Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 15,016: a town in South Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Where it falls short is health: life expectancy is 78.2 for men and 80.6 for women. Its best grade is for cost of living — homes sell for a median £200,000, about 4.7 times local household income. All told, that adds up to a C+ overall and a rank of #23 of 63 in South Yorkshire. On that grade it does better than just over two fifths of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B for schools and C+ for jobs & income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP.
The 2 things Darton 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 Darton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 28 buildings inside Darton’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
16% 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 Darton.
Just over a fifth of residents in Darton live with a disability. 2 GP practices serve the town; four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Self-reported good health: 78% of the town’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Darton | South Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 6.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 21% | 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.
64% of pupils at the town’s 4 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Of its 5 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Darton’s four primaries and one secondary have 2,350 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellgate Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 424 | B− |
| Darton AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,099 | A− |
| Mapplewell Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 343 | A |
The middle age in Darton is 46.1. 23% of residents are 65 or over, above South Yorkshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Also worth knowing: among adults, 28% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Darton | South Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.1% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 23% | 18% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 22% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.5% | 6.2% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · South Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
88% of commuters drove to work at the census. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 37%, lower than both South Yorkshire’s towns (43%) and England’s towns (45%). Households take home £46K a year before tax, on average. Work in town: 11% of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
13% of households rent from a council or housing body. Private renters make up just over one in ten households, below South Yorkshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (21%) alike. Behind the median of £200,000: 623 standard sales inside Darton’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £323,750 | 196 |
| Semi-detached | £195,000 | 263 |
| Terraced | £142,500 | 142 |
| Flat or maisonette | £106,000 | 22 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Violent crime ran at 25.6 per 1,000 residents a year, between South Yorkshire’s towns (33) and England’s towns (22). A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 727 offences in Darton and 167 cases of nuisance behaviour. Violence and sexual offences accounted for just over 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Darton’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 16% of the total, about level with England’s towns (16%) and above South Yorkshire’s towns (14%). Per 10,000 residents, Darton counts 19 listed buildings.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Darton. Best known first.
MuseumYorkshire Sculpture Park3 km outside town, to the northwest · 300K visitors a year
Abbey or priory · English HeritageMonk Bretton Priory4.5 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumCannon Hall2.7 km outside town, to the west
MuseumCooper Art Gallery2.8 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumCawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum2 km outside town, to the southwestHeritage railwayHeritage railwayWhistlestop Valley3.8 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
11 notable people were born in Darton.
Thomas Richard Beaumont: Wikimandia, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darton | 15,016 | — | C+ | B | C+ | C− |
| Barugh Green and Redbrook | 7,545 | 1.4 | B+ | B− | B | C+ |
| Barnsley | 71,394 | 2.6 | C | A− | D− | D− |
| Carlton | 2,125 | 2.6 | — | B+ | D | D |
| Royston | 10,755 | 2.7 | C | B+ | C− | D |
| Dodworth | 5,981 | 3 | B− | B+ | C | C− |
| Hall Green | 2,307 | 3.3 | — | B | C− | C− |
| Silkstone | 1,682 | 3.4 | — | C− | A− | A− |
Carlton, Hall Green and Silkstone have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £200,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £106,000, terraced houses £142,500, semi-detached houses £195,000 and detached houses £323,750.
It has less crime than most places its size: less crime per resident than 67% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in South Yorkshire, England
Darton is a built-up area of 15,016 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
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.