Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0How Worcestershire stacks up
In Worcestershire, across its towns, 39% of residents live in one of the safest towns in the UK. The good news is long healthy lives (66.9 years of healthy life expectancy); the bad news, car dependence and primary results 14th lowest among the English counties. Put together, the subjects come to a C+, 41st of 65 graded areas.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
22nd of 65B+67/100 A little safer than average. Police recorded 32.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents over the past year, 13% below the England and Wales figure (27th lowest of 65 areas with police.uk figures). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Astwood Bank ranks highest, at #50.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 69 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 28th 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Few weak spots, town by town
At the quiet end sit Honeybourne (#112), Hagley (#202) and Broadway (#265) of 2,138 towns. Of residents of its towns, 39% live in the safest quarter and almost none in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| 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% | |
| Worcestershire | 39% | 0% |
Town centres and the people who live there
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 Worcestershire, 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
74th of 90C−18/100 Pupils score below most of England. Top-quarter towns are rare here; Hagley comes closest at #341. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 61% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (14th lowest). The West Midlands, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire all do better on schools.
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 44.8 (12th lowest), weighed equally with 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Cost of living
72nd of 98C27/100 Homes cost a lot of income here. Homes cost 5.4 times what the average household takes in a year: a typical sale of £290,000 against income of £53,300. Bromsgrove leads its towns at #268 of 2,515; 25% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Typical sale price: £290,000 (6,622 sales, 23rd highest).
Private rent £945 a month (37th highest); Band D council tax £2,443 (31st 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Health
26th of 98B+74/100 Healthy with few exceptions. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 66.9 years (men and women averaged), 1.7 years more than the England and Wales figure. 28% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, almost none in a bottom-quarter one; Hagley ranks highest.
Total life expectancy is 81.5 years (20th 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Jobs & income
54th of 98B−45/100 About average for incomes. At £53,300 a year, household incomes here are the 28th highest of 98 areas. Its claimant rate, 3.1%, ranks 47th highest, while household income ranks 28th highest. Barnt Green leads its towns at #11 of 2,156; 6% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.1% of working-age adults (47th highest), weighed with income 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Getting about
82nd of 98C−16/100 More car-dependent than most areas. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Tenbury Wells comes closest, at #414 of 2,515. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (20th lowest). It trails all of its neighbours on walkability.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 29% 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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Flood risk
65th of 87C26/100 Rivers and the sea are a real risk. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Barnt Green its best at #254 of 2,452. 1.2% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, against 1.6% across England and Wales (25th lowest).
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. 22 Worcestershire towns.
Growth
36th of 98B64/100 Steady growth. 17% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 28% in a bottom-quarter one; Pershore ranks highest. Worcestershire grew 9.7% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +2.7% (49th 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. 14 Worcestershire towns. Covers 92% of residents of Worcestershire’s graded towns.
How Worcestershire compares to its neighbours
Each of its neighbours (the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Shropshire) does better on schools and getting about.
| Worcestershire | West Midlands | Herefordshire | Gloucestershire | Warwickshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C+ 3841st of 65 | C− 1953rd of 65 | C− 2251st of 65 | B+ 6722nd of 65 | A− 8014th of 65 |
| Safety | B+ 6727th official · 39% in top towns | D 563rd official · 10% in top towns | B 5813th official · 20% in top towns | B 5926th official · 28% in top towns | A− 7520th official · 43% in top towns |
| Schools | C− 1834th official · 2% in top towns | B 5612th official · 8% in top towns | C 3410th official · 0% in top towns | B 5520th official · 5% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 15% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 2775th official · 25% in top towns | C 3058th official · 4% in top towns | D 985th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2081st official · 7% in top towns | C 2972nd official · 18% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 7417th official · 28% in top towns | D 1353rd official · 9% in top towns | B 6215th official · 13% in top towns | A 908th official · 50% in top towns | A− 8013th official · 37% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B− 4528th official · 6% in top towns | C 2755th official · 9% in top towns | C 3245th official · 0% in top towns | A 9218th official · 37% in top towns | A− 7619th official · 31% in top towns |
| Getting about | C− 1679th official · 0% in top towns | B 6021st official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4149th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3654th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C 2625th official · 3% in top towns | A− 768th official · 25% in top towns | D 1047th official · 13% in top towns | C 3330th official · 16% in top towns | B− 4522nd official · 14% in top towns |
| Growth | B 6432nd official · 17% in top towns | B+ 7023rd official · 21% in top towns | C 3467th official | A− 7712th official · 20% in top towns | A 927th official · 57% 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.