UK area intelligence
UK area reports: where should you live, and can you afford it?
One free report per postcode, town, city or council. Cost of living, affordability, safety, weather and more, scored from open government data with every figure linked to its source.
In short
TrackPostcode.UK is a free UK area report tool that scores any postcode, town, city or council area from 0 to 100 across twelve categories, using only open government data.
- Search a full postcode for the most local view: weather, crime, amenities and air quality are measured around that exact point.
- Search a town or council for area-wide statistics on cost of living, housing, employment, broadband and schools.
- Every figure links to the public dataset it came from, and nothing is estimated to fill a gap.
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| What it is | A free liveability, affordability and safety report for any UK postcode, outcode, town, city or council area |
| Categories scored | Twelve, from cost of living and housing to air quality and broadband |
| Score scale | 0 to 100 per category, plus one weighted overall score |
| Coverage | England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is not currently covered |
| Data sources | ONS, HM Land Registry, police.uk, Met Office, Ofcom, DfE, Defra and OpenStreetMap, all open data |
| Price | Free, with no sign-up and nothing blurred out |
| Updated | Daily from the latest published figures |
| Areas scored so far | 538 |
| Median overall score | 68 / 100 |
| Score range observed | 40 to 78 |
What the index shows so far
Some numbers from our own index, rather than from anybody else. It currently holds 538 scored areas (448 in England, 53 in Scotland and 37 in Wales). The median overall score across them is 68 out of 100, and the full spread runs from 40 to 78. That spread is the interesting part: it tells you a score of 70 is genuinely above average for Britain rather than a participation medal, and it is why we publish the number a place actually earned instead of grading on a curve.
Highest scoring areas in the index right now
| # | Area | Where | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chester-le-Street | County Durham, North East, England | 78 |
| 2 | Retford | Bassetlaw, East Midlands, England | 77 |
| 3 | Falkirk | Falkirk, Scotland | 77 |
| 4 | Sunderland | Sunderland, North East, England | 77 |
| 5 | Durham | County Durham, North East, England | 77 |
Live from the index, so this table moves when new figures are published. The full list is on the best places to live in the UK.
The twelve categories, and what each one weighs
| Category | Weight | Primary source |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of living | 15% | ONS |
| Affordability | 15% | HM Land Registry |
| Safety | 10% | police.uk |
| Weather | 10% | Met Office |
| Employment | 10% | ONS / NOMIS |
| Housing | 10% | HM Land Registry |
| Transport | 5% | DfT NaPTAN |
| Broadband | 5% | Ofcom Connected Nations |
| Environment | 5% | Defra UK-AIR |
| Healthcare | 5% | OpenStreetMap |
| Education | 5% | DfE and devolved governments |
| Lifestyle | 5% | OpenStreetMap |
Where a category has no data for an area, it is dropped and the remaining weights are rebalanced, and the report states how complete it is. Full detail is in the scoring methodology.
Built for the real question
Most tools tell you what an area is like. TrackPostcode.UK also tells you whether you could comfortably afford it, using your salary and savings.
An outdoor edge
A proper weather and outdoor score from years of Met Office climate data, with breakdowns for walking, running, cycling and gardening. Few area tools do this well.
Ranked for how you live
The same twelve categories, reweighted for five different lives, so a student and a retiree are not handed the same answer.
Where we take a position
Three of our decisions cost us traffic, and we would make all three again.
We will not publish a single UK safety ranking. England and Wales are scored from police.uk crime volume within about a mile over one month. Scotland has no police.uk feed at all, so it uses Scottish Government recorded crime as an annual rate per 10,000 residents. Putting both on a 0 to 100 scale does not make them the same measurement. A combined table would rank the dataset rather than the place, so we publish safest places one nation at a time and explain why on the page.
We show a gap rather than an estimate. When a dataset has not loaded for an area, that category is left blank, excluded from the overall score, and the remaining weights are rebalanced. The alternative, filling the hole with a regional average, produces a tidier page and a number nobody should act on.
