Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2,692 residents make their home in this town in Shropshire, West Midlands.
Pupils here do less well than most (D): primary results beat 17% of towns in England; secondary results beat 3% of towns in England. At B− overall, St Martins is better than 48% of UK towns and ranks #8 of 19 in Shropshire. Getting around depends on the car: on the way to work, 11% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Cost of living is its strong suit — homes sell for a median £225,000, about 4.5 times local household income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021.
The 3 things St Martins 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 St Martins is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 6 buildings inside St Martins’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
14% 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 1890.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in St Martins.
Key Stage 2 results at the 3 primary schools within 3 km: 54% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The one school in town appears below. GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 25% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 37.6.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Martins School (3-16 Learning Community)Largest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 703 | D |
69% of households own their home, above both Shropshire’s towns (64%) and England’s towns (61%). Social housing holds just over a fifth of households. Private rents average £823 a month across the Shropshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £325,000 | 53 |
| Semi-detached | £215,000 | 73 |
| Terraced | £184,000 | 14 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Children under 15 make up 16%, close to Shropshire’s towns (17%) and below England’s towns (18%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.9% of residents. St Martins has a median age of 46.3 years. Degrees are held by 27% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| St Martins | Shropshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.5% | 5.9% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Shropshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 17% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Before tax, the average household brings in £48K a year. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 34%, lower than both Shropshire’s towns (45%) and England’s towns (45%), and on top of that 17% of workers worked mainly from home at the census. About 9% of its commuters stay in St Martins for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 14% of the total, below both Shropshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (16%). Relative to its size, St Martins keeps 22 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The nearest A&E to St Martins is Wrexham Maelor Hospital, 8.5 miles away. Seeing a GP means leaving St Martins: the nearest practice is 2.1 miles away. Four fifths of St Martins’ residents described their health as good or very good at the census, near Shropshire’s towns (80%) and lower than England’s towns (82%).
| Census 2021 | St Martins | Shropshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Of all the crimes, 61% were violence and sexual offences. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 96 recorded crimes inside St Martins’s built-up area, and 24 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, St Martins has less crime per resident than 61% of them.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near St Martins. Best known first.
CastleWhittington Castle5 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseBrynkinalt Hall1.9 km outside town, to the northwest
Historic housePen-y-Lan Hall3.7 km outside town, to the northAttractionAttractionPark Hall Farm4.6 km outside town, to the southCastleCastleHalston Hall4.7 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumWWII Museum4.7 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
6 listed buildings in St Martins, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St Martin: Photo: Maelor · Public domain · St Martins War Memorial: Photo: John Haynes · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Martins | 2,692 | — | B− | A | B | C+ |
| Gobowen | 3,046 | 2.2 | C− | A | C | C |
| Chirk | 3,930 | 2.3 | C | B+ | C− | C |
| Weston Rhyn | 1,381 | 2.5 | — | A | C+ | C+ |
| Whittington | 1,618 | 3.5 | — | B+ | B− | B |
| Acrefair and Cefn-mawr | 6,905 | 4.5 | D | B+ | D | D |
| Ellesmere | 4,268 | 4.6 | B− | A− | C+ | B− |
| Oswestry | 17,500 | 4.7 | C+ | A | C | C |
Weston Rhyn and Whittington have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Shropshire council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Shropshire, England
St Martins is a built-up area of 2,692 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.
