What it's like to live in Penrith

Housing in the Westmorland and Furness council area leans heavily towards ownership: 71.6% of homes are owned, 17.1% are privately rented and just 10.7% are social rented, split roughly evenly between council and housing association homes. That is well below the England figure of 17.1% social rented, so social homes here are in demand.

Social rents across the area averaged £86 a week for a one bed, £108 for two beds and £118 for three beds in 2024/25. The council's housing register held 8,501 households at the end of March 2025, with 171 social homes let through the council during 2024-25 and four council homes swapped by mutual exchange. A register is not a simple queue, but the numbers show why exchanging is worth considering.

The main social landlords in the area are South Lakes Housing, Westmorland and Furness Council, Eden Housing Association, The Riverside Group and Castles & Coasts. The population skews older than England as a whole: 25.7% are 65 or over against 18.4% nationally, and under-16s make up 15.1%.

Families are well served for a town this size. Brunswick School, St Catherine's Catholic Primary, Beaconside CofE Primary and North Lakes School are all within a mile of the centre, and Hunter Hall School sits a little further out. That gives real choice of primaries without a long journey, which matters on a wet Cumbrian morning.

At secondary level there are two options close by: Queen Elizabeth Grammar School Penrith, with its own sixth form centre, and Ullswater Community College. Both are within half a mile of the middle of town, so plenty of children walk. Having sixth form provision locally means teenagers do not have to move away at 16.

Outside school, Castle Park is the main open space for children, with smaller gardens dotted around town. Penrith Library is close to the centre, and there are several community centres, including Evergreen, Haydock and Castletown, that tend to host local groups. Royal Air Force Cadets and Army Cadets both have a presence in town. Penrith Hospital, under a mile away, is useful when you have young children.

Penrith is well connected for a town of its size. Penrith (North Lakes) station is about a third of a mile from the centre and sits on the West Coast Main Line, which is the fast route north towards Carlisle and Scotland and south towards Lancaster, Preston and beyond. For a small Cumbrian town, having a mainline station on your doorstep is a genuine advantage.

Penrith Bus Station is right in the middle, a couple of minutes' walk from the shops. That makes it the natural hub for getting out to nearby villages and across the Eden area without a car, though rural timetables in Cumbria tend to be thinner in the evenings and at weekends, so check the routes you would actually need before you commit.

By road, the M6 runs close to the town, which is why Penrith is such a common base for people working across Cumbria. In the town itself, walking covers most daily errands: schools, supermarkets, the library, pharmacies and the hospital all sit within a mile or so of the centre. Hills are gentle enough, but some streets are old and narrow.

For a town of around 17,000, Penrith holds on to a decent amount. The Alhambra cinema is right in the centre, which is rare for somewhere this size and saves a long drive for a film. The Devonshire Shopping Arcade and the surrounding streets give you a mix of everyday shops and independents.

There are several pubs and clubs within easy walking distance, including The Royal, The Grey Goat and The Lowther Arms, plus the Beacon Social Club and Penrith Legion Club for a quieter, more local night. Warehouse Night Club covers later nights. Keep expectations sensible: this is a market town, not a city, and the choice reflects that.

If you like being active, there are several gyms close by, among them Wishing Well Health And Fitness, Elite Fitness, District L CrossFit and Crossfit Cumbria. For green space, Castle Park is the main town park, with Town Hall Gardens, Brunswick Square Gardens, Coronation Garden and the Forget-me-not Garden adding smaller corners. The bigger draw, of course, is the Lake District and Eden countryside on the doorstep.

Employment figures cover the wider Westmorland and Furness council area rather than Penrith alone, so read them as a regional picture. Across the area, 56.5% of adults are in work, just below the England figure of 57.4%. Unemployment sits at 2%, well under the 3.5% recorded for England.

The same pattern shows in benefit claims. In September 2026, 1.8% of 16 to 64 year olds in the council area were claiming unemployment-related benefits, compared with 4% across England. On paper that is a strong labour market, though in rural Cumbria it often reflects a mix of part-time, seasonal and tourism-linked work as much as it does high-paid jobs.

Practically, Penrith works well as a base. The mainline station and the M6 nearby mean commuting to Carlisle, Kendal or further afield is realistic, and the town itself supports retail, health and public services, including the hospital. If your work is flexible or remote, the combination of connections and countryside is one of the main reasons people choose to settle here.