Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 2,515 residents in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. The local economy does well: households earn a mean £65,254 a year, and 1.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Add safety to its strengths: 11.7 violent and sexual offences and 7.3 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. It is hard to get around without a car: 11% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. At a median £275,000, a home costs 5.7 times the yearly income of households in the Kirklees council area. Put together, the subjects come to an A overall, better than 93% of UK towns. That places it #3 of 91 in West Yorkshire.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Shepley 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 Shepley is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 10 buildings inside Shepley’s built-up area.
33% 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 Shepley.
The 12 months to August 2026 brought 46 recorded crimes inside Shepley’s built-up area, and 5 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences made up 48% of the total. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 2.5 reports per 1,000, below both West Yorkshire’s towns (7.1) and England’s towns (7.8).
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.
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. Below is its only school. 61% of pupils at the 2 primary schools within 3 km met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shepley First SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 168 | – |
The nearest A&E to Shepley is Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, 6.5 miles away. Asked at the census, 86% of residents of Shepley said they were in good or very good health. At the census, 16% of people here had a disability, below West Yorkshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%) alike. One GP practice serves the town; nearly nine in ten patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Shepley | West Yorkshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 86% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.6% | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 38% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
88% of commuters drove, above both West Yorkshire’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%). Home was the main workplace for 38% of workers at the census. Of the commuters living in Shepley, 7% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Shepley has 0.5 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Shepley has 10 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, all Grade II. Conservation areas cover 20% 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
Social housing holds 4% of households, below both West Yorkshire’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (18%). Just over one in ten households are private tenants. Private rents average £782 a month across the Kirklees council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £415,000 | 32 |
| Semi-detached | £262,500 | 37 |
| Terraced | £218,000 | 44 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Aged 15 to 24: 9.3% of residents. At 46.4, the median resident of Shepley sits in the middle of the age range. Degrees are held by just over two in five adults, higher than both West Yorkshire’s towns (30%) and England’s towns (34%).
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Shepley | West Yorkshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 17% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.1% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 42% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Yorkshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shepley | 2,515 | — | A | B | A | A− |
| Shelley | 2,696 | 1 | A | B− | A | A− |
| Kirkburton | 4,033 | 2.1 | A− | B+ | B | B+ |
| Denby Dale | 2,734 | 2.4 | A− | B | B | B− |
| Scholes (near Hade Edge) | 1,888 | 2.6 | — | B+ | C | A |
| Skelmanthorpe | 4,458 | 2.6 | B | B | C+ | C+ |
| Honley | 14,399 | 2.7 | A− | B− | B− | A− |
| Lepton | 4,950 | 3.4 | B+ | B+ | B− | B |
Scholes (near Hade Edge) has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 1.6 times the typical UK town for its size.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 86% of towns in England. Primary results are closer to the middle, trailing 54%. One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Kirklees council.
Town in West Yorkshire, England
Shepley is a built-up area of 2,515 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.