What it's like to live in Stone

Stone sits in the Stafford council area, where 70% of homes are owned outright or with a mortgage and 13.6% are socially rented, below the England figure of 17.1%. Of that social housing, most is housing association rather than council: 10.2% against 3.4%. Private renting accounts for 15.5%.

The biggest social landlord by far is Homes Plus Limited with 6,867 homes, followed by The Wrekin Housing Group with 505, Bromford Housing Association with 478, Sanctuary Housing Association with 332 and Midland Heart with 310. Average weekly social rents for 2025/26 in the Stafford area are around £93 for a one bed, £106 for two beds and £115 for three beds.

The age profile skews a little older than England overall: 23% are 65 or over compared with 18.4% nationally, and 27.9% are aged 45 to 64. For context on demand, Stafford's council housing register held 100 households at 31 March 2025, and 297 social homes were let through the council in 2024-25. A register is not a simple queue, which is part of why mutual exchange is worth pursuing.

Families are well served for schools close to home. Christ Church CofE First School and St Dominic's Catholic Primary School are both around a third of a mile away, with Pirehill First School, St Michael's CofE First School and Manor Hill First School all within about three quarters of a mile. Stone uses a first and middle school pattern in places, so check which schools serve the exact address you are swapping into.

For older children, Alleyne's Academy and Christ Church Academy are both around half a mile from the centre, with Walton Priory Middle School close by and St Dominic's Priory School nearby too. The Yarlet School is under three miles out.

For the rest of family life, Stone Library is right in the centre, Stone Leisure Centre is a couple of minutes from town, and there are parks at Crown Meadow, Common Plot, Aston Lodge Park and Walton Common. Community centres including Frank Jordan and The Crossing give space for groups and activities. In the wider Stafford area, under-16s make up 16.9% of the population, slightly below the England figure.

Stone has its own railway station, about three quarters of a mile from the town centre. That matters if you do not drive, though it is a smaller station rather than a busy interchange, so check the timetable carefully against the journeys you actually need to make.

By car, the town is well placed between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, and it is a short hop out to open countryside and the surrounding villages such as Aston, Oulton and Moddershall. Many households here will find a car useful for work travel or bigger shopping trips, but it is not the only option.

Walking is where Stone does well. The library is around a tenth of a mile from the centre, the leisure centre and Crown Meadow are a couple of minutes away, and two supermarkets sit right in the middle of town. If you live centrally, you can cover most of a normal week on foot. Bus services run in the town and to neighbouring places; worth checking the current routes for your own street before you commit to a swap.

Green space is the easy win. Crown Meadow is about two hundred metres from the centre, and Common Plot, Aston Lodge Park and Walton Common are all within a short walk or cycle. The Green, just under three miles out, is there for a longer outing.

The town centre has a tight cluster of pubs and bars: The Swan Inn, The Star, Bod, Reggie's of Stone and The Lounge are all within a few minutes of each other, which makes an evening out simple and cheap on travel. Stone Library sits in the middle of town for books, computers and whatever is on the noticeboard.

For exercise, Stone Leisure Centre is the main option, with Pro-Evolution Fitness also close by. Shopping day to day is covered by Morrisons and the M&S Foodhall in the centre, plus Co-op and Aldi a short walk out. Community centres and village halls at Aston, Oulton and Moddershall host local activity if you want to get involved beyond the town centre.

Employment figures cover the wider Stafford council area rather than Stone alone, but they paint a steady picture. 57.9% of adults were in work at the 2021 Census, just above the England figure of 57.4%, and unemployment was 2.3% against 3.5% for England.

More recent benefit data tells the same story: in September 2026, 2.6% of working-age people in the Stafford area were claiming unemployment-related benefits, compared with 4% across England. That suggests a reasonably stable local job market rather than a boom one.

In practical terms, many people living in Stone will look beyond the town for work. Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent are the obvious larger centres, reachable by road and by train from Stone station. If your job depends on shift times or early starts, check the station timetable and bus routes before you decide, because a small-town station will not always match big-city frequencies.