County ranking

Best places to live in Dorset

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

28 Towns listed of 28 that qualify
67 Top score Bournemouth
51.5 County median UK median 54
2 Above 65 roughly the UK top eighth

We score 28 Dorset 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. There is nothing to choose between the top two: Bournemouth and Poole both score 67/100. Above 65/100, which roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches, Dorset has two: Bournemouth (67) and Poole (67).

On price, Dorchester (Dorset) is the top five's cheapest at a median of £300,000. Christchurch (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), also in the top five, runs to £408,000. Fourth to fifth is the table's widest single gap: 63 to 58. Across the 28 towns listed, scores run from 67 down to 36, a 31-point spread. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Bournemouth, Poole and Bearwood.

The top 28 places to live in Dorset, ranked by overall score out of 100
# Town Score Strongest categories Population Median price
1 Bournemouth 67 Healthcare 77 Transport 79 183,022 £311,000
2 Poole 67 Transport 78 Healthcare 67 136,972 £340,000
3 Bearwood 63 Transport 69 Healthcare 54 4,540 £320,000
4 Christchurch (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) 63 Healthcare 57 Transport 59 45,908 £408,000
5 Dorchester (Dorset) 58 Healthcare 78 Lifestyle 72 18,413 £300,000
6 Blandford Forum 55 Healthcare 51 Broadband 85 12,467 £283,500
7 Corfe Mullen 55 Transport 48 Schools 48 10,084 £395,000
8 Ferndown 55 Healthcare 54 Transport 44 11,067 £400,000
9 West Parley 55 Transport 48 Healthcare 42 3,331 £490,000
10 Merley 54 Transport 49 Economic health 87 4,210 £435,000
11 West Moors 54 Healthcare 52 Transport 39 10,356 £380,000
12 Beaminster 52 Healthcare 51 Lifestyle 52 3,111 £360,000
13 Upton (Dorset) 52 Transport 53 Schools 40 8,285 £320,000
14 Wimborne Minster 52 Healthcare 50 Schools 44 16,731 £380,000
15 Sherborne 51 Healthcare 52 Lifestyle 40 7,406 £327,000
16 Swanage 51 Lifestyle 51 Environment 78 9,095 £360,000
17 Verwood 50 Transport 33 Healthcare 29 13,177 £400,000
18 Chickerell 49 Broadband 85 Schools 40 3,599 £315,000
19 Wareham 48 Healthcare 42 Transport 39 5,861 £366,425
20 Weymouth 48 Lifestyle 57 Healthcare 43 55,977 £270,100
21 Gillingham (Dorset) 45 Lifestyle 37 Healthcare 27 10,029 £260,000
22 Weston (Dorset) 45 Healthcare 36 Broadband 75 6,062 £232,000
23 Bridport 43 Lifestyle 42 Environment 79 11,494 £340,000
24 Ashley Heath 42 Transport 32 Economic health 77 6,787 £680,000
25 Lyme Regis 40 Lifestyle 44 Environment 80 3,513 £410,000
26 Shaftesbury 37 Lifestyle 28 Environment 69 5,372 £272,172
27 Wool 37 Healthcare 26 Environment 66 4,996 £300,000
28 Fortuneswell 36 Broadband 77 Lifestyle 29 4,360 £209,000

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 Dorset

The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 28 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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How this ranking was built

Every settlement in Dorset 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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