County ranking
Best places to live in Northumberland
16 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
16 towns in Northumberland clear our data thresholds: a population over 3,000 and real scores in 8 or more of 9 categories. The top 16 are ranked below. There is nothing to choose between the top two: Cramlington and Prudhoe both score 59/100. Median score across the 16 towns we rank here is 49/100, 5 points below the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage.
Prudhoe is the cheapest way into the top five, with a median house price of £159,500 against £312,000 in Hexham. Hexham's third place leans heavily on one category: healthcare, at 65/100 against a national town median of 18/100, far further ahead of the norm than its lifestyle, the next strongest. The steepest fall in the ranking comes after 15th place, where Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on 41 gives way to Hadston on 31. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Cramlington, Prudhoe and Hexham.
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cramlington | 59 | Healthcare 65 Transport 57 | 28,625 | £185,000 |
| 2 | Prudhoe | 59 | Healthcare 60 Schools 60 | 8,583 | £159,500 |
| 3 | Hexham | 53 | Healthcare 65 Lifestyle 53 | 11,337 | £312,000 |
| 4 | Morpeth | 53 | Healthcare 55 Lifestyle 55 | 14,058 | £270,000 |
| 5 | Berwick-upon-Tweed | 52 | Schools 55 Lifestyle 53 | 12,453 | £170,000 |
| 6 | Blyth (Northumberland) | 51 | Broadband 98 Transport 57 | 32,836 | £157,000 |
| 7 | Alnwick | 50 | Healthcare 54 Lifestyle 53 | 7,936 | £250,000 |
| 8 | Ashington (Northumberland) | 49 | Healthcare 52 Schools 54 | 27,931 | £127,000 |
| 9 | Seaton Delaval | 49 | Healthcare 50 Transport 50 | 7,573 | £182,500 |
| 10 | Haltwhistle | 48 | Healthcare 45 Environment 82 | 3,456 | £165,000 |
| 11 | Bedlington | 47 | Healthcare 49 Schools 51 | 16,168 | £174,500 |
| 12 | Stakeford | 47 | Broadband 93 Healthcare 42 | 7,510 | £135,000 |
| 13 | Ponteland | 46 | Healthcare 40 Economic health 88 | 9,217 | £476,000 |
| 14 | Amble | 41 | Lifestyle 35 Healthcare 30 | 5,524 | £207,000 |
| 15 | Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | 41 | Broadband 96 Lifestyle 50 | 5,417 | £141,500 |
| 16 | Hadston | 31 | Environment 66 Transport 23 | 3,204 | £195,000 |
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 Northumberland
The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 16 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 Northumberland 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. Northumberland has 16 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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