Dorset
Dorset has 379,579 residents in 169,261 households (Census 2021); 14% are aged 15–29 and 29% of households rent their home. Over the past two years homes sold for a median of £345,000, from £182,500 in Melcombe Regis to £650,000 in St Leonards & St Ives.
Six maps of Dorset.
Every dot is a residential postcode. Each map uses the same colour scale, from lowest to highest.
Sources: ONS Postcode Directory, Aug 2026 · HM Land Registry Price Paid Data · © OpenStreetMap contributors · English Indices of Deprivation 2025, MHCLG · data.police.uk · Ofcom Connected Nations 2025
All 52 wards at a glance.
Colour shows where each ward sits among Dorset's wards for that measure, from lowest to highest. Select a ward for its full report.
| Ward | Median price | Green 500 m | Services 15 min | Aged 15–29 | Owner-occupied | Flats | Nearest tram or rail | Gigabit | Crime per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon | £449k | 20% | 5 | 14% | 79% | 0% | 9.8 km | 90% | 41 |
| Beaminster | £330k | 25% | 34 | 12% | 68% | 9% | 7.4 km | 71% | 30 |
| Blackmore Vale | £420k | 31% | 9 | 13% | 74% | 1% | 13.7 km | 92% | 27 |
| Blandford | £265k | 15% | 92 | 14% | 63% | 18% | 17.6 km | 92% | 57 |
| Bridport | £340k | 19% | 76 | 12% | 66% | 16% | 14.3 km | 40% | 67 |
| Chalk Valleys | £400k | 24% | 3 | 11% | 71% | 2% | 9.2 km | 67% | 17 |
| Charminster St Mary's | £350k | 14% | 4 | 14% | 71% | 10% | 4.0 km | 67% | 32 |
| Chesil Bank | £425k | 22% | 4 | 10% | 72% | 4% | 10.0 km | 24% | 33 |
| Chickerell | £329k | 37% | 26 | 13% | 73% | 8% | 2.8 km | 76% | 74 |
| Colehill & Wimborne Minster East | £434k | 21% | 20 | 13% | 85% | 5% | 8.5 km | 82% | 60 |
| Corfe Mullen | £395k | 31% | 29 | 15% | 82% | 8% | 4.9 km | 79% | 38 |
| Cranborne & Alderholt | £420k | 38% | 6 | 13% | 74% | 3% | 6.9 km | 73% | 34 |
| Cranborne Chase | £510k | 17% | 4 | 20% | 55% | 4% | 13.1 km | 86% | 25 |
| Crossways | £350k | 39% | 12 | 13% | 74% | 8% | 2.8 km | 38% | 42 |
| Dorchester East | £290k | 13% | 124 | 15% | 66% | 22% | 756 m | 92% | 54 |
| Dorchester Poundbury | £390k | 26% | 61 | 16% | 56% | 41% | 1.6 km | 85% | 106 |
| Dorchester West | £300k | 15% | 143 | 15% | 63% | 24% | 600 m | 89% | 86 |
| Eggardon | £363k | 22% | 4 | 11% | 71% | 2% | 6.8 km | 27% | 35 |
| Ferndown North | £400k | 27% | 33 | 11% | 82% | 17% | 6.0 km | 74% | 52 |
| Ferndown South | £400k | 26% | 24 | 13% | 77% | 17% | 6.7 km | 55% | 48 |
| Gillingham | £283k | 15% | 23 | 13% | 72% | 7% | 1.5 km | 83% | 41 |
| Hill Forts & Upper Tarrants | £400k | 37% | 10 | 18% | 72% | 2% | 17.4 km | 89% | 34 |
| Littlemoor & Preston | £320k | 29% | 35 | 13% | 71% | 14% | 1.7 km | 84% | 53 |
| Lyme & Charmouth | £470k | 26% | 62 | 11% | 71% | 13% | 19.4 km | 23% | 41 |
| Lytchett Matravers & Upton | £338k | 34% | 24 | 14% | 76% | 10% | 2.3 km | 76% | 40 |
| Marshwood Vale | £443k | 33% | 3 | 10% | 76% | 2% | 10.7 km | 33% | 16 |
| Melcombe Regis | £183k | 4% | 207 | 16% | 43% | 40% | 502 m | 33% | 437 |
| Portland | £233k | 44% | 35 | 16% | 65% | 15% | 7.9 km | 84% | 67 |
| Puddletown & Lower Winterborne | £380k | 26% | 6 | 13% | 71% | 3% | 8.8 km | 35% | 31 |
| Radipole | £305k | 19% | 56 | 14% | 72% | 17% | 1.1 km | 79% | 61 |
| Rodwell & Wyke | £280k | 18% | 95 | 14% | 67% | 14% | 1.9 km | 80% | 54 |
| Shaftesbury Town | £275k | 16% | 60 | 16% | 63% | 13% | 6.3 km | 87% | 74 |
| Sherborne East | £345k | 15% | 80 | 13% | 63% | 9% | 976 m | 92% | 45 |
| Sherborne Rural | £425k | 23% | 5 | 10% | 71% | 1% | 3.0 km | 52% | 31 |
| Sherborne West | £291k | 19% | 84 | 21% | 58% | 12% | 838 m | 76% | 82 |
