Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0How Wiltshire stacks up
Among its neighbours, Wiltshire leads on cost of living and flood risk and trails on schools. Its standout town is Mere, #9 in the UK for schools. Its overall score of 83 ranks 12th, an A−.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
14th of 65A−80/100 Safe, town after town. Town after town lands in the top quarter for the UK: 45% of residents live in one. Wiltshire records 27.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 56 per 1,000 residents a year, 13th lowest.
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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Hardly any high-crime towns
Rudloe leads its towns at #136 of 2,138, with Purton and Cricklade close behind.
| 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% | |
| Wiltshire | 45% | 0% |
What the two figures count
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Wiltshire, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
52nd of 90C+43/100 Results slightly under the middle for England. Mere ranks #9 of 2,331 towns in the UK for schools. At the end of primary school it ranks 8th lowest of 47 English counties, with 60% of pupils at the expected standard in all three Rs. Secondary schools pull ahead of primaries here: 8th lowest at eleven, but 23rd lowest at GCSE.
At GCSE, pupils average 45.6 on Attainment 8 (23rd lowest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Cost of living
64th of 98C+35/100 Pricier than the typical area. Among its neighbours it does best on affordability, with Hampshire second. Homes cost 5.2 times what the average household takes in a year: a typical sale of £305,000 against income of £58,300. Westbury leads its towns at #575 of 2,515; 30% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Typical sale price: £305,000 (8,663 sales, 21st highest).
Private rent £1,086 a month (25th highest); Band D council tax £2,530 (15th highest). 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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Health
15th of 98A86/100 Consistently healthy. Wiltshire ranks 8th longest for healthy life expectancy, at 68.0 years. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Downton ranks highest, at #166.
Life expectancy at birth: 82.3 years, 8th longest.
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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Jobs & income
27th of 98B+73/100 Well off, town after town. The average household income is £58,300 a year. 17% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 1% in a bottom-quarter one; Broad Blunsdon ranks highest.
Claimant rate: 2.7% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 28th lowest. Counted half 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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Getting about
54th of 98B−46/100 Typical for getting about. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (43rd highest). Only Marlborough (#109 of 2,515) stands out; no other town comes close.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 33% 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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Flood risk
30th of 87B+66/100 Slightly lower flood risk than average. Among its neighbours it does best on flood risk, with Dorset second. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 2,945 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 1.1% of them. Highworth leads its towns at #328 of 2,452; 23% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
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. 30 Wiltshire towns.
Growth
12th of 98A89/100 Growing faster than most. Its standout is Old Sarum, #8 in the UK for growth. Wiltshire grew 12.2% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +2.8% (48th 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. 21 Wiltshire towns. Covers 92% of residents of Wiltshire’s graded towns.
How Wiltshire compares to its neighbours
Wiltshire beats every neighbour on cost of living and flood risk; on schools, every neighbour beats it.
| Wiltshire | Somerset | Gloucestershire | Dorset | Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A− 8312th of 65 | B 5629th of 65 | B+ 6722nd of 65 | B+ 7318th of 65 | A− 7815th of 65 |
| Safety | A− 8014th official · 45% in top towns | C 2848th official · 26% in top towns | B 5926th official · 28% in top towns | A 8611th official · 61% in top towns | B 6331st official · 35% in top towns |
| Schools | C+ 4340th official · 11% in top towns | B− 5438th official · 13% in top towns | B 5520th official · 5% in top towns | A− 7529th official · 33% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 13% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 3565th official · 30% in top towns | D 1082nd official · 0% in top towns | C− 2081st official · 7% in top towns | D 593rd official · 0% in top towns | C 3178th official · 34% in top towns |
| Health | A 868th official · 39% in top towns | A 8710th official · 49% in top towns | A 908th official · 50% in top towns | A− 8212th official · 38% in top towns | A 8510th official · 49% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B+ 7316th official · 17% in top towns | A− 8424th official · 28% in top towns | A 9218th official · 37% in top towns | B 6232nd official · 12% in top towns | A 918th official · 49% in top towns |
| Getting about | B− 4643rd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7340th official · 15% in top towns | C+ 3654th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7037th official · 3% in top towns | B+ 6933rd official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B+ 6618th official · 23% in top towns | C 2842nd official · 19% in top towns | C 3330th official · 16% in top towns | B− 4915th official · 13% in top towns | C+ 4031st official · 20% in top towns |
| Growth | A 8914th official · 50% in top towns | B+ 6920th official · 20% in top towns | A− 7712th official · 20% in top towns | B− 5445th official · 11% in top towns | B+ 6539th official · 23% 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.