Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 88,111 in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Halifax grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 40% of UK towns, and #61 of 91 in West Yorkshire. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £152,000, 3.2 years of area income; rent £756 a month. Its weakest is safety (D−): 74.5 violent and sexual offences and 25.9 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 3%.
The 3 things Halifax 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 Halifax is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 337 buildings inside Halifax’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
35% 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 1850 and a map from c. 1884.
Explore the history →Halifax, Massachusetts, is named after Halifax.
USUS editionHalifax, Massachusetts, settled in 1669, takes its name from this large town.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Halifax. Best known first.
MuseumBankfield Museumin town
MuseumCalderdale Industrial Museumin town
MuseumEureka! The National Children's Museumin town
MuseumShibden Hall400 m outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumDuke of Wellington's Regiment Museumin townAttractionAttractionThe Piece Hallin 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 Halifax.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 12,568 crimes and 1,468 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Halifax’s built-up area. There were 14.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above West Yorkshire’s towns (6.8) and England’s towns (7.8) alike. 47% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
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.
Halifax’s 25 primaries and six secondaries have 14,180 pupils between them. Of its 34 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Attainment 8 at the town’s 6 secondary schools averages 52.9, and 58% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity Academy WhitehillLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 593 | B− |
| Trinity Academy HalifaxLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,624 | B+ |
| The North Halifax Grammar SchoolTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 1,207 | A+ |
Only one of the 91 towns in West Yorkshire costs less to buy into than Halifax, whose median sale is £152,000. The median sale, £152,000, comes from 3,084 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Home ownership stands at 57% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £325,000 | 250 |
| Semi-detached | £188,950 | 888 |
| Terraced | £130,000 | 1,678 |
| Flat or maisonette | £123,000 | 268 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Self-reported good health: nearly four fifths of Halifax’s residents. At the census, 6.4% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above West Yorkshire’s towns (5.7%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. 9 GP practices serve the town; 67% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Halifax | West Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.4% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 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.
At the top of the list, 3 are Grade I and 38 Grade II*. Halifax’s listed buildings include the Church of All Souls, Grade I. Just over a third of homes date from before 1919. Conservation areas cover 15% of the town’s land, between West Yorkshire’s towns (96%) and 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 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Households had £44K a year before tax, below both West Yorkshire’s towns (£52K) and England’s towns (£55K). Of the commuters living in Halifax, 49% work in the town itself. There are 1.1 jobs in Halifax for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The share of residents under 15 is 20%. Typical age in Halifax: 37.9, the median. The 15-to-24 age group: 12%, below West Yorkshire’s towns (13%) and close to England’s towns (12%).
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Halifax | West Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
337 listed buildings in Halifax, 3 of them Grade I.
Church of St John the Baptist: Photo: Jwholdsworth · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Piece Hall, Westgate, Halifax: Photo: Chris Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of All Souls: Photo: Plucas58 · Public domain · Bailey Hall Mill: Photo: Peter James · CC BY-SA 4.0
306 notable people were born in Halifax.
Ed Sheeran: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John E. Walker: Mogens Engelund, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Oliver Smithies: Douglas A. Lockard, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Anne Lister: Joshua Horner, Public domain · Paddy Kenny: OutboardOlive56, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jacob Brown: Timmy96, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halifax | 88,111 | — | C+ | A | D− | D |
| Sowerby Bridge | 4,483 | 2.2 | C+ | A | D− | C− |
| Luddenden Foot | 2,148 | 2.3 | — | A | D | C+ |
| Shelf and Northowram | 9,191 | 3 | B+ | A− | C+ | B+ |
| Queensbury | 9,707 | 3.1 | C+ | A− | C− | C− |
| Elland | 15,788 | 3.2 | B | A | D | C− |
| Holywell Green and Stainland | 2,799 | 3.6 | B+ | A− | C | C |
| Brighouse | 33,159 | 4 | B− | A− | D | C |
Luddenden Foot has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 97% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more report less.
That is 1.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Church of All Souls. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £152,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £123,000, terraced houses £130,000, semi-detached houses £188,950 and detached houses £325,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Large town in West Yorkshire, England
Halifax is a built-up area of 88,111 people, in the Calderdale 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.