| South East Purbeck | £538k | 57% | 8 | 12% | 67% | 2% | 1.9 km | 31% | 29 |
| St Leonards & St Ives | £650k | 40% | 13 | 10% | 88% | 3% | 2.5 km | 30% | 40 |
| Stalbridge & Marnhull | £348k | 13% | 14 | 11% | 75% | 2% | 5.6 km | 88% | 35 |
| Stour & Allen Vale | £528k | 32% | 4 | 13% | 72% | 2% | 8.7 km | 74% | 38 |
| Sturminster Newton | £295k | 23% | 54 | 13% | 64% | 14% | 10.1 km | 80% | 68 |
| Swanage | £365k | 34% | 84 | 11% | 70% | 21% | 587 m | 72% | 51 |
| Upwey & Broadwey | £340k | 34% | 25 | 12% | 79% | 6% | 845 m | 68% | 75 |
| Verwood | £395k | 21% | 24 | 14% | 83% | 8% | 2.9 km | 88% | 28 |
| Wareham | £375k | 42% | 25 | 13% | 71% | 8% | 928 m | 72% | 58 |
| West Moors & Three Legged Cross | £393k | 29% | 21 | 11% | 81% | 11% | 3.6 km | 52% | 48 |
| West Parley | £445k | 23% | 22 | 11% | 91% | 7% | 6.7 km | 45% | 25 |
| West Purbeck | £342k | 42% | 14 | 16% | 60% | 7% | 4.0 km | 35% | 56 |
| Westham | £257k | 11% | 85 | 17% | 57% | 22% | 1.2 km | 89% | 101 |
| Wimborne Minster | £380k | 21% | 72 | 16% | 57% | 28% | 8.6 km | 82% | 70 |
| Winterborne & Broadmayne | £345k | 38% | 5 | 12% | 74% | 2% | 4.2 km | 58% | 23 |
| Winterborne North | £375k | 31% | 7 | 12% | 71% | 4% | 15.9 km | 90% | 69 |
| Yetminster | £391k | 54% | 3 | 12% | 73% | 1% | 3.1 km | 36% | 29 |
Sources: Census 2021 · HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, sales to 28 Aug 2026 · © OpenStreetMap contributors · data.police.uk
Prices.
Quarterly median of all standard residential sales in Dorset. The latest quarter is still being registered.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, sales to 28 Aug 2026
Safety.
Police recorded 21,105 crimes and incidents in Dorset in the 12 months to Aug 2026, 56 per 1,000 residents.
Police.uk records crimes by approximate location, not by where victims or offenders live. Busy streets, shops, stations and nightlife record more. Figures are counts, not a measure of personal risk.
Source: data.police.uk street-level crime, Dorset Police (Open Government Licence v3.0)
Road safety.
Injury collisions reported to the police in Dorset each year, 2021–2025: 849 of them with a serious or fatal injury.
Counts include only collisions involving personal injury that were reported to the police. Most happen on main roads and at junctions, so a count near a postcode reflects the traffic passing through, not the risk of any one journey.
Source: Department for Transport, STATS19 road safety data (Open Government Licence v3.0)
Food hygiene.
Food businesses in Dorset with a published hygiene rating.
Council food safety officers rate businesses from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good) for hygiene, the state of the premises and how food safety is managed. A rating reflects the standards found on the day of inspection, not the quality of the food.
Source: Food Standards Agency, food hygiene rating data as of 26 October 2026 (Open Government Licence)
Broadband.
Share of homes in Dorset that can get each type of fixed broadband, July 2025.
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, fixed broadband coverage of residential premises, July 2025. © Ofcom copyright
Deprivation, in context.
5 of Dorset's 224 neighbourhoods are in the most deprived tenth of England on the 2025 index.
The English Indices of Deprivation rank 33,755 small areas from 1 (most deprived 10%) to 10 (least deprived). They describe areas relative to each other, not every household in them.
Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025, MHCLG
Wards of Dorset.
Every ward has its own page with all of its postcodes.