Short answer: this page counts 162 state grammar schools in England, which is the number Pip has researched and published a catchment guide for, broken down by county below. Between them they offer 27,257 Year 7 places a year. Grammar schools are not spread evenly across the country: Kent alone has 32, while most of England has none at all.
- The 162 grammar schools covered on this site, by county, not a national register.
- Each county row links to that county's full grammar school guide.
- Places are the schools' own published admission numbers, added up.
- Numbers published elsewhere may differ slightly, and we explain why below.
How many grammar schools are on this page
There are 162 state grammar schools in the dataset behind Pip's catchment tool. Each one was researched from its own admissions arrangements, which is how we know whether it uses a catchment area, takes top scorers from anywhere, or does a bit of both.
Be careful with the national figure you see quoted elsewhere. Counts of grammar schools in England differ between sources depending on how they treat partially selective schools, schools that share a sixth form, and schools that have changed status. We publish the count we can stand behind school by school, so if a figure on this page differs from one you have seen, that is why.
Grammar schools in England by county
Sorted by the number of schools. Tap a county to see every school in it, with catchment maps, distances and the 11+ test used locally.
| County or area | Grammar schools | Year 7 places | How they select |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | 32 | 5,879 | 26 with a catchment, 6 mixed |
| Lincolnshire | 14 | 1,937 | 14 with a catchment |
| London Boroughs | 14 | 2,434 | 11 with a catchment, 3 super-selective |
| Buckinghamshire | 13 | 2,330 | 13 with a catchment |
| Essex | 11 | 2,088 | 3 with a catchment, 7 mixed, 1 super-selective |
| Birmingham | 8 | 1,254 | 6 mixed, 2 super-selective |
| Devon and Cornwall | 7 | 1,096 | 7 super-selective |
| Gloucestershire | 7 | 1,050 | 1 mixed, 6 super-selective |
| Trafford | 7 | 1,196 | 6 with a catchment, 1 mixed |
| Medway | 6 | 1,100 | 6 with a catchment |
| Slough and Berkshire | 6 | 953 | 5 with a catchment, 1 super-selective |
| Yorkshire | 6 | 931 | 3 with a catchment, 2 mixed, 1 super-selective |
| Sutton and Wallington | 5 | 891 | 4 mixed, 1 super-selective |
| Warwickshire | 5 | 627 | 5 with a catchment |
| Wirral | 5 | 890 | 5 with a catchment |
| Dorset | 4 | 732 | 3 with a catchment, 1 mixed |
| Lancashire | 4 | 669 | 3 with a catchment, 1 mixed |
| Walsall and Wolves | 3 | 480 | 3 super-selective |
| Shropshire | 2 | 240 | 2 with a catchment |
| Wiltshire | 2 | 320 | 2 with a catchment |
| Cumbria | 1 | 160 | 1 mixed |
| Total | 162 | 27,257 | Across 21 counties and areas |
"With a catchment" means the school gives priority to children living inside a defined area or nearest by distance. "Super-selective" means there is no catchment at all: places go to the highest scorers from any address. "Mixed" schools reserve a block of places for local children and fill the rest on score alone. Our grammar schools hub explains each model in more detail.
How many Year 7 grammar school places are there?
Adding every school's published admission number gives 27,257 Year 7 places a year across these 162 schools. That is the supply side. The demand side is far bigger, which is the whole reason the 11+ exists as a ranking exercise rather than a simple qualifying test.
It also explains why the same score can win a place in one county and miss in another. There is no national threshold, as our guide to the 11+ pass mark sets out.
Why grammar schools cluster in a few counties
Most of England went comprehensive from the 1960s onwards, but the decision sat with local authorities, and a number of them kept selection. The result is the pattern in the table: dense clusters in Kent, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire, parts of London, Essex and Birmingham, and large regions with no state grammar school at all.
For families this matters more than any national total. What counts is whether there is a grammar school you can realistically reach, and whether your address falls inside its catchment.
Pip's grammar school catchment checker plots every school in this dataset and tells you which catchments your postcode actually falls inside.
Grammar schools by county, at a glance
Kent is the largest single cluster in the country with 32 schools, all sitting the Kent Test. Lincolnshire and the London Boroughs each have 14, though they work very differently: Lincolnshire's are catchment-led and spread across the county, while London's include several of the most competitive super-selective schools in England. Buckinghamshire has 13, all using the Bucks Secondary Transfer Test, and Essex has 11 split between the CSSE and FSCE tests.
At the other end, several counties have just one or two: Cumbria has 1, and Shropshire and Wiltshire have two each. If you live in one of those areas, distance rather than score is often the binding constraint.
What to do with this
Start from your county row above, then open the individual schools that are within reach. Each school page gives its catchment model, its admission number and the test it uses. From there, our guide to the 11+ exam types tells you what your child will actually sit, and the best grammar schools in the UK covers results and competitiveness.
Frequently asked questions
How many grammar schools are there in England?+
This page counts the 162 state grammar schools covered on Pip, broken down by county. That is close to, but not identical with, the number usually quoted nationally, because our dataset is built school by school from each school's own admissions arrangements rather than copied from a national register. Kent has by far the most with 32.
Which county has the most grammar schools?+
Kent, with 32 of the 162 grammar schools covered here. Lincolnshire and the London Boroughs follow with 14 each, then Buckinghamshire with 13 and Essex with 11.
How many grammar schools are there in Essex?+
11, using the CSSE and FSCE tests. Of those, 7 reserve a catchment block but also take top scorers from anywhere, 1 is super-selective with no catchment, and 3 use a designated catchment or distance priority.
How many Year 7 grammar school places are there?+
Adding up the published admission number for every school in this dataset gives 27,257 Year 7 places a year across the 162 schools covered. Demand is much higher than that in most areas, which is why entry is by the 11+.
Is there a grammar school map for the UK?+
Yes. Pip's grammar school catchment checker plots every school in this dataset on an interactive map and shows you which ones your postcode falls inside, including a Kent grammar schools map on the Kent county page.
Is this a complete list of every grammar school in England?+
It is a complete list of the schools Pip has researched and published catchment guidance for, which is 162 schools. It is not presented as an exhaustive national register, and the count may differ slightly from figures published elsewhere depending on how each source treats partially selective and recently converted schools.
Why do grammar schools only exist in some counties?+
Selection was abolished in most of England from the 1960s onwards, but a number of local authorities kept their grammar schools. That is why they cluster in places such as Kent, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire and parts of London, and are absent from most of the country.
Arielle handles SEO and AEO growth at Pip, with over 10 years in the digital marketing space working with brands and founding her own projects.
