Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town, home to 7,184 people, lies in Wiltshire, South West.
People here tend to be in good health: men here can expect to live to 82.5, women to 85.3. Overall, Malmesbury earns an A+, which places it #2 of 30 in Wiltshire. Set against the rest, it does better than 96% of UK towns. Hazards are a real consideration: 0.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Buying the median home, at £355,000, takes 5.9 years of household income in the Wiltshire council area.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Malmesbury 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 Malmesbury is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 318 buildings inside Malmesbury’s built-up area, 6 of them Grade I, and 4 scheduled monuments.
24% 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 1903.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Malmesbury.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 24% of the total. Malmesbury has 318 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 6 Grade I, 14 Grade II*. Its listed buildings include the Abbey Church of St Mary and St Aldhelm, Grade I. Of the town’s land, 23% lies in conservation areas, higher than both Wiltshire’s towns (10%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 2 primary schools: 69% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Malmesbury Church of England Primary School’s results beat three quarters of schools in England like it. Secondary results at the one secondary school within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 49.9, with 51% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malmesbury Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 410 | A− |
| Malmesbury SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,438 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 40% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working from home was the norm for two in five workers at the census. Just over a quarter of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, above Wiltshire’s towns (21%) and close to England’s towns (27%). Households take home £67K a year before tax, on average. Also worth knowing: of the commuters living in Malmesbury, 37% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
85% of Malmesbury’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, higher than both Wiltshire’s towns (83%) and England’s towns (82%). The nearest A&E to Malmesbury is Great Western Hospital, 16.4 miles away. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4% of the town. One GP practice serves the town; 91% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey.
| Census 2021 | Malmesbury | Wiltshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The 65-and-over age group makes up just over a fifth of residents. Malmesbury has a median age of 43.9. Those aged 15 to 24 account for 11% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Malmesbury | Wiltshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 42% | 31% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Wiltshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Violence and sexual offences accounted for 44% of recorded crime. Police recorded 297 crimes inside Malmesbury’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 56 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Malmesbury has less crime per resident than just over three quarters of them.
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.
477 standard sales inside Malmesbury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £355,000. 15% live in social housing, about level with Wiltshire’s towns (16%) and below England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £1,082 a month across the Wiltshire council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £507,497 | 162 |
| Semi-detached | £315,000 | 134 |
| Terraced | £318,246 | 130 |
| Flat or maisonette | £227,000 | 51 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Malmesbury. Best known first.
Abbey or prioryMarlmesbury Abbey and Groundsin townMuseumMuseumAthelstan Museumin townGardenGardenAbbey House Gardensin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
318 listed buildings in Malmesbury, 6 of them Grade I.
Abbey Church of St Mary and St Aldhelm: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Cross: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · St Pauls Bell Tower: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Avon Mills, Outer Buldings: Photo: Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
20 notable people were born in Malmesbury.
Thomas Hobbes: John Michael Wright, Public domain · Alice Seeley Harris: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain · Martha Thomas: Katie Chan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · James Constable: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malmesbury | 7,184 | — | A+ | B | B+ | A− |
| Tetbury | 6,454 | 4.6 | B− | C− | B− | A− |
| Sherston | 1,394 | 4.8 | — | C | A | A |
| Sutton Benger | 1,270 | 5.6 | — | B− | A− | A+ |
| Avening | 1,054 | 7.1 | — | C− | A | A |
| Lyneham | 4,645 | 7.9 | A+ | A | A+ | B+ |
| Ashton Keynes | 1,425 | 8.2 | — | C+ | A+ | A |
| Chippenham | 36,084 | 9 | B+ | B+ | C+ | B− |
Sherston, Sutton Benger, Avening and Ashton Keynes have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 18.2 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Abbey Church of St Mary and St Aldhelm. It also has 4 scheduled monuments.
Primary schools stand out: Key Stage 2 results beat 84% of towns in England. Secondary results beat 73%. Malmesbury has 3 state schools; places are handled by Wiltshire council.
Town in Wiltshire, England
Malmesbury is a built-up area of 7,184 people, in the Wiltshire 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.