County ranking

Best places to live in Cornwall

28 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.

28 Towns listed of 28 that qualify
59 Top score Truro
45 County median UK median 54
0 Above 65 roughly the UK top eighth

We score 28 Cornwall towns with a population above 3,000 and data in at least 8 of our 9 categories. Here are the top 28, ranked by overall score. Truro takes first place with 59/100, putting three points between it and Falmouth on 56. Median score across the 28 towns we rank here is 45/100, 9 points below the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage.

On price, St Blazey is the top five's cheapest at a median of £205,000. Falmouth, also in the top five, runs to £322,500. St Blazey's fifth place leans heavily on one category: transport, at 56/100 against a national town median of 21/100, far further ahead of the norm than its lifestyle, the next strongest. 27th to 28th is the table's widest single gap: 38 to 34. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Truro, Falmouth and Saltash.

The top 28 places to live in Cornwall, ranked by overall score out of 100
# Town Score Strongest categories Population Median price
1 Truro 59 Lifestyle 80 Healthcare 68 17,706 £290,000
2 Falmouth 56 Lifestyle 72 Healthcare 59 24,752 £322,500
3 Saltash 56 Transport 63 Healthcare 52 15,007 £245,000
4 Torpoint 55 Transport 54 Schools 52 7,469 £213,500
5 St Blazey 52 Transport 56 Lifestyle 41 6,335 £205,000
6 Penzance 50 Healthcare 79 Transport 62 14,720 £274,000
7 Helston 49 Healthcare 48 Lifestyle 50 11,188 £247,000
8 Penryn 49 Healthcare 44 Lifestyle 47 9,216 £303,500
9 Carbis Bay 48 Transport 48 Lifestyle 41 3,110 £350,000
10 Redruth 48 Transport 51 Schools 46 15,825 £235,000
11 Camborne 47 Transport 60 Schools 58 17,593 £215,000
12 St Austell 46 Transport 62 Lifestyle 59 24,213 £247,250
13 Wadebridge 46 Healthcare 44 Lifestyle 41 6,012 £320,000
14 Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel 45 Broadband 84 Safety 94 3,784 £250,000
15 Newlyn 45 Healthcare 51 Lifestyle 44 3,326 £300,000
16 Pool and Illogan 45 Transport 56 Healthcare 50 8,592 £260,000
17 Bude 44 Transport 39 Lifestyle 39 7,472 £360,000
18 St Ives (Cornwall) 44 Lifestyle 60 Healthcare 44 5,545 £318,500
19 Bodmin 42 Healthcare 51 Transport 42 16,470 £203,000
20 Callington 42 Healthcare 34 Schools 32 5,143 £245,000
21 Hayle 42 Healthcare 41 Lifestyle 40 5,629 £292,500
22 Looe 42 Lifestyle 39 Healthcare 35 3,063 £277,500
23 Newquay 41 Lifestyle 51 Healthcare 39 19,827 £307,700
24 Launceston 39 Schools 38 Lifestyle 32 7,045 £207,500
25 Liskeard 38 Healthcare 47 Lifestyle 34 8,145 £215,000
26 Perranporth 38 Healthcare 33 Lifestyle 27 3,105 £280,250
27 St Columb Major 38 Healthcare 38 Environment 78 3,666 £240,000
28 Indian Queens, Fraddon and St Columb Road 34 Environment 78 Transport 26 3,281 £253,500

Ranked on the default weighting, out of 100. Strongest categories are the two furthest above the national median for that category, not simply the two highest numbers. Almost every town scores well on safety, so raw highs would say little.

Find your own best place in Cornwall

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How this ranking was built

Every settlement in Cornwall was scored across 9 categories (safety, schools, healthcare, transport, environment, broadband, lifestyle, economic health and bills) from official sources including Police UK, Ofsted, the CQC, Ofcom, the Environment Agency and MHCLG. Two filters then decide who appears here:

Counties are ceremonial, and a town belongs to the county its postcodes physically sit in, so border towns land where residents would expect them to.

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