Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 78,130 people live in this large town, in Warwickshire, West Midlands.
Low prices, and some weak spots to weigh against them. Homes are affordable: the median home sold for £270,000, 4.8 years of area income. With a B overall, Rugby is better than 56% of UK towns and ranks #18 of 34 in Warwickshire. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy is 78.6 for men and 82.2 for women. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for schools, B− for jobs & income and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 2 things Rugby 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 Rugby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 133 buildings inside Rugby’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
16% 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 1895 and a map from c. 1946.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rugby.
Half of the 3,382 standard sales inside Rugby’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £270,000. Private renters make up 21% of households, above Warwickshire’s towns (17%) and close to England’s towns (21%). The owner-occupied share of households is 64%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £391,250 | 987 |
| Semi-detached | £270,000 | 1,236 |
| Terraced | £211,750 | 807 |
| Flat or maisonette | £135,000 | 352 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Between them, 23 primaries and seven secondaries teach 14,536 pupils in Rugby. Below are three of its 32 schools, each with why it was picked. GCSE results at the town’s 7 secondary schools: 56% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 51.9.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paddox Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 663 | B− |
| Ashlawn SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,564 | B+ |
| Rugby High SchoolTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 927 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 27% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 50%, higher than both Warwickshire’s towns (41%) and England’s towns (45%). For every resident in work, Rugby has 0.9 jobs. Work in town: 46% of resident commuters. Also worth knowing: the census found nearly a fifth of commuters going to work on foot, by bike or by public transport.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Rugby is University Hospital, 8.5 miles away. 8 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 16% of residents in Rugby live with a disability.
| Census 2021 | Rugby | Warwickshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 4.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Reported offences in Rugby came to 5,133 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 1,542. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Rugby has less crime per resident than 87% of them. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 15.3 reports per 1,000, above both Warwickshire’s towns (10.3) and England’s towns (7.8). 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Rugby’s 133 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 3 and Grade II* 12. Its listed buildings include Bilton Hall, Grade I. Relative to its size, Rugby keeps 17 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, lower than both Warwickshire’s towns (48) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Children under 15 make up 18%, higher than Warwickshire’s towns (17%) and near England’s towns (18%). Typical age in Rugby: 39.2, the median. Degrees are held by a third of adults.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Rugby | Warwickshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 35% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Warwickshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Rugby. Best known first.
MuseumRugby Art Gallery and Museumin town
MuseumWebb Ellis Museumin town
Historic houseStanford Hall4 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumCotesbach Educational Trust3.8 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
133 listed buildings in Rugby, 3 of them Grade I.
Bilton Hall: Photo: Ian Rob · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Botolph: Photo: David Stowell · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Chapel at Rugby School: Photo: Ian Rob · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rugby Aqueduct: Photo: logopop · CC BY-SA 3.0
92 notable people were born in Rugby.
Rupert Brooke: British Government, Public domain · Norman Lockyer: not indicated, Public domain · James Morrison: CharlieTPhotographic, CC BY 2.0 · Rose Macaulay: Jburlinson, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Neil Adams: Captain Ted, CC BY 2.0 · Arnold Wolfendale: Jim Cornmell, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rugby | 78,130 | — | B | B+ | C | C |
| Clifton upon Dunsmore | 1,216 | 1.4 | — | B | A | B− |
| Long Lawford | 4,369 | 2.1 | B− | B | B− | C+ |
| Cawston | 6,475 | 2.5 | B | C+ | B+ | B+ |
| Dunchurch | 2,603 | 2.8 | B+ | C+ | B− | A |
| Onley | 1,667 | 3.2 | — | B− | D | B− |
| Kilsby | 1,341 | 4.1 | — | C | B | B |
| Crick | 2,245 | 5.2 | — | C | B | B+ |
Clifton upon Dunsmore, Onley, Kilsby and Crick have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C.
Its Grade I buildings include Bilton Hall. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Large town in Warwickshire, England
Rugby is a built-up area of 78,130 people, in the Rugby 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.