New study ranks Matlock, Dronfield, Buxton and New Mills among best places to live in the East Midlands – with Chesterfield and Staveley named among worst

Garrington Property Finders have released their ranking of the Best Places to Live for 2025 across England and Wales.

Their data analysts have identified nearly 1,450 cities, towns and villages across England and Wales that all score highly in at least one of five selection criteria – natural beauty, wellbeing, schools and jobs, heritage and value for money.

A number of Derbyshire’s towns have been ranked highly, but some parts of the county also received poor ratings in the Garrington’s guide.

Chesterfield was named as the 113th best place to live across the East Midlands out of 152 locations, and was ranked in 1,262nd place out of the 1,447 places included in the guide.

Heanor was ranked at 103rd for the East Midlands and 1,214th nationally, while Bolsover was named as the 104th best place to live in the East Midlands and 1,218th across the country.

Shirebrook was named the 111th best place in the East Midlands out of 152, and achieved a national ranking of 1,244. South Normanton and Pinxton were also among the lowest ranked places to live across the East Midlands, being named in 147th place, and were ranked as the 1,431st best place to live nationally out of 1,447.

Staveley, however, was ranked as the worst place to live across the East Midlands by Garrington’s – and was in the bottom five of the 1,447 locations included nationwide.

The towns in Derbyshire that were named among the best places to live across England and Wales can be found below.