Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
14,399 people live in this town in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Honley’s schools beat most (A−): primary results beat 64% of towns in England; secondary results beat 96% of towns in England. Health is a strength too: life expectancy 82.1 for men, 85 for women. Buying the median home, at £279,997, takes 5.8 years of household income in the Kirklees council area. Hazard risk is higher than most: 1.2% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. The overall grade lands at A−, #9 of 91 in West Yorkshire. It comes out better than 82% of UK towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety and B− for walkability.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021.
The 3 things Honley 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 Honley is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 163 buildings inside Honley’s built-up area.
28% 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 Honley.
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 163 listed buildings in Honley, every one Grade II. Of the town’s land, 11% lies in conservation areas, lower than West Yorkshire’s towns (96%) yet higher than England’s towns (7%). Scaled to its population, that is 113 listed buildings for every 10,000 people locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Netherthong Primary School’s results beat 92% of schools in England like it. Attainment 8 at the town’s 2 secondary schools averages 55.5, and 69% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Three of its 7 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Honley’s five primaries and two secondaries have 3,584 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honley CofE (VC) Junior, Infant and Nursery SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 373 | C |
| Holmfirth High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,328 | A |
| Netherthong Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 213 | A |
2 GP practices serve the town; 93% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Self-reported good health: 84% of Honley’s residents. The nearest A&E to Honley is Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, 4.5 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Honley | West Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.9% | 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.
For its size, Honley records less crime per resident than nearly three quarters of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 675 crimes and 80 reports of anti-social behaviour inside the town’s built-up area. Violence came to 26.4 per 1,000 residents a year, between West Yorkshire’s towns (31.8) and England’s towns (22).
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
13% rent privately, below both West Yorkshire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). Social housing holds nearly one in ten households. Behind the median of £279,997: 760 standard sales inside Honley’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £427,495 | 274 |
| Semi-detached | £265,000 | 196 |
| Terraced | £204,500 | 256 |
| Flat or maisonette | £161,500 | 34 |
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 32% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Driving is how 84% of commuters got to work at the census. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 33%, lower than both West Yorkshire’s towns (46%) and England’s towns (45%). Households take home £58K a year before tax, on average. Work in town: 15% of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Degrees are held by nearly two in five adults. Children under 15 make up 16%, below West Yorkshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.7% of residents. Honley has a median age of 47.6 years.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Honley | West Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 24% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.9% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 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 Honley. Best known first.
MuseumTolson Museum4.1 km outside town, to the north
Art galleryHuddersfield Library and Art Gallery3.6 km outside town, to the north
MuseumColne Valley Museum4.8 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumHeritage Quay3.6 km outside town, to the northHistoric siteHistoric siteVictoria Tower1.4 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
163 listed buildings in Honley.
Honley Bridge: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wood Royd Methodist Church: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christ Church: Photo: Tim Green from Bradford · CC BY 2.0 · Cricketers Arms: Photo: Betty Longbottom · CC BY-SA 2.0
5 notable people were born in Honley.
Clement Armitage: Bassano Ltd, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honley | 14,399 | — | A− | B− | B− | A− |
| Netherton (Kirklees) | 3,151 | 2 | B− | B+ | C+ | C+ |
| Holmfirth | 4,982 | 2 | A− | B− | C | A |
| Upperthong | 1,094 | 2.2 | — | C | A+ | A |
| Scholes (near Hade Edge) | 1,888 | 2.3 | — | B+ | C | A |
| Shepley | 2,515 | 2.7 | A | B | A | A− |
| Holmbridge | 1,219 | 3.1 | — | B | B− | A |
| Shelley | 2,696 | 3.1 | A | B− | A | A− |
Upperthong, Scholes (near Hade Edge) and Holmbridge have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 4.6 times the typical UK town for its size.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 96% of towns in England. Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 64%.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in West Yorkshire, England
Honley is a built-up area of 14,399 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.