Penzance Quay
Cornwall 068 · 4 sub-areas · 6,538 residents
Cornwall 068 is a coastal-rural pocket of Cornwall, home to around 6,500 people and sitting firmly at the affordable end of the South West market. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £884 a month — noticeably below the UK average for a 2-bed — though rents rose around 5.5% last year. Over a fifth of residents work from home, and greenspace is never far away.
Penzance Quay is a green, lower-density part of Cornwall — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters. The population skews older, with a long-settled feel and a high share of retirees; the rental market is active and turnover is high — people move through rather than stay.
Overview
What's it like to live in Penzance Quay?
2 parks are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; evenings out lean to pub culture rather than restaurants — 13 pubs sit within five minutes of most homes; Recorded crime is higher than the national norm — common for built-up urban areas, but worth weighing if you're looking for a quieter base; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,004 a month for a typical home.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Penzance Quay in Cornwall
Living in Penzance Quay
This part of Cornwall has a distinctly settled, unhurried character. More than a quarter of residents are over 65, and the area draws people who've made a deliberate choice to slow down — retirees, remote workers, and families who've traded city convenience for space and scenery. Nearly three-quarters of homes are within a short walk of accessible greenspace, and the average distance to the nearest open space is just over 200 metres.
On cost, Cornwall 068 sits comfortably below the national 2-bed median of around £1,200 a month. A two-bedroom home here runs roughly £884, and even a three-bedroom only reaches around £1,080. The trade-off is that rent still takes a significant bite of take-home pay — at around 54%, affordability is stretched relative to local wages, with the median resident salary sitting at about £28,200 a year. Saving for a deposit is manageable by national standards; at 4.5 years, it's better than much of the South East.
Almost half of homes here are owner-occupied, and around one in five are social rented — a higher social-tenure share than many comparable rural areas. Private renters make up roughly a third of the market. The area is ethnically homogeneous, with over 91% of residents born in the UK and a diversity index of 9.0, which is low even by Cornish standards.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 500 metres away — about a six-minute walk. Car ownership is the norm: over 43% of residents drive to work, and public transport accounts for fewer than 5%. Getting to a major employment hub by public transport takes around four hours, so this is firmly a place to live if your work comes to you, not the other way round. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on specific pockets within the area.
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Frequently asked
- Is Cornwall 068 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. If you want rural space, low rents, and a slower pace, it delivers — greenspace is within a short walk for nearly three-quarters of residents, and the median 2-bed rent of around £884 a month is well below the UK average. The trade-off is distance from major cities and a school landscape that's patchier than most parts of England.
- What is the rent in Cornwall 068?
- A one-bedroom property typically runs around £691 a month, a two-bedroom around £884, and a three-bedroom around £1,080. These are estimates scaled from Cornwall-wide data using local sale prices. Rents rose about 5.5% over the past year, so expect figures to edge up further.
- Is Cornwall 068 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 190 incidents per 1,000 residents — above the UK national average of roughly 80. That elevated rate partly reflects seasonal tourism inflating incident counts against a small resident base. The area also sits in the more deprived end of the national deprivation index, which tends to correlate with higher crime figures. It's worth looking at specific crime categories rather than the headline total.
- What's the commute from Cornwall 068 to the nearest city centre?
- The nearest mainline rail station is roughly a six-minute walk away, but Cornwall's rail connections are slow. Public-transport journeys to major UK employment hubs take around four hours or more. Over 43% of residents drive to work, and this is firmly a place where a car is essential unless you work from home — which around 22% of residents already do.
- Who lives in Cornwall 068?
- Mostly older, settled residents — nearly half the population is over 50, and over a quarter are 65 or older. One-person households account for just over half of all homes. It's a mix of retirees, long-term owner-occupiers, and a social-rented community that makes up around one in five households. Young families and under-35s are a smaller share than in most English neighbourhoods.
- What schools are near Cornwall 068?
- There are 42 schools within 2 kilometres of typical residents, but only around 26% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — significantly below the national average of around 89%. Families should check individual school Ofsted reports and catchment areas directly before committing to a move.
- How affordable is buying a home in Cornwall 068?
- More achievable than much of southern England. The median house price is around £252,000, and it takes roughly 4.5 years to save a deposit on a typical local salary — better than the South East average. That said, with a median resident salary of about £28,200, monthly finances are still stretched, especially for private renters spending around 54% of take-home pay on rent.