County ranking

Best places to live in Suffolk

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

30 Towns listed of 30 that qualify
67 Top score Kesgrave
51.5 County median UK median 54
2 Above 65 roughly the UK top eighth

30 towns in Suffolk 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. Kesgrave edges it on 67/100, a single point ahead of Ipswich on 66. Two of them score 65 or better, something about one in eight comparable UK towns manages: Kesgrave (67) and Ipswich (66).

The top five span £242,000 in Ipswich to £352,500 in Woodbridge on median house price. From top to bottom of this table there are 26 points: 67 at the head, 41 at the foot. Category-by-category detail is on the pages for Kesgrave, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.

The top 30 places to live in Suffolk, ranked by overall score out of 100
# Town Score Strongest categories Population Median price
1 Kesgrave 67 Lifestyle 60 Healthcare 52 15,426 £347,500
2 Ipswich 66 Transport 82 Lifestyle 75 150,722 £242,000
3 Bury St Edmunds 63 Lifestyle 77 Healthcare 60 40,493 £285,000
4 Felixstowe 61 Healthcare 52 Transport 54 24,002 £282,000
5 Woodbridge 61 Lifestyle 56 Healthcare 51 9,994 £352,500
6 Newmarket 60 Healthcare 60 Lifestyle 57 16,154 £278,000
7 Beccles 58 Transport 57 Lifestyle 53 10,132 £247,500
8 Haverhill 58 Transport 57 Broadband 92 27,640 £275,000
9 Lowestoft 57 Transport 67 Healthcare 56 72,007 £225,000
10 Trimley St Mary 57 Broadband 99 Transport 51 3,352 £260,000
11 Stowmarket 56 Lifestyle 57 Transport 48 21,604 £247,500
12 Worlingham 55 Transport 47 Broadband 81 3,390 £297,500
13 Bungay 54 Broadband 89 Schools 40 4,887 £239,000
14 Hadleigh 53 Schools 48 Lifestyle 46 5,207 £298,000
15 Red Lodge 53 Broadband 85 Healthcare 34 3,208 £285,000
16 Capel St Mary 50 Broadband 87 Economic health 84 3,006 £360,000
17 Framlingham 49 Lifestyle 40 Healthcare 33 3,713 £286,500
18 Lakenheath 49 Healthcare 36 Lifestyle 32 3,009 £255,000
19 Leiston 49 Lifestyle 38 Healthcare 32 5,249 £232,000
20 Sudbury 49 Lifestyle 53 Schools 46 23,770 £275,000
21 Saxmundham 48 Transport 44 Healthcare 39 4,711 £320,500
22 Brandon (West Suffolk) 47 Lifestyle 44 Healthcare 37 8,702 £222,500
23 Elmswell 47 Transport 33 Lifestyle 32 4,275 £305,000
24 Halesworth 46 Transport 50 Lifestyle 35 4,915 £275,000
25 Kessingland 46 Broadband 98 Healthcare 33 3,462 £217,500
26 Long Melford 46 Broadband 80 Lifestyle 31 3,450 £385,000
27 Needham Market 46 Bills 58 Transport 27 4,779 £235,000
28 Mildenhall (West Suffolk) 45 Lifestyle 46 Healthcare 34 9,734 £245,000
29 Martlesham Heath 42 Healthcare 44 Lifestyle 44 3,334 £312,500
30 Thurston 41 Transport 50 Bills 58 3,114 £333,500

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 Suffolk

The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 30 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 Suffolk 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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