.
