Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 44,494 residents, it is a large town in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Safety lags: 48.3 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 19.3 home and vehicle crimes. Against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has more crime per resident than 86%. It also trails on health — men here can expect to live to 76.7, women to 80.4. Its strongest is cost of living: the median home sold for £184,150, 3.8 years of area income. The overall grade comes out at C+, better than 39% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #62 of 91 in West Yorkshire. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B− for schools, B for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · life expectancy, ONS · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Batley 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 Batley is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 78 buildings inside Batley’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
25% 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 Batley.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Over the year to August 2026, 4,283 offences were reported in Batley, along with 722 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 12.4 reports per 1,000, higher than both West Yorkshire’s towns (6.8) and England’s towns (7.8). Violence and sexual offences made up 46% 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.
Between them, 19 primaries and three secondaries teach 7,378 pupils in Batley. Below are three of its 25 schools, each with why it was picked. Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 44.2, and 41% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healey Junior Infant and Nursery SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 402 | C− |
| Batley Girls' High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,415 | C+ |
| St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior, Infant and Early Years SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 187 | A+ |
Behind the median of £184,150: 1,214 standard sales inside Batley’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Private rents average £782 a month across the Kirklees council area. The social rented sector houses 19% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £320,000 | 209 |
| Semi-detached | £210,000 | 492 |
| Terraced | £139,950 | 471 |
| Flat or maisonette | £76,250 | 42 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
8 GP practices serve the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 6.1% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above West Yorkshire’s towns (5.7%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. Self-reported good health: 80% of Batley’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Batley | West Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.1% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Historic England’s list names 78 listed buildings in Batley: 1 Grade I, 5 Grade II*. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. Conservation areas cover just over a tenth of the town’s land, below West Yorkshire’s towns (96%) but above England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
28% of commuters who live in Batley also work there. Jobs per working resident: 1.1. Households had £44K a year before tax, lower than both West Yorkshire’s towns (£52K) and England’s towns (£55K). The census counted 21% of workers working mainly from home.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Young adults of 15 to 24 are 13% of residents, close to West Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and above England’s towns (12%). 21% of residents are children under 15. Residents of Batley have a median age of 36.2. People 65 and over make up 14% of the town.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Batley | West Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 26% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.2% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Batley. Best known first.
MuseumBagshaw Museumin town
Historic houseOakwell Hall200 m outside town, to the northwest
Historic houseRed House Museum500 m outside town, to the northwest
MuseumDewsbury Bus Museum2.9 km outside town, to the south
ZooPonderosa Zoo1.8 km outside town, to the southwestAttractionAttractionMission Out3.9 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
78 listed buildings in Batley, 1 of them Grade I.
Bagshaw Museum (The Woodlands): Photo: OlderBrother · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church of St Peter: Photo: Mark Stevenson · CC BY 2.0 · Zion Methodist Chapel: Photo: Golcarlad · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Railway Viaduct: Photo: Betty Longbottom · CC BY-SA 2.0
34 notable people were born in Batley.
Joseph Priestley: Ellen Sharples, Public domain · Robert Edwards: Susannny, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Robert Palmer: Nathan Callahan from Southern California, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Arthur Roche: Lorenzo Iorfino, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tracy Brabin: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · Ellen Nussey: Frederic Yates (1854–1919), Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batley | 44,494 | — | C+ | A | D | D |
| Heckmondwike | 13,368 | 1.1 | C+ | A | D | D |
| Dewsbury | 63,730 | 2.3 | C− | A | D− | D |
| Liversedge | 17,519 | 2.5 | C+ | A | D | C− |
| Drighlington | 5,280 | 2.6 | C+ | C | C− | C+ |
| Morley | 32,562 | 2.7 | B− | B− | D | C |
| Gomersal and Birkenshaw | 13,948 | 2.7 | B | A− | C | C+ |
| Gildersome | 6,278 | 2.9 | C+ | C+ | C | C |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Its Grade I building is Church of All Saints.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £184,150, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £76,250, terraced houses £139,950, semi-detached houses £210,000 and detached houses £320,000.
Large town in West Yorkshire, England
Batley is a built-up area of 44,494 people, in the Kirklees 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.