Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 64,277 in West Midlands.
Dudley grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 20% of UK towns, and #16 of 35 in West Midlands. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £195,000, 4.1 years of area income; rent £858 a month. Its weakest is safety (D−): 61.2 violent and sexual offences and 27 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 7%.
The 3 things Dudley 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 Dudley is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 95 buildings inside Dudley’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
10% 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 1906.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Dudley. Best known first.
CastleDudley Castlein town
MuseumBlack Country Living Museumin town
Abbey or prioryPriory Ruinsin town
Abbey or priory · English HeritageHalesowen Abbey4.5 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumWednesbury Museum & Art Gallery4.6 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumProvidence Chapel, Black Country Living Museumin 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 Dudley.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
7,831 crimes and 256 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Dudley’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Dudley has more crime per resident than 93% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 47% 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.
Below are three of its 22 schools, each with why it was picked. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School’s results beat 98% of schools in England like it. 54% of pupils at the town’s 15 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesson's Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 703 | D |
| The Link AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,013 | B− |
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 245 | A+ |
Over-65s are 15% of the population. Children under 15 make up 21%, above both West Midlands’ towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Ages in Dudley split evenly at 36.4: half are older, half younger.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Dudley | West Midlands | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 28% | 24% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.2% | 4.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Midlands and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
At the census, 78% of people in Dudley called their health good or very good, below both West Midlands’ towns (80%) and England’s towns (82%). 13 GP practices serve the town; 78% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Also worth knowing: 6.9% of residents report bad or very bad health.
| Census 2021 | Dudley | West Midlands | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.9% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 18% | 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.
Owners make up 52% of households, lower than both West Midlands’ towns (57%) and England’s towns (61%). Private renters make up nearly a fifth of households. Behind the median of £195,000: 1,387 standard sales inside Dudley’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £300,000 | 244 |
| Semi-detached | £198,000 | 623 |
| Terraced | £180,000 | 410 |
| Flat or maisonette | £120,000 | 110 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 16% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 1.3 jobs in Dudley for each resident in work. Just over a quarter of commuters who live in Dudley also work there. At the census, 20% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, lower than both West Midlands’ towns (23%) and England’s towns (27%). The average household earns £43K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Dudley’s listed buildings include Dudley Castle, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 10% of the total, between West Midlands’ towns (7%) and England’s towns (16%). The national list protects 3 ancient monuments locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
95 listed buildings in Dudley, 2 of them Grade I.
Dudley Castle: Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Priory Ruins: Photo: Erebus555 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Drinking Fountain, Market Place, Dudley: Photo: Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Shakespeare Public House: Photo: Stephen Rogerson · CC BY-SA 2.0
115 notable people were born in Dudley.
Duncan Edwards: ChrisTheDude, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sam Allardyce: Egghead06, CC BY-SA 4.0 · James Whale: Universal Studios, Public domain · Jason Bonham: Toglenn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dorothy Round: Central News (Agence photographique). Agence photographique pour le document reproduit (commanditaire) Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire), Public domain · Lenny Henry: Dudley Council, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudley | 64,277 | — | C− | A | D− | D |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 2 | D | C− | C− | D |
| Sedgley | 31,976 | 2.1 | C | B+ | C− | C |
| Coseley | 25,206 | 2.4 | C− | A− | C− | D |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 2.4 | D− | C− | D | D |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 2.5 | C | A | D | C− |
| Tipton | 47,202 | 2.6 | D− | C− | D | D− |
| Kingswinford | 51,900 | 2.9 | C+ | B+ | C+ | C |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
At the 2021 Census, 12% of Dudley’s 64,277 residents were 15 to 24 and 15% were 65 or over, against 12% and 18% across England’s towns.
GCSE results trail 63% of towns in England, and primary results trail 82% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £195,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £120,000, terraced houses £180,000, semi-detached houses £198,000 and detached houses £300,000.
Large town in West Midlands, England
Dudley is a built-up area of 64,277 people, in the Dudley 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.