County ranking
Best places to live in Leicestershire
30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
This ranking covers the 44 Leicestershire towns above 3,000 people that we can score in at least 8 of 9 categories, with the best 30 listed. Oadby edges it on 69/100, a single point ahead of Birstall on 68. Four of them score 65 or better, something about one in eight comparable UK towns manages: Oadby (69), Birstall (68), Wigston (68) and Leicester (66).
The top five span £252,000 in Leicester to £325,000 in Oadby on median house price. Healthcare is what puts Oadby first: 77/100 against a 18/100 national town median, well beyond the gap any of its other categories manage. There is a sharp drop after fourth, from 66 down to 62, the biggest single step in the table. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Oadby, Birstall and Wigston.
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oadby | 69 | Healthcare 77 Transport 60 | 23,906 | £325,000 |
| 2 | Birstall | 68 | Healthcare 67 Schools 64 | 10,169 | £300,000 |
| 3 | Wigston | 68 | Healthcare 77 Schools 72 | 35,010 | £260,000 |
| 4 | Leicester | 66 | Healthcare 91 Schools 82 | 376,063 | £252,000 |
| 5 | Anstey | 62 | Healthcare 57 Broadband 93 | 7,146 | £270,000 |
| 6 | Groby | 62 | Healthcare 55 Broadband 97 | 6,669 | £299,950 |
| 7 | Blaby and Whetstone | 61 | Healthcare 60 Lifestyle 59 | 14,330 | £275,000 |
| 8 | Hinckley | 61 | Healthcare 65 Transport 65 | 46,972 | £253,000 |
| 9 | Whitwick | 61 | Healthcare 60 Transport 52 | 10,669 | £238,500 |
| 10 | Loughborough | 60 | Healthcare 67 Lifestyle 68 | 58,762 | £249,225 |
| 11 | Thurmaston | 60 | Healthcare 75 Schools 65 | 9,854 | £258,000 |
| 12 | Quorndon | 58 | Healthcare 55 Broadband 90 | 5,659 | £410,000 |
| 13 | Syston | 58 | Healthcare 54 Broadband 95 | 13,660 | £261,250 |
| 14 | Ashby-de-la-Zouch | 57 | Schools 57 Lifestyle 52 | 11,029 | £282,000 |
| 15 | Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe | 56 | Healthcare 49 Broadband 87 | 13,569 | £320,000 |
| 16 | Market Harborough | 56 | Lifestyle 63 Schools 49 | 22,715 | £311,000 |
| 17 | Hugglescote | 55 | Healthcare 56 Broadband 96 | 5,586 | £279,950 |
| 18 | Ratby | 55 | Broadband 96 Healthcare 49 | 4,227 | £255,500 |
| 19 | Broughton Astley | 54 | Broadband 90 Healthcare 33 | 9,494 | £289,950 |
| 20 | Countesthorpe | 54 | Healthcare 48 Lifestyle 35 | 7,317 | £296,250 |
| 21 | Mountsorrel | 54 | Healthcare 53 Transport 39 | 13,295 | £277,000 |
| 22 | Shepshed | 53 | Healthcare 53 Broadband 94 | 14,423 | £225,000 |
| 23 | Sileby | 53 | Healthcare 58 Transport 51 | 8,710 | £235,000 |
| 24 | Castle Donington | 52 | Schools 42 Lifestyle 39 | 5,389 | £298,000 |
| 25 | Coalville | 52 | Healthcare 57 Transport 53 | 21,713 | £231,000 |
| 26 | Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt | 52 | Broadband 95 Schools 34 | 3,635 | £285,000 |
| 27 | Melton Mowbray | 52 | Transport 56 Lifestyle 55 | 27,144 | £222,500 |
| 28 | Moira | 52 | Broadband 95 Transport 42 | 3,124 | £262,000 |
| 29 | Barrow upon Soar | 51 | Healthcare 52 Transport 51 | 6,906 | £300,000 |
| 30 | Barwell | 51 | Transport 55 Schools 45 | 8,768 | £217,500 |
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.
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BottesfordGreat GlenMarkfieldMeashamFleckneyDesfordHow this ranking was built
Every settlement in Leicestershire 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. Leicestershire has 44 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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