Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Walking, cycling and public transport carry 15% of commuters. 2,734 people live in this town in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Denby Dale’s best grade is for schools — primary results beat 53% of towns in England; secondary results beat 86% of towns in England. It also does well on jobs & income — households earn a mean £56,649 a year, and 1.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Homes sell for a median £253,000, about 5.3 years of what households in the Kirklees council area earn. Natural hazards weigh more here: 2.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. All told, that adds up to an A− overall and a rank of #14 of 91 in West Yorkshire. On that grade it does better than 78% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety, B− for health and B for walkability.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Denby Dale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Denby Dale does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 7 buildings inside Denby Dale’s built-up area.
24% 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 Denby Dale.
The share of residents under 15 is 16%. Nearly one in ten residents are 15 to 24, below both West Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%). Typical age in Denby Dale: 47.4, the median. Degrees are held by 39% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Denby Dale | West Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.8% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The town has one school, shown below. At the one primary school within 3 km, 62% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Secondary results at the one secondary school within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 51.8, with 59% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denby Dale First and Nursery SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 112 | – |
Private renters make up 16% of households, lower than both West Yorkshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). 5% of households rent from a council or housing body. 138 standard sales inside Denby Dale’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £253,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £390,000 | 51 |
| Semi-detached | £222,500 | 32 |
| Terraced | £208,750 | 54 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Reported offences in Denby Dale came to 106 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 9. Burglary and damage come to 8.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 43% 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Nearly a quarter of its homes were built before 1919, above West Yorkshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Scaled to its population, Denby Dale has 26 listed buildings per 10,000 people, near West Yorkshire’s towns (25) and lower than England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 34% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
By car: that was how 83% of commuters travelled at the census. About 8% of its commuters stay in Denby Dale for work. There are 0.6 jobs in Denby Dale for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Denby Dale is Barnsley Hospital, 6.5 miles away. This West Yorkshire town has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 1.3 miles away. At the census, 83% of people in Denby Dale called their health good or very good, higher than West Yorkshire’s towns (81%) and near England’s towns (82%).
| Census 2021 | Denby Dale | West Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.3% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Denby Dale. Best known first.
MuseumCannon Hall3.3 km outside town, to the east
MuseumCawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum4.5 km outside town, to the eastHeritage railwayHeritage railwayWhistlestop Valley2.4 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumDe Morgan Museum3.2 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumSkelmanthorpe Textile Heritage Centre1.2 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
3 notable people were born in Denby Dale.
Paul Copley: Mahmoud Osman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Daniel Kitson: IanDunn, CC BY 3.0
Town in West Yorkshire, England
Denby Dale is a built-up area of 2,734 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denby Dale | 2,734 | — | A− | B | B | B− |
| Skelmanthorpe | 4,458 | 1.4 | B | B | C+ | C+ |
| Clayton West and Scissett | 4,382 | 2.2 | B | B | C | B− |
| Shepley | 2,515 | 2.4 | A | B | A | A− |
| Shelley | 2,696 | 2.5 | A | B− | A | A− |
| Hoylandswaine | 1,038 | 2.9 | — | D | A | A |
| Emley | 1,433 | 3 | — | C+ | B+ | C+ |
| Thurlstone | 1,003 | 3.1 | — | C+ | B− | C+ |
Hoylandswaine, Emley and Thurlstone have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.