Is Darlington a good place to live?

Darlington has an overall liveability score of 81 out of 100 (very good) on TrackPostcode.UK, based on 85% of categories currently loaded. It scores best on housing and broadband. The score combines cost, affordability, safety, weather and more from open government data.

Recorded crime for Darlington is shown in the crime and safety section, from police.uk for England and Wales or Scottish Government statistics for Scotland.

Darlington averages about 701 mm of rain a year, giving an outdoor score of 78 out of 100. Summer highs average 20.2°C and winter lows 2.2°C. The station records no sunshine series, so that score is built from rainfall and temperature alone. Based on the Met Office Durham station, 27 km away.

Average private rent in the Darlington area is about £682 a month (Jun-26, ONS), giving Darlington a cost-of-living score of 89 out of 100. Use the affordability calculator to estimate what you could comfortably afford here.

The average property price in Darlington is about £158,188 (2026-06, HM Land Registry). Prices changed +3.8% over the year. See the affordability section for how that compares to local earnings.

The average property in Darlington costs about £158,188, which is 4.1 times earnings against assumed full-time earnings of £39,039 a year (ONS ASHE), giving an affordability score of 99 out of 100. Mainstream lenders usually cap borrowing at around four to four and a half times income, so a ratio above that generally means a larger deposit, a second income or a cheaper property than the local average. With a ten per cent deposit, repaying the rest costs about £917 a month at 6% over 25 years, £235 more than the £682 average local rent. The affordability calculator on this page estimates it from your own salary and savings.

About 98.1% of premises in Darlington can get superfast broadband of 30 Mbit/s or more, and 93.7% can get a gigabit-capable connection, giving a broadband score of 93 out of 100 (Ofcom Connected Nations). These are council-area availability figures - the share of premises able to order each service, not the speed any single line achieves - so check the exact address with the Ofcom broadband checker before committing to it.

73.7% of 16 to 64 year olds in Darlington are in work (NOMIS latest, retrieved Sep 2026, ONS Annual Population Survey via NOMIS), giving an employment score of 51 out of 100. Unemployment stands at 5.6%. UK local authorities typically range from about 62% to 82%. This is a whole-authority figure, so it describes the local labour market rather than any one town within it.

Darlington records 45.1 on Attainment 8 average score (202425), giving an education score of 34 out of 100. Each nation publishes its own attainment measure and they are not interchangeable, so education scores compare within England, Scotland or Wales and not across them. Attainment is published for the whole council or county rather than for a school catchment, so check individual schools with the inspectorate before deciding.

For the 1 km grid square containing Darlington, fine particulates (PM2.5) average 5.62 µg/m³ against a World Health Organization guideline of 5 and nitrogen dioxide averages 8.52 µg/m³ against a guideline of 10 (2024, Defra Pollution Climate Mapping, Crown copyright). That gives an environment score of 96 out of 100; an area meeting both guideline levels scores 100. These are modelled background concentrations for the square, not a reading taken at the roadside.

Within about two kilometres of this point there are 7 GP surgeries, 9 pharmacies and 11 dentists. 6 hospitals are within about eight kilometres. That gives a healthcare score of 74 out of 100. Facilities are counted from OpenStreetMap and the score describes how close services are, not waiting times, capacity or clinical quality.

The nearest railway station is Darlington Rail Station - Park Lane, about 0.5 km away, and there are 52 bus, tram or metro stops within an 800 metre walk, giving a transport score of 79 out of 100. Stops come from the DfT NaPTAN dataset and are counted for this exact point, so the figure measures access rather than how frequently anything runs.

Darlington is in the Darlington local authority, North East, England. It falls within the Park East ward and the Darlington parliamentary constituency. Cost of living, housing, affordability, employment, broadband and education figures in this report are published at local-authority level, so every postcode and town inside Darlington shares them. Weather, crime, amenities, healthcare, transport and air quality are measured for this point instead.

Darlington scores 83 out of 100 on our remote workers profile, which is weighted towards broadband, cost of living, environment and weather. That is close to its general score of 81, so the weighting neither flatters nor penalises this area. Every area we score is ranked on this basis at /best-places-for-remote-workers/.

Darlington sits in the top 1% of the 539 UK areas we have scored. The median area in the index scores 67 out of 100. It is furthest above the benchmark for its nation on affordability, healthcare and cost of living. It is furthest below on employment. Categories are compared against the area's own nation where the samples allow it, because crime and school attainment are measured differently either side of the border.

Of the areas we have scored within about 50 miles of Darlington, the highest are Stockton-on-Tees (75 out of 100, about 10 miles away), Durham (75 out of 100, about 18 miles away) and Newton Aycliffe (74 out of 100, about 7 miles away). Darlington itself scores 81. Distances are straight-line from this point, and each of those names links to its own full report.

Across the twelve category scores, the closest matches elsewhere in Britain are Coatbridge (North Lanarkshire, Scotland), Sunderland (Sunderland, North East, England) and Boston (Boston, East Midlands, England). Similarity is the average gap across every category both areas have data for, with immediate neighbours excluded, so these are places that score alike rather than places that look alike or sit nearby.

Weather, crime, local amenities, healthcare access, transport access and air quality are measured for this exact point. Cost of living, affordability, housing, employment and broadband come from official statistics for the Darlington council area, so nearby postcodes and towns in the same council share those figures. Education comes from the local authority, or from the county where attainment is only published at county level. The "How detailed is this report" section explains each level.