With Christmas just around the corner, BestOffshoreSportsbooks decided to look into the probability of which English county had the most ‘ELF’ like qualities thanks to data on a range of different aspects of life.

Using a wide variety of data, we have ranked the English counties which are the most likely to produce elves for Santa. SURREY citizens came out on top, having the qualities it takes to be an elf.

What characteristics make an ELF?

We looked at the main characteristics of Santa’s elves and found data that relates directly to them:

1. Generosity/Kindness – Santa’s elves are known to make all the gifts for Santa which provides them with very kind and generous qualities (County Fundraising Data).
2. High Intelligence – The ability to make all the gifts correctly and on time shows a high level of intelligence (A-Level/GCSE Results Data).
3. Well Behaved – As everyone knows to be on Santa’s nice list you need to be well behaved and the Elves aren’t exempt from this (Crime Rate Data).
4. Living to an old age – Finally it is well known that Elves live to an old age and are even rumoured to be immortal (Supercentarian & Age Data).

When analysing the data, we found that southern counties dominated, with more northern counties towards the bottom. Interestingly, Merseyside is the most unlikely county to produce elves for Santa, with some of the highest crime rate figures in England and lower qualification levels compared to other counties.

Top Five English Counties Most Likely To Produce Elves For Santa

1: Surrey 90.74/100

Surrey top the list, with citizens of the county judged to be most likely to produce elves for Santa this Christmas.

With the best A Level results in 2024, mixed with a high generosity score and low level of crime, Surrey just had to top the list.

2: Hertfordshire 85.88/100

Next on the list is Hertfordshire, another southern county.

With the top GCSE results this year and the second highest A Level results, citizens of Hertfordshire would be perfect helpers for Santa. They also boast a fairly low crime rate.

3: Devon 80.48/100

Third on the list is Devon, a county that holds the lowest crime rate in all of England.

Elves recruited from here would be sure to be on their best behaviour when working for Santa! This will be key in ensuring presents are made on time.

4: Cheshire 70.1/100

Next on the list is Cheshire, who are the first ‘northern’ county to feature, and one of the nicer parts of the north.

Known for famously housing celebrities, the crime rate is fairly low and they had excellent A Level results in 2024. If the North of England had to recruit some elves, then Cheshire citizens would be ideal..

5: Lancashire 69.79 

Another northern county making the list in fifth is Lancashire, narrowly ahead of Oxfordshire in sixth (69.68).

Lancashire residents are the 4th most generous out of 38 counties studied, and would be a welcome presence in Santa’s workshop!

Full List Of Counties

Commentary

Liam Solomon, BestOffshoreSportsBooks spokesperson had his say:

“Every Brit has pondered at one point in their life, ‘would I make a good elf?’, well there’s no more guessing as our data team has scientifically proven which county in England has the most ‘ELF like’ characteristic.

The county with the highest Elf-esteem is Surrey, topping the list as Santa’s most likely little helpers. With an Elf-like mix of low crime, high charity donations & the highest A-level results in 2024. 

Methodology

To find out which county in England is most likely to produce Santa’s elves we decided to combine several data points for the different characteristics needed to become an Elf.

The characteristics are kindness/generosity, well behaved, high intelligence and finally living to an old age.

1. High Intelligence – Split into GCSE & A-Level data from Gov.uk

2. Well Behaved – Crime rate data from CrimeRate.co.uk

3. Kindness/Generosity – County fundraising data from FunkyPigeon.com 

4. Living to an old age – Age data from Office of National Statistics

Once the data was collected each data point was split into scores of 20. The scores were then combined giving each county a score out of 100. The higher the score, the higher the probability of that county’s citizens becoming one of Santa’s Elves.