Photo: Nigel Thompson · CC BY-SA 2.0How Suffolk stacks up
In Suffolk, Glemsford ranks #8 of 2,331 towns in the UK for schools, the best showing of any town here. It stands out for good health. Across every subject, Suffolk lands 33rd (B−).
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
21st of 65B+69/100 Somewhat below-average crime. By police.uk’s count, violent crime here comes to 29.3 offences per 1,000 residents a year, 23% below the England and Wales figure. 33% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 1% in a bottom-quarter one; Worlingham ranks highest.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 59 per 1,000 a year (15th lowest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Low crime nearly everywhere
Its safest towns are Kesgrave (#52), Trimley St Mary (#82) and Capel St Mary (#113), ranked against every graded town in the UK.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Suffolk | 33% | 1% |
Where crimes are counted
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
80th of 90D11/100 Schools trail most of England. One town stands apart: Glemsford, #8 in the UK, while nearly every other town sits lower. 60% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard (7th lowest), and GCSE pupils average an Attainment 8 score of 43.7 (7th lowest). Glemsford ranks #8 of 2,331 towns in the UK for schools.
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 43.7 (7th lowest), weighed equally with the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Cost of living
62nd of 98C+37/100 Pricier than the typical area. Nearly every town does well here, Kessingland and Needham Market among them. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £285,000, or 5.3 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales.
Typical sale price: £285,000 (9,046 sales, 27th highest).
Private rent £988 a month (31st highest); Band D council tax £2,362 (43rd highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Health
21st of 98A−79/100 Consistently healthy. Capel St Mary leads its towns at #96 of 2,515; 36% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. People here can expect 67.2 years in good health, against 65.2 across England and Wales (13th longest of 55 areas with figures).
Life expectancy at birth: 82.2 years, 10th longest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Jobs & income
46th of 98B−54/100 Middle of the table on income. Martlesham Heath leads its towns at #136 of 2,156; 7% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. Households take in £54,200 a year on average before tax, against £55,600 across England and Wales (23rd highest of 98 areas).
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.9% of working-age adults (38th lowest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Getting about
69th of 98C31/100 A little more car-bound than average. Suffolk ranks 40th lowest for getting to work without a car: 18% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. Even its best town, Bury St Edmunds, ranks #305 of 2,515. Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire all do better on walkability.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 27% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Flood risk
17th of 87A−81/100 Lower flood risk than most. 1.0% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, against 1.6% across England and Wales (16th lowest). Among its neighbours it does best on flood risk, with Essex second. Its best town is Leiston, #264 of 2,452, and 57% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 34 Suffolk towns.
Growth
51st of 98B−48/100 Average growth. Since 2011 it has grown 7.7%, the 42nd fastest change of 98 areas. 77% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Ipswich and Lowestoft. It trails all of its neighbours on growth.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.0%, 44th fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 25 Suffolk towns. Covers 93% of residents of Suffolk’s graded towns.
How Suffolk compares to its neighbours
Suffolk beats every neighbour on flood risk; on schools, getting about and growth, every neighbour beats it.
| Suffolk | Norfolk | Essex | Cambridgeshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 5033rd of 65 | B− 4735th of 65 | A− 7716th of 65 | A 8610th of 65 |
| Safety | B+ 6917th official · 33% in top towns | B+ 7324th official · 40% in top towns | B− 4845th official · 33% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 37% in top towns |
| Schools | D 1141st official · 1% in top towns | C− 2046th official · 3% in top towns | A− 806th official · 23% in top towns | B+ 7134th official · 30% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 3767th official · 41% in top towns | C− 2474th official · 11% in top towns | C− 1588th official · 11% in top towns | C+ 4362nd official · 57% in top towns |
| Health | A− 7913th official · 36% in top towns | B− 5432nd official · 21% in top towns | A− 7817th official · 41% in top towns | A− 8416th official · 54% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B− 5423rd official · 7% in top towns | B− 4944th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 7411th official · 36% in top towns | A 889th official · 44% in top towns |
| Getting about | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6752nd official · 6% in top towns | A− 7525th official · 4% in top towns | A 8617th official · 23% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A− 8116th official · 57% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 32% in top towns | A− 8011th official · 36% in top towns | D 753rd official · 12% in top towns |
| Growth | B− 4842nd official · 4% in top towns | B 6136th official · 13% in top towns | A− 8017th official · 24% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 65% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.