Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,808 in Wiltshire, South West.
Mere grades A− overall against UK towns: better than 79% of UK towns, and #9 of 30 in Wiltshire. Its strongest subject is schools (A+): primary results beat 99% of towns in England. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £52,031; 3.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £360,000 in the last three years, 6 times what households in the Wiltshire council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Mere 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 Mere is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 71 buildings inside Mere’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
32% 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 Mere.
On this, Mere is above both Wiltshire’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%). Under-15s account for 13% of the population. The median resident of Mere is 55.4 years old.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
| Mere | Wiltshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 7.3% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 35% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 31% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Wiltshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Mere School’s results beat 94% of schools in England like it. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mere SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 239 | A |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
In the comparison, Mere comes above both Wiltshire’s towns (119) and England’s towns (39). Mere’s listed buildings include Church of St Michael the Archangel, Grade I. Mere has 71 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 1 Grade I, 3 Grade II*.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
For Mere, that is above both Wiltshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (17%). Women here live to 84.6 on average and men to 83.2 (2019–23). These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2021 | Mere | Wiltshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Mere sits below both Wiltshire’s towns (44%) and England’s towns (45%) on this measure. 15% of commuters went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
That puts Mere above both Wiltshire’s towns (7.2) and England’s towns (9.4). Police recorded 139 crimes inside Mere’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 34 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences were 44% of the crimes; the police category includes harassment and stalking.
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
Owners make up 68% of households, close to Wiltshire’s towns (65%) and above England’s towns (61%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £436,500 | 62 |
| Semi-detached | £366,700 | 43 |
| Terraced | £270,000 | 37 |
| Flat or maisonette | £171,000 | 11 |
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 Mere. Best known first.
MuseumMere Museumin town
Garden · National TrustStourhead Park3.6 km outside town, to the west
Historic house · National TrustStourhead House3.1 km outside town, to the northwestMuseumMuseumVisit Hillbrush300 m outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumGillingham Museum4.9 km outside town, to the southCastleCastleMere Castle100 m outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
71 listed buildings in Mere, 1 of them Grade I.
Old Ship Hotel: Photo: Nicola K. Reiss · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Clock Tower: Photo: Nicola K. Reiss · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Glebe House: Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Glebe Cottage: Photo: Smb1001 · CC BY-SA 3.0
4 notable people were born in Mere.
Ian Bone: Leutha, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mere | 2,808 | — | A− | B | B | A− |
| Gillingham | 11,009 | 3.6 | C+ | C− | B | B |
| Motcombe | 1,366 | 4.7 | — | D− | A+ | A |
| Shaftesbury | 9,163 | 6.7 | C− | C− | C+ | B |
| Wincanton | 6,744 | 6.8 | C− | C+ | C− | B− |
| Tisbury | 2,274 | 8.1 | — | B | C+ | A |
| Bruton | 2,816 | 8.3 | B | C | C+ | A− |
| Warminster | 18,018 | 8.5 | B | A− | C+ | C+ |
Motcombe and Tisbury have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary results beat 99% of towns in England (Department for Education, Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Wiltshire council.
That is 10.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of St Michael the Archangel.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Wiltshire, England
Mere is a built-up area of 2,808 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.