Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
8,155 people live in this town in Staffordshire, West Midlands. Primary school results beat 91% of towns in England.
Norton Canes’s grades pull in different directions. Getting around depends on the car (D): 7% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Homes sell for a median £260,000, about 5.4 years of what households in the Cannock Chase council area earn. Where it does best is hazard risk (A). Put together, the subjects come to a C overall, ranking #41 of 46 in Staffordshire. It comes out better than 27% of UK towns.
Figures: flood risk, Environment Agency · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Norton Canes is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Norton Canes does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 1 building inside Norton Canes’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
4% 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 Norton Canes.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
4% of Norton Canes’s homes date from before 1919, and Historic England’s list holds 1 listed building inside its built-up area: 1 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 894 pupils in Norton Canes. Its three schools are listed below. Attainment 8 at the 6 secondary schools within 3 km averages 44.7, and 38% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Canes Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 280 | B+ |
| Norton Canes High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 400 | C |
| Jerome Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 214 | A− |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over one in ten commuters who live in Norton Canes also work there. For 37% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Working mainly from home: 19% of workers, below Staffordshire’s towns (22%) and England’s towns (31%) alike. The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 3.4%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Half the people of Norton Canes are older than 40.8. Aged 15 to 24: one in ten residents. People 65 and over make up 19% of the town, between Staffordshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Norton Canes | Staffordshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Staffordshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Homes saw 13.2 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, above both Staffordshire’s towns (8.9) and England’s towns (9.4). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 551 crimes and 78 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Norton Canes’s built-up area. Violence and sexual offences made up 47% of the total.
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.
Life expectancy here is 82.7 for women and 78.5 for men (2019–23). The nearest A&E to Norton Canes is Manor Hospital, 6.3 miles away. 3 GP practices serve the town; 83% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Norton Canes | Staffordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.4% | 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.
73% of households own their home, higher than both Staffordshire’s towns (67%) and England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £867 a month across the Cannock Chase council area. Council and housing-body homes hold 15% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £314,975 | 158 |
| Semi-detached | £230,000 | 144 |
| Terraced | £213,000 | 54 |
| Flat or maisonette | £131,500 | 8 |
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 Norton Canes. Best known first.
Heritage railwayChasewater Railway900 m outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumMuseum of Cannock Chase3.7 km outside town, to the northAttractionAttractionFinger post3 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Staffordshire, England
Norton Canes is a built-up area of 8,155 people, in the Cannock Chase 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Canes | 8,155 | — | C | B− | C− | C− |
| Burntwood | 27,891 | 2.2 | B− | A− | C+ | C |
| Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay | 17,647 | 2.3 | B− | A− | C+ | C |
| Clayhanger | 1,698 | 2.5 | — | D | B− | C |
| Cannock | 63,057 | 2.5 | C− | B | C− | C− |
| Rawnsley | 2,470 | 2.5 | — | B+ | B− | C− |
| Brownhills | 21,238 | 2.8 | D− | C− | D | D |
| Pelsall | 10,455 | 3 | D | D | C | C |
Clayhanger and Rawnsley 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: 82% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Burglary was rare, with 12 reports in the year.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.