Rutland remains county with highest proportion of A-levels awarded top grades

Rutland has held on to its position as the county of England with the highest proportion of A-level entries receiving the top grades.

Some 39.7% of entries in Rutland this year were graded A or above, up from 36.8% last year and 33.7% in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

In second place was Surrey, with 35.6% of entries getting grades A or A*, followed by East Sussex (34.4%) and Hertfordshire (33.0%).

Rutland and Surrey held the top two spots last year, while East Sussex has jumped from sixth to third place and Hertfordshire has moved from seventh to fourth place.

The figures, which have been published by Ofqual, also show the mainland county with the lowest proportion of entries awarded A or above this year was Bedfordshire, at 19.1%, though the Isle of Wight had an even lower figure of 15.8%.

Of the 47 counties – or equivalent areas – included in the data, nearly three-quarters (35) saw a year-on-year increase in the proportion of entries receiving the top grades.

Northumberland recorded the largest rise, up by 4.8 percentage points from 20.0% to 24.8%.

Herefordshire saw the biggest fall, down by 1.6 percentage points from 25.5% to 23.9%.

Most counties (39 of 47) saw a higher proportion of entries awarded A or above this year than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Here is the full list of figures for each county, ordered by the proportion of 2024 entries awarded A* or A grades, starting with the highest.

It reads, from left to right: name of county; proportion of A-level entries graded A or above in 2024; proportion graded A or above in 2023; proportion graded A or above in 2019.

Only subjects with grades awarded to more than 2,500 students are included in the data.

– Rutland 39.7% (2023: 36.8%; 2019: 33.7%)– Surrey 35.6% (2023: 34.7%; 2019: 32.0%)– East Sussex 34.4% (2023: 32.4%; 2019: 32.0%)– Hertfordshire 33.0% (2023: 31.2%; 2019: 30.0%)– Oxfordshire 32.8% (2023: 33.0%; 2019: 31.2%)– Buckinghamshire 32.4% (2023: 34.0%; 2019: 30.4%)– Cambridgeshire 32.0% (2023: 32.7%; 2019: 29.3%)– Warwickshire 31.8% (2023: 29.1%; 2019: 26.7%)– Berkshire 30.7% (2023: 30.4%; 2019: 27.1%)– London 30.7% (2023: 29.3%; 2019: 26.2%)– Hampshire 28.8% (2023: 26.9%; 2019: 26.3%)– Shropshire 28.8% (2023: 26.3%; 2019: 27.8%)– Bristol 28.2% (2023: 28.5%; 2019: 27.7%)– Cheshire 28.2% (2023: 25.7%; 2019: 25.8%)– North Yorkshire 28.0% (2023: 25.8%; 2019: 28.1%)– Gloucestershire 27.4% (2023: 27.1%; 2019: 26.5%)– Wiltshire 26.9% (2023: 26.4%; 2019: 24.8%)– Dorset 26.8% (2023: 25.1%; 2019: 24.8%)– Somerset 26.5% (2023: 25.9%; 2019: 25.1%)– Greater Manchester 25.8% (2023: 24.8%; 2019: 23.9%)– Kent 25.8% (2023: 25.4%; 2019: 23.9%)– Devon 25.4% (2023: 26.4%; 2019: 25.1%)– Lancashire 24.9% (2023: 25.0%; 2019: 23.8%)– West Sussex 24.9% (2023: 25.9%; 2019: 24.4%)– Northumberland 24.8% (2023: 20.0%; 2019: 22.5%)– Cornwall 24.5% (2023: 21.6%; 2019: 25.2%)– Essex 24.5% (2023: 24.0%; 2019: 23.0%)– Worcestershire 24.3% (2023: 23.0%; 2019: 21.6%)– Durham 23.9% (2023: 21.9%; 2019: 24.2%)– Herefordshire 23.9% (2023: 25.5%; 2019: 23.8%)– Tyne & Wear 23.8% (2023: 23.2%; 2019: 22.4%)– West Yorkshire 23.8% (2023: 21.5%; 2019: 21.1%)– Norfolk 23.6% (2023: 23.3%; 2019: 22.5%)– South Yorkshire 23.3% (2023: 22.8%; 2019: 21.5%)– West Midlands 23.0% (2023: 21.1%; 2019: 20.4%)– Merseyside 22.9% (2023: 20.3%; 2019: 19.4%)– East Riding of Yorkshire 22.5% (2023: 22.2%; 2019: 20.9%)– Nottinghamshire 21.9% (2023: 20.9%; 2019: 20.7%)– Lincolnshire 21.5% (2023: 21.5%; 2019: 19.7%)– Northamptonshire 21.5% (2023: 22.1%; 2019: 18.0%)– Leicestershire 21.4% (2023: 21.1%; 2019: 21.8%)– Cumbria 21.2% (2023: 20.6%; 2019: 21.6%)– Derbyshire 21.2% (2023: 21.8%; 2019: 20.2%)– Suffolk 20.7% (2023: 21.4%; 2019: 21.0%)– Staffordshire 20.2% (2023: 18.3%; 2019: 16.1%)– Bedfordshire 19.1% (2023: 17.5%; 2019: 19.1%)– Isle of Wight 15.8% (2023: 15.7%; 2019: 17.0%)