Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 156,890 people live in this city, in Shropshire, West Midlands.
Good value, with catches elsewhere. Crime is the sore point (D): police record 44.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 13 home and vehicle crimes. Against UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has more crime per resident than 45%. It also trails on health: men here can expect to live to 77.6, women to 81.8. Cost of living is its strong suit (A−) — a typical home costs £218,000 and rent runs £861 a month. The overall grade comes out at C, better than a quarter of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for walkability and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Telford 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 Telford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 394 buildings inside Telford’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I, and 9 scheduled monuments.
Part of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
6% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Telford. Best known first.
MuseumBlists Hill Victorian Townin town
Garden · National TrustSunnycroft Gardensin town
MuseumCoalbrookdale Museum of Ironin town
MuseumJackfield Tile Museumin town
MuseumMuseum of the Gorgein town
Heritage railwayTelford Steam Railwayin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Telford.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
13,535 crimes and 2,177 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Telford’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 15.4 reports per 1,000, above Shropshire’s towns (8.1) and England’s towns (7.8) alike. Violence and sexual offences accounted for half of recorded crime.
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.
63% of pupils at the town’s 38 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Newdale Primary School & Nursery’s results beat 94% of schools in England like it. Secondary results at the town’s 8 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 40.6, with 32% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Three of its 57 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hadley Learning Community - Primary PhaseLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 664 | A− |
| Hadley Learning Community - Secondary PhaseLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,237 | B− |
| Newdale Primary School & NurseryTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 498 | A |
6.3% of residents report bad or very bad health. 13 GP practices serve the town; nearly two thirds of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 20% of people here had a disability, near Shropshire’s towns (19%) and higher than England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Telford | Shropshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.3% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
5,440 standard sales inside Telford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £218,000. 58% of households own their home, below Shropshire’s towns (64%) and close to England’s towns (61%). Private renters make up 22% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £320,000 | 1,836 |
| Semi-detached | £204,250 | 2,055 |
| Terraced | £164,000 | 1,283 |
| Flat or maisonette | £105,000 | 266 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For just over half of commuters, work was under 5 km away. About 69% of its commuters stay in Telford for work. At the census, 13% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, below both Shropshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (27%). Income per household averages £48K a year, before tax.
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.
Relative to its size, Telford keeps 25 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Shropshire’s towns (75) and England’s towns (39). It is part of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. Before 1919: that is when 6% of homes were built. Also worth knowing: its listed buildings include the Church of St James, Grade I.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The 65-and-over age group makes up 16% of residents. 19% are under 15, above Shropshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Half the people of Telford are older than 39.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Telford | Shropshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Shropshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
394 listed buildings in Telford, 4 of them Grade I.
Church of St James: Photo: Dave Kelly · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Old Furnace at Coalbrookdale Ironworks: Photo: Helen Simonsson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cludde Almshouses: Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bulls Head Public House: Photo: Richard Law · CC BY-SA 2.0
99 notable people were born in Telford.
Billy Wright: Wim van Rossem for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · William Withering: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain · Rob Edwards: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paul Blackthorne: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Matthew Webb: Carlo Pellegrini, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telford | 156,890 | — | C | A− | D | D |
| Shifnal | 8,973 | 4.2 | B+ | B | C+ | B− |
| Broseley | 5,596 | 4.8 | C+ | B | B− | B− |
| Edgmond | 1,560 | 6.9 | — | C+ | A | B+ |
| Newport | 14,191 | 7.1 | A− | B+ | B− | B− |
| Much Wenlock | 1,766 | 7.2 | — | B− | C+ | B |
| Albrighton | 6,983 | 8.1 | A | B− | A | B+ |
| Bridgnorth | 12,172 | 10 | B− | B | C+ | B− |
Edgmond and Much Wenlock have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Its Grade I buildings include Church of St James. It also has 9 scheduled monuments. Part of it is in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades D.
GCSE results trail 87% of towns in England, and primary results beat 60% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £218,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £105,000, terraced houses £164,000, semi-detached houses £204,250 and detached houses £320,000.
City in Shropshire, England
Telford is a built-up area of 156,890 people, in the Telford and Wrekin 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.