Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 4,496 people live in this town, in Cheshire, North West.
Alderley Edge’s standout strength is schools (A): primary results beat 99% of towns in England; secondary results beat 77% of towns in England. What holds it back is cost of living (C−): homes sell for a median £525,000, about 9.9 times local household income. All told, that adds up to an A overall and a rank of #11 of 46 in Cheshire. Set against the rest, it does better than 88% of UK towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Alderley Edge does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Alderley Edge is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 37 buildings inside Alderley Edge’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
28% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Alderley Edge. Best known first.
Historic house · National TrustHare Hill2 km outside town, to the southeast
Historic houseCapesthorne Hall3.9 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseAdlington Hall4.6 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseMottram Hall2.5 km outside town, to the east
MuseumAvro Heritage Museum4.9 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseAlderley Park1.7 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Alderley Edge.
There is one school here; it is shown below. Attainment 8 at the one secondary school within 3 km averages 51.1, and 52% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Key Stage 2 results at the 8 primary schools within 3 km: four in five pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alderley Edge Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | – | A |
At the census, 84% of people in Alderley Edge called their health good or very good, higher than both Cheshire’s towns (82%) and England’s towns (82%). One GP practice serves the town; 98% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Alderley Edge is Macclesfield District General Hospital, 4.7 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Alderley Edge | Cheshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 82% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.1% | 5.4% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Alderley Edge’s land, 100% lies in conservation areas, about level with Cheshire’s towns (100%) and above England’s towns (7%). The town’s listed buildings include Chorley Old Hall, Grade I. The top grade, Grade I, goes to 1 of them. It has 82 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Council and housing-body homes hold 8% of households. Alderley Edge is the second most expensive of the 46 towns in Cheshire, at £525,000. 257 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £525,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £906,250 | 76 |
| Semi-detached | £540,000 | 71 |
| Terraced | £450,000 | 44 |
| Flat or maisonette | £322,500 | 66 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 50% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Household income averages £59K a year before tax. Working mainly from home: 50% of workers, above both Cheshire’s towns (31%) and England’s towns (31%). A fifth of commuters left the car at home at the census, walking, cycling or taking public transport. About just over a tenth of its commuters stay in Alderley Edge for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
276 crimes and 18 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Alderley Edge’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence came to 25.1 per 1,000 residents a year, above Cheshire’s towns (20.3) and England’s towns (22) alike. Also worth knowing: among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Alderley Edge has more crime per resident than 56% of them.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL
8.5% of the population is aged 15 to 24, lower than both Cheshire’s towns (10%) and England’s towns (12%). Children under 15 count for 14% of the people here. Line up the people of Alderley Edge by age and the one in the middle is 50.7. Over-65s are 29% of the population.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Alderley Edge | Cheshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.5% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 25% |
| 65+ | 29% | 21% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 11% | 17% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 34% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Cheshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
37 listed buildings in Alderley Edge, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St. Philip and St James: Photo: Peter I. Vardy · Public domain · Yew Tree Farmhouse: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · White Gate Cottage: Photo: Dave.Dunford · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cross at Nether Alderley on the crossroads of Welsh Row and Congleton Road: Photo: EDempsey · CC BY-SA 3.0
8 notable people were born in Alderley Edge.
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley: Lowes Cato Dickinson, Public domain · Devante Cole: EchetusXe, CC0 · J. Norman Collie: Bentley, Ronald, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alderley Edge | 4,496 | — | A | C− | C+ | A |
| Wilmslow | 25,716 | 1.7 | A | C− | B | A+ |
| Chelford | 1,377 | 3 | — | C− | A+ | A |
| Prestbury | 2,629 | 3.5 | A− | C− | A− | A+ |
| Woodford | 2,241 | 4.1 | — | D− | — | A+ |
| Mobberley | 1,349 | 4.1 | — | C | A+ | B+ |
| Cheadle Hulme | 24,782 | 5 | — | D− | — | A |
| Macclesfield | 54,352 | 5 | B− | B | C− | C |
Chelford, Woodford and Mobberley have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Woodford and Cheadle Hulme have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Chorley Old Hall. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
GCSE results beat 77% of towns in England, and primary results beat 99% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). One state school is inside the town; places are handled by Cheshire East council.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £525,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £322,500, terraced houses £450,000, semi-detached houses £540,000 and detached houses £906,250.
Against all UK towns, it grades C+. Police recorded 276 crimes inside Alderley Edge’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 45% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Town in Cheshire, England
Alderley Edge is a built-up area of 4,496 people, in the Cheshire East council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.