Sources and how we score
Data last refreshed: 30 October 2026
How grades work
We compare each postcode with all 1.59 million live postcodes in England and Wales and turn its position into a grade: A is the best 10%, B the next 15%, C the next 25%, D the next 20%, E the next 15%, F the next 10% and G the bottom 5%.
- Safety — recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the surrounding neighbourhood (Lower Layer Super Output Area, about 1,500 people) over the last 12 months.
- Environment — modelled nitrogen dioxide and fine particle (PM2.5) levels for the 1 km square, modelled road, rail and aircraft noise (England), and distance to the nearest park or playing field, capped where there is flood risk from rivers or the sea.
- Schools — Ofsted outcomes for the nearest three primary schools within 3 km and two secondary schools within 5 km (England only).
- Jobs — claimant unemployment rate in the neighbourhood.
- Getting around — bus and tram stops within 500 m, distance to the nearest station and to the nearest GP practice.
- Overall — the average of the available grades, ranked again.
People, Home & costs and Civic are shown as information and aren't graded. Census ethnic group figures are shown as published by ONS and are never used in any score.
Sources
- Crime: data.police.uk street-level crime, 2025-09 to 2026-08. Open Government Licence. Greater Manchester Police doesn't publish to police.uk.
- Population, age, sex, ethnic group, tenure and economic activity: ONS Census 2021, via Nomis.
- Claimant count: ONS, via Nomis, latest month.
- Air quality: Defra modelled background concentrations (Pollution Climate Mapping), 2024.
- Flood risk: Environment Agency, Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea — postcodes in areas at risk (England).
- Schools: Ofsted, state-funded school inspections and outcomes, management information.
- House prices: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, last 12 months. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right.
- Businesses: ONS UK Business Counts, via Nomis.
- Noise: Defra strategic noise mapping, Round 4 (road, rail and major airports, Lden), England.
- Green space: Ordnance Survey Open Greenspace. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right.
- Food hygiene: Food Standards Agency food hygiene rating scheme open data.
- Council tax: MHCLG Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027; Welsh Government council tax levels 2026-27.
- Rents: ONS Price Index of Private Rents, by local authority.
- Transport: Department for Transport, NaPTAN. Road collisions: DfT road casualty statistics, last 5 years.
- GP practices: NHS England Organisation Data Service.
- Deprivation: English Indices of Deprivation 2025 and Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation.
- Postcodes and areas: ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right; Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right; National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right.
- MPs: UK Parliament Members API, Open Parliament Licence.
Not included as data, with links instead: radon (UKHSA's address check is a paid service), broadband and mobile coverage (Ofcom's checker), planning applications (no complete national open dataset) and councillor names (found via WriteToThem).
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.