Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0How West Yorkshire stacks up
Only one area records more violent crime per resident than West Yorkshire: police recorded 52.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents over the past year. Bramhope ranks #15 of 2,515 towns in the UK for health, the best showing of any town here. West Yorkshire ranks 40th overall, with a C+ and a score of 39.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
61st of 65D6/100 Among the areas with the most recorded crime. By police.uk’s count, violent crime here comes to 52.3 offences per 1,000 residents a year, 38% above the England and Wales figure. 69% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Leeds and Bradford. North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Lancashire all do better on safety.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 111 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2nd highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
The big places weigh on the total
At the quiet end sit Shelley (#98), Shepley (#110) and Addingham (#197) of 2,138 towns. The busiest quarter for recorded crime takes in Huddersfield, Wakefield and Halifax.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| West Yorkshire | 11% | 69% |
Town centres and the people who live there
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
36th of 90B61/100 Schools a notch above average. 62% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of primary school, against 64% across England (23rd highest). Addingham leads its towns at #22 of 2,331; 13% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
GCSE: an average Attainment 8 score of 45.9, 21st highest. The grade weighs primary and GCSE results equally.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Cost of living
46th of 98B−54/100 Middle of the road on cost. Nearly every town does well here, Halifax and Sowerby Bridge among them. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £217,000, or 4.5 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Typical prices are up 17% on five years ago.
Typical sale price: £217,000 (23,736 sales, 48th lowest).
Private rent £900 a month (42nd highest); Band D council tax £2,345 (41st lowest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Health
67th of 98C32/100 Health a notch below average. West Yorkshire ranks 10th shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 63.0 years. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Bramhope ranks highest, at #15.
Life expectancy at birth: 79.4 years, 11th shortest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Jobs & income
58th of 98C+41/100 Incomes a notch below average. West Yorkshire ranks 45th lowest for household income, at £47,800 a year before tax. Incomes and work tell different stories: 45th lowest household income, but the 3rd highest share claiming out-of-work benefits (5.0%). Menston leads its towns at #19 of 2,156; 13% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 5.0% of working-age adults (3rd highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Getting about
20th of 98A−80/100 Easier to get about than most. Hebden Bridge leads its towns at #78 of 2,515; 25% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. At the 2021 Census, 21% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 4 points below the England and Wales figure.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 28% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Flood risk
52nd of 87C+41/100 A bit more flood risk than most. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Bramhope ranks highest, at #91. About one in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (21st lowest).
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 91 West Yorkshire towns.
Growth
27th of 98B+73/100 Healthy growth. Since 2011 it has grown 9.3%, the 37th fastest change of 98 areas. Bramhope leads its towns at #120 of 1,579; 37% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.6%, 26th fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 59 West Yorkshire towns. Covers 92% of residents of West Yorkshire’s graded towns.
How West Yorkshire compares to its neighbours
Against North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Derbyshire, West Yorkshire trails on safety.
| West Yorkshire | North Yorkshire | South Yorkshire | Greater Manchester | Lancashire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C+ 3940th of 65 | A− 7517th of 65 | D 1357th of 65 | No overall grade | C 2748th of 65 |
| Safety | D 664th official · 11% in top towns | B− 5343rd official · 34% in top towns | D 860th official · 14% in top towns | Not graded | C− 1758th official · 24% in top towns |
| Schools | B 6123rd official · 13% in top towns | B+ 6919th official · 17% in top towns | B− 4522nd official · 6% in top towns | B+ 6715th official · 14% in top towns | B− 4733rd official · 12% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B− 5442nd official · 47% in top towns | B− 4556th official · 52% in top towns | B 6034th official · 48% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 6% in top towns | B− 5335th official · 36% in top towns |
| Health | C 3246th official · 13% in top towns | B+ 7322nd official · 34% in top towns | D 1248th official · 4% in top towns | C− 2447th official · 10% in top towns | C 3344th official · 13% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C+ 4154th official · 13% in top towns | A− 8043rd official · 37% in top towns | D 1063rd official · 3% in top towns | C+ 3864th official · 12% in top towns | C 2578th official · 9% in top towns |
| Getting about | A− 8031st official · 25% in top towns | A− 7733rd official · 24% in top towns | B− 4842nd official · 0% in top towns | A− 8218th official · 21% in top towns | B 6157th official · 4% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C+ 4121st official · 13% in top towns | C 2746th official · 21% in top towns | B− 4843rd official · 32% in top towns | A− 7617th official · 31% in top towns | C− 1541st official · 11% in top towns |
| Growth | B+ 7337th official · 37% in top towns | B− 5151st official · 9% in top towns | C+ 4451st official · 5% in top towns | A− 8415th official · 33% in top towns | B 6234th official · 17% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.