Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Over-65s are 22% of the population. The large town has 41,279 residents and lies in Suffolk, East of England.
A town of contrasts. Its lowest grade is for safety — 39.8 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 13.3 home and vehicle crimes. Against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has more crime per resident than 68%. Bury St Edmunds’s overall grade, C+, puts it better than 42% of UK towns. That places it #24 of 34 in Suffolk. It lags on schools as well — primary results beat 27% of towns in England; secondary results beat 46% of towns in England. At a median £288,750, a home costs 5.2 times the yearly income of households in the West Suffolk council area. Where it does best is walkability: on the way to work, 25% walk, cycle or take a bus or train.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS.
The 2 things Bury St Edmunds 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 Bury St Edmunds is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 732 buildings inside Bury St Edmunds’s built-up area, 26 of them Grade I, and 4 scheduled monuments.
13% 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 1827.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bury St Edmunds. Best known first.
CathedralSt Edmundsbury Cathedralin town
MuseumMoyse's Hall Museumin town
Abbey or priory · English HeritageBury St Edmunds Abbey100 m outside town, to the southeast
Historic house · National TrustIckworth House2.5 km outside town, to the southwest
Abbey or prioryAbbey Ruins100 m outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumGreene King Brewery Visitor Centrein 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 Bury St Edmunds.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 72% of commuters, between Suffolk’s towns (79%) and England’s towns (70%). In 2026, 3.1% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits. Of the commuters living in Bury St Edmunds, 57% work in the town itself. There are 2.3 jobs in Bury St Edmunds for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
GCSE results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: 43% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 45.7. Abbots Green Primary Academy’s results beat 90% of schools in England like it. Bury St Edmunds’s ten primaries and three secondaries have 5,595 pupils between them. Three of its 19 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbots Green Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 608 | A |
| King Edward VI CEVC SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,189 | C |
| Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 328 | A− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Scaled to its population, that is 177 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Bury St Edmunds. The town’s listed buildings include the Abbey Gate and Gatehouse, Grade I. The national list protects 4 ancient monuments in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
3,173 crimes and 214 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Bury St Edmunds’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences made up 47% of the total. Also worth knowing: there were 7 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than Suffolk’s towns (3.9) yet lower than England’s towns (7.8).
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.
A third of adults hold a degree, above Suffolk’s towns (27%) and close to England’s towns (34%). The share of residents under 15 is 16%. The age that splits Bury St Edmunds in two is 43.2.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Bury St Edmunds | Suffolk | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 23% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.6% | 6.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Suffolk and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Owners make up 58% of households, lower than Suffolk’s towns (64%) and near England’s towns (61%). Private rents average £1,183 a month across the West Suffolk council area. Council and housing-body homes hold nearly a fifth of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £420,000 | 475 |
| Semi-detached | £285,000 | 483 |
| Terraced | £259,500 | 666 |
| Flat or maisonette | £180,000 | 351 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
5 GP practices serve the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Bury St Edmunds is West Suffolk Hospital, 1.1 miles away. Disability touches 17% of Bury St Edmunds’ population.
| Census 2021 | Bury St Edmunds | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.4% | 5% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 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.
732 listed buildings in Bury St Edmunds, 26 of them Grade I.
Cathedral Church of St James: Photo: Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Northgate House: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Theatre Royal: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Green King Brewery Buildings on South West Corner of Crown Street Greene King Premises on South West Corner: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
84 notable people were born in Bury St Edmunds.
Bob Hoskins: Bob hoskins filming ruby blue.jpg: James Laurence Stewart derivative work: KoS, CC BY 2.0 · Ouida: Adolphe Beau, Public domain · Humphry Repton: Northmetpit at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Andy Marshall: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bury St Edmunds | 41,279 | — | C+ | B− | C− | B− |
| Great Barton | 1,848 | 2.9 | — | D | A+ | A |
| Thurston | 3,009 | 4.1 | B+ | B+ | C | A |
| Barrow | 1,961 | 5.5 | — | C | A | B+ |
| Ixworth | 2,296 | 6.2 | — | C | B | A− |
| Woolpit | 1,838 | 7.8 | — | B+ | C+ | B+ |
| Elmswell | 4,446 | 8.6 | A− | A− | B | A− |
| Stanton | 2,316 | 8.9 | — | B− | A | B |
Great Barton, Barrow, Ixworth, Woolpit and Stanton have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 7.3 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Abbey Gate and Gatehouse.
GCSE results trail 54% of towns in England, and primary results trail 73% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in Suffolk, England
Bury St Edmunds is a built-up area of 41,279 people, in the West Suffolk 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.