County ranking
Best places to live in Devon
30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
41 towns in Devon clear our data thresholds: a population over 3,000 and real scores in 8 or more of 9 categories. The top 30 are ranked below. Plymouth finishes first with 65/100, but only just: Exeter is one point back on 64. One town clears 65/100, a mark roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches: Plymouth (65).
Median score across the 41 towns we rank here is 47/100, 7 points below the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage. The top five span £225,000 in Plymouth to £320,000 in Exmouth on median house price. Transport is what puts Paignton fourth: 81/100 against a 21/100 national town median, well beyond the gap any of its other categories manage. Category-by-category detail is on the pages for Plymouth, Exeter and Exmouth.
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plymouth | 65 | Transport 82 Lifestyle 75 | 261,233 | £225,000 |
| 2 | Exeter | 64 | Healthcare 83 Transport 84 | 114,529 | £294,000 |
| 3 | Exmouth | 62 | Transport 75 Lifestyle 59 | 35,470 | £320,000 |
| 4 | Paignton | 61 | Transport 81 Lifestyle 63 | 63,277 | £255,000 |
| 5 | Cullompton | 56 | Lifestyle 74 Healthcare 54 | 8,561 | £241,000 |
| 6 | Kingsteignton | 56 | Healthcare 48 Broadband 89 | 11,264 | £262,500 |
| 7 | Torquay | 56 | Transport 84 Healthcare 62 | 49,861 | £220,000 |
| 8 | Honiton | 55 | Broadband 94 Lifestyle 52 | 11,528 | £260,000 |
| 9 | Kingskerswell | 54 | Healthcare 51 Broadband 80 | 4,152 | £320,000 |
| 10 | Northam | 54 | Healthcare 51 Lifestyle 39 | 4,725 | £333,000 |
| 11 | Brixham | 52 | Transport 59 Lifestyle 52 | 18,039 | £275,000 |
| 12 | Newton Abbot | 52 | Healthcare 60 Schools 51 | 25,785 | £250,000 |
| 13 | Totnes | 52 | Lifestyle 51 Healthcare 45 | 9,242 | £400,000 |
| 14 | Budleigh Salterton | 51 | Lifestyle 40 Environment 80 | 5,082 | £447,500 |
| 15 | Seaton (East Devon) | 50 | Healthcare 51 Transport 32 | 7,471 | £295,000 |
| 16 | Tavistock | 48 | Healthcare 48 Lifestyle 48 | 12,272 | £285,250 |
| 17 | Tiverton | 48 | Transport 52 Healthcare 44 | 17,088 | £250,000 |
| 18 | Barnstaple | 47 | Healthcare 55 Lifestyle 54 | 29,212 | £270,000 |
| 19 | Dartmouth | 47 | Lifestyle 46 Environment 80 | 5,085 | £336,250 |
| 20 | Ottery St Mary | 47 | Lifestyle 39 Healthcare 33 | 5,748 | £320,000 |
| 21 | Teignmouth | 47 | Broadband 89 Lifestyle 37 | 15,097 | £290,000 |
| 22 | Ashburton | 46 | Environment 81 Healthcare 30 | 3,225 | £275,000 |
| 23 | Braunton | 45 | Healthcare 36 Schools 33 | 6,510 | £376,000 |
| 24 | Buckfastleigh | 45 | Healthcare 39 Environment 81 | 3,035 | £227,500 |
| 25 | Great Torrington | 45 | Healthcare 51 Lifestyle 28 | 5,326 | £225,000 |
| 26 | Ivybridge | 45 | Schools 37 Lifestyle 34 | 12,425 | £281,000 |
| 27 | Bideford | 44 | Healthcare 49 Lifestyle 51 | 18,917 | £227,500 |
| 28 | Bovey Tracey | 43 | Healthcare 33 Safety 93 | 5,304 | £342,500 |
| 29 | Crediton | 43 | Lifestyle 42 Broadband 70 | 8,400 | £269,500 |
| 30 | Fremington | 43 | Healthcare 31 Safety 94 | 4,924 | £321,250 |
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 Devon
The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 41 qualifying towns around what you actually care about — who's moving, a minimum on one category, a price ceiling for the type of home you'd buy.
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KingsbridgeChudleighIlfracombeHow this ranking was built
Every settlement in Devon 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:
- Population above 3,000. Without a floor the list fills with hamlets of a few dozen people. Devon has 41 towns above it.
- Real data in at least 8 of 9 categories. Places we can only partly measure are excluded rather than ranked on guesswork.
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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