Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town, home to 3,363 people, lies in South Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Birdwell’s grades pull in different directions. Health lags: life expectancy is 78.1 for men and 81.5 for women. Taken together, its subjects give Birdwell a C+ overall, better than 38% of UK towns. That places it #28 of 63 in South Yorkshire. Natural hazards are few (A). It takes 5.2 years of household income in the Barnsley council area to buy the median home, at £219,997. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for schools and C+ for jobs & income.
Figures: flood risk, Environment Agency · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · claimants, DWP.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Birdwell is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Birdwell does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 6 buildings inside Birdwell’s built-up area.
34% 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 Birdwell.
Seeing a GP means leaving Birdwell: the nearest practice is 1.6 miles away. 6% of residents report bad or very bad health. At the census, 79% of people in Birdwell called their health good or very good, close to South Yorkshire’s towns (79%) and below England’s towns (82%).
| Census 2021 | Birdwell | South Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6% | 6.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 21% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Birdwell Primary School’s results beat 90% of schools in England like it. The one school in town appears below. At the 14 primary schools within 3 km, just over three in five pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birdwell Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 191 | A |
Among adults, 25% have a degree. Young adults of 15 to 24 are one in ten residents, below both South Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%). The 65-and-over age group makes up 25% of residents. Line up the people of Birdwell by age and the one in the middle is 47.7.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Birdwell | South Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 18% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 22% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 9% | 6.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · South Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Burglary and damage add up to 18.1 per 1,000 residents each year. Birdwell logged 208 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 39 complaints of anti-social conduct. Violent crime ran at 23 per 1,000 residents a year, lower than South Yorkshire’s towns (33) and near England’s towns (22).
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
29% of commuters travelled under 5 km, below both South Yorkshire’s towns (43%) and England’s towns (45%). Driving is how 87% of commuters got to work at the census. The average household earns £43K 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.
Its heritage register entries (6 listed buildings) are all Grade II. Scaled to its population, that is 18 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Birdwell.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Social housing holds 11% of households, lower than both South Yorkshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). Private renters make up 14% of households. Behind the median of £219,997: 200 standard sales inside Birdwell’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £339,995 | 49 |
| Semi-detached | £233,995 | 86 |
| Terraced | £144,000 | 62 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Birdwell. Best known first.
CastleWentworth Castle2.6 km outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or priory · English HeritageMonk Bretton Priory4.8 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumElsecar Heritage Centre3.5 km outside town, to the southeast
Heritage railwayElsecar Heritage Railway3.6 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumCooper Art Gallery4.3 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumExperience Barnsley Museum and Discovery Centre4.1 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in South Yorkshire, England
Birdwell is a built-up area of 3,363 people, in the Barnsley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birdwell | 3,363 | — | C+ | B− | C | C− |
| Hoyland | 15,527 | 1.8 | C− | B+ | D | D |
| Worsbrough | 8,840 | 1.8 | C | B+ | D− | D− |
| Jump | 1,424 | 2.2 | — | A− | C− | D |
| Dodworth | 5,981 | 2.8 | B− | B+ | C | C− |
| Hemingfield | 1,815 | 2.9 | — | B− | B+ | C− |
| Chapeltown and High Green | 22,187 | 3.1 | C+ | B− | C+ | C |
| Barnsley | 71,394 | 3.3 | C | A− | D− | D− |
Jump and Hemingfield have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 69% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Police recorded 208 crimes inside Birdwell’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 33% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £219,997, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £144,000, semi-detached houses £233,995 and detached houses £339,995.
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.