Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
42% of households own their home with no mortgage. In Worcestershire, West Midlands, this large town has 33,194 residents.
Jobs and pay trail most towns: households earn a mean £51,718 a year, and 3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Great Malvern ranks #13 of 22 in Worcestershire, with a B− overall. On that grade it does better than 49% of UK towns. At a median £300,000, a home costs 5.6 times the yearly income of households in the Malvern Hills council area. It is easy to get around without a car (A−): on the way to work, 20% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Elsewhere it is close to typical: C+ for health and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Great Malvern 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 Great Malvern is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 212 buildings inside Great Malvern’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
24% 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 Great Malvern.
39% of adults hold a degree, above Worcestershire’s towns (32%) and England’s towns (34%) alike. Children are 15% of the town. The middle age in Great Malvern is 49.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
| Great Malvern | Worcestershire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 27% | 22% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 18% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.3% | 5.8% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Worcestershire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Of its 10 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. The Chase’s results beat just over three quarters of schools in England like it. Attainment 8 at the town’s 2 secondary schools averages 48.1, and 47% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Somers Park Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 582 | C+ |
| The ChaseLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,449 | A− |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Great Malvern’s 212 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 2 and Grade II* 5. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of St Leonard, Grade I. Nearly a quarter of its homes were built before 1919, above Worcestershire’s towns (15%) and England’s towns (16%) alike.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 31% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Driving is how nearly four in five commuters got to work at the census. Work in town: nearly half of resident commuters. There are 1.1 jobs in Great Malvern for each resident in work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
There were 12.1 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both Worcestershire’s towns (6.3) and England’s towns (7.8). 2,082 crimes and 353 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Great Malvern’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences were 45% of the crimes.
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.
15% rent privately, about level with Worcestershire’s towns (15%) and below England’s towns (21%). Private rents average £945 a month across the Malvern Hills council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 1,493 homes sold inside Great Malvern’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £300,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £400,000 | 517 |
| Semi-detached | £290,000 | 501 |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 227 |
| Flat or maisonette | £196,750 | 248 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
4 GP practices serve the town; 86% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 80% of Great Malvern’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, below Worcestershire’s towns (82%) and England’s towns (82%) alike. The nearest A&E to Great Malvern is Worcestershire Royal Hospital, 7.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Great Malvern | Worcestershire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Great Malvern. Best known first.
MuseumMalvern Museumin town
Historic houseMadresfield Court1.2 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseLittle Malvern Priory2.6 km outside town, to the south
Abbey or prioryStanbrook Abbey4.1 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumBritish National Fencing Museum2.2 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
212 listed buildings in Great Malvern, 2 of them Grade I.
The Council House (Malvern Hills District Council Offices): Photo: Malpensilo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Main Building of Malvern College: Photo: Bob Embleton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aldwyn Tower: Photo: Malpensilo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Foley Arms Hotel: Photo: Malpensilo · CC BY-SA 4.0
28 notable people were born in Great Malvern.
Cher Lloyd: Mila Austin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Robert Conquest: Rob C. Croes (ANEFO), CC0 · Caroline Lucas: David Woolfall, CC BY 3.0 · Jacqui Smith: ©House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0 · R. E. Foster: George Beldam, Public domain · Liam Killeen: Sapin88, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Malvern | 33,194 | — | B− | B | C+ | C+ |
| Malvern Wells | 1,757 | 3 | — | C | A | A |
| Colwall Stone | 1,857 | 3.2 | — | C− | A− | A− |
| Collett's Green | 1,542 | 3.6 | — | B− | A− | A− |
| Welland | 1,309 | 4.4 | — | B− | B+ | B− |
| Kempsey | 3,753 | 4.6 | B− | B | B− | B |
| Rushwick | 1,195 | 5 | — | B | B+ | B+ |
| Upton upon Severn | 2,403 | 5.7 | — | B+ | C+ | C+ |
Malvern Wells, Colwall Stone, Collett's Green, Welland, Rushwick and Upton upon Severn have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Priory Church of St Mary and St Michael. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
About the middle for its size: 37% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Large town in Worcestershire, England
Great Malvern is a built-up area of 33,194 people, in the Malvern Hills 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.