Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 2,607 residents, it is a town in Staffordshire, West Midlands. One resident in 2 is 15 to 24.
A town of contrasts. Keele’s overall grade, B+, puts it better than 67% of UK towns. Households here earn well (A): households earn a mean £49,302 a year, and 0.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The drawback is health: men here can expect to live to 78.6, women to 83. Buying in is costly: a typical home costs £316,250 and rent runs £833 a month.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years. Keele is a university campus: most residents are students, so it keeps its grades but isn’t ranked against other towns.
The 3 things Keele 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 Keele is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 26 buildings inside Keele’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
21% 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 1866.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Keele. Best known first.
CastleHeighley Castle3.4 km outside town, to the west
Historic houseWhitmore Hall3.1 km outside town, to the south
MuseumMoseley Railway Trust2.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumMiddleport Pottery4.9 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumApedale Heritage Centre2.7 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Keele.
Graduates make up nearly a quarter of adults. 3.7% of residents are 65 or over, below Staffordshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Children under 15 make up 3.8% of residents. Half the people of Keele are older than 20.6.
58% women, 42% men
About 74 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Keele is a campus town: students living in halls or boarding houses count as residents.
| Keele | Staffordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 3.8% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 78% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 8.1% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 6.6% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 3.7% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 1.4% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 0.7% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 68% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Staffordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Secondary results at the 4 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 43.2, with 40% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. St John's CofE Primary Academy’s results beat nine in ten schools in England like it. At the 16 primary schools within 3 km, 62% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). The town has one school, shown below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St John's CofE Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 155 | A |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 37% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 37% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, higher than both Staffordshire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (27%). For nearly a third of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Work in town: 12% of resident commuters. Keele counts 9.4 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
89% of Keele’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, higher than both Staffordshire’s towns (80%) and England’s towns (82%). One GP practice serves the town; two thirds of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Men in Keele can expect to live to 78.6, women to 83 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Keele | Staffordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 89% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 1.7% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 19% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
21% of its homes were built before 1919, above Staffordshire’s towns (12%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. For its size, Keele has 100 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Grade II* covers 2 of them.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Social housing holds 3% of households, below both Staffordshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). 72% of households are owner-occupiers. Behind the median of £316,250: 20 standard sales inside Keele’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £542,500 | 8 |
| Semi-detached | £290,000 | 5 |
| Terraced | £229,000 | 6 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police recorded 100 crimes inside Keele’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 17 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Keele has less crime per resident than 72% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for two fifths 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.
26 listed buildings in Keele.
Keele Hall: Photo: Mholland · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Church of St John the Baptist: Photo: Mholland · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Keele University Chapel: Photo: Jamie Clarke · CC BY 2.5 · Newcastle Lodge: Photo: Jonathan Hutchins · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keele | 2,607 | — | B+ | C | B+ | C− |
| Newcastle-under-Lyme | 76,511 | 1.8 | C | A− | C− | D |
| Halmer End and Alsagers Bank | 1,158 | 2.5 | — | A− | B | C |
| Madeley | 3,293 | 2.7 | B | A− | C+ | C+ |
| Bignall End | 3,184 | 3.4 | C+ | B | B+ | C |
| Audley | 1,984 | 3.5 | — | A− | C | C− |
| Baldwin's Gate | 1,121 | 3.6 | — | C− | A | B+ |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 260,560 | 4.5 | D | B+ | D− | D |
Halmer End and Alsagers Bank, Audley and Baldwin's Gate have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 4.1 times the typical UK town for its size.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Staffordshire, England
Keele is a built-up area of 2,607 people, in the Newcastle-under-Lyme 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.