We publish the resolution of every figure. Ten of the Met Office stations we use record rainfall and temperature but no sunshine at all. Treating an absent sunshine series as zero hours would rate an ordinary town as the dullest place in Britain, so those areas are scored on what their station does measure, and the report says so in plain words.
The underlying data is open to everybody. What we think is worth paying attention to is what a site does at the awkward edges of it.
Not sure where to start?
Answer a few questions and we will rank UK areas against your priorities.
Common questions
How is the TrackPostcode.UK score calculated?
Each area is scored from 0 to 100 across twelve categories, from cost of living and affordability to weather and safety. Categories are weighted, then combined into one overall score. Where a category has no data yet for an area, it is excluded and the remaining weights are rebalanced, and we show how complete the report is so you know what the score is based on.
Where does the data come from?
Only open government and trusted public data. Geography comes from the ONS and Ordnance Survey via postcodes.io, recorded crime from police.uk for England and Wales and from Scottish Government statistics for Scotland, and climate averages from Met Office historic station data (Crown copyright, Open Government Licence). Housing, broadband, schools, healthcare and employment sources are listed on every report and on our sources page. We never invent figures.
Is TrackPostcode.UK free to use?
Yes. Full area reports are free with no sign-up and nothing blurred. We may add optional premium tools in future, but the full report will always be free.
How current is the crime data?
For England and Wales, recorded crime is taken from the latest month published by police.uk, usually around two months behind the current date, and the report shows the exact month used. Police Scotland does not publish to police.uk, so Scottish reports use annual recorded crime per council from Scottish Government statistics instead.
What does the outdoor and weather score measure?
It combines four measurements from the nearest long-running Met Office station, averaged over several years: annual sunshine hours at 35 per cent of the score, rainfall at 30 per cent, typical summer maximum temperature at 20 per cent and winter minimum at 15 per cent. Ten of the stations we use publish no sunshine series, and those areas are scored over the remaining three components with the weights renormalised, which the report states on its face. The result is a single outdoor-suitability score with activity breakdowns for walking, running, cycling and gardening.
Can I compare two areas?
You can open any two reports in separate tabs to compare them directly, or use the relocation quiz to have areas ranked against your own priorities such as budget, weather and commute tolerance.
How accurate is the affordability calculator?
It estimates what you could comfortably afford from your salary, savings, household type and whether you plan to buy or rent, using standard lending multiples and typical outgoings. It is guidance only and not a mortgage offer or financial advice. TrackPostcode.UK is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
What area does a postcode report actually cover?
The most granular level each dataset allows. Weather is measured at the exact point via the nearest Met Office station, crime in England and Wales within about a mile of the point, transport access from stop density and the nearest station, and air quality for the 1 km grid cell. Cost of living, affordability, housing, employment, broadband and education are official statistics for the local authority, so every postcode and town in the same council shares those figures. Each report includes a section stating exactly which level applies to each category.
Which parts of the UK does TrackPostcode.UK cover?
England, Scotland and Wales: any postcode, outcode, town, city or council area. Northern Ireland is not currently covered.
Why does a village show the same figures as its council?
Because that is the honest resolution of the source data. Official statistics for cost of living, housing, employment and broadband are published per local authority, not per village. Point-level categories such as weather, crime, transport access and air quality are measured for the specific location. We label the level on every section rather than pretending council data is street data.
How often is the data updated?
Live sources refresh automatically: geography and crime within days of publication, climate monthly, and house prices, employment and Scottish crime rebuild daily from the latest published figures. Broadband and rent datasets are re-imported when Ofcom and the ONS publish new editions. The data status page shows when each source was last refreshed.
Is TrackPostcode.UK open-source intelligence (OSINT)?
Yes, in the everyday sense: every score is assembled purely from openly published government and public datasets - ONS, HM Land Registry, police.uk, the Met Office, Ofcom and others - with each figure linked to its source so you can verify it yourself. Nothing is estimated, scraped from private sources or invented.
Primary sources: Office for National Statistics, HM Land Registry, Met Office historic station data and Ofcom Connected Nations. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.