Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 5,340: a town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Pupils here do better than most: primary results beat 94% of towns in England; secondary results beat 39% of towns in England. Housing is expensive: homes sell for a median £220,000, about 5.1 times local household income. Hazard risk is lower than in most UK towns (A). Health is a weak point: men here can expect to live to 79, women to 82.8.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency · life expectancy, ONS. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Blackrod has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Blackrod is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Blackrod has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Blackrod does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 3 buildings inside Blackrod’s built-up area.
16% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Blackrod.
Private tenants account for 12% of households. Social housing holds 9% of households, below Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Half of the 213 standard sales inside Blackrod’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £220,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £320,000 | 51 |
| Semi-detached | £220,000 | 100 |
| Terraced | £166,750 | 60 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Below is one of its 2 schools, and why it was picked. At the town’s 2 primary schools, 73% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Secondary results at the 2 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 44, with 43% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackrod Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 311 | A |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
16% of homes were built before 1919. Listed buildings per head: 6 for every 10,000 residents of Blackrod.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Under 15: 16% of residents. The 15-to-24 age group: 9.3%, below Greater Manchester’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Blackrod has a median age of 46.8 years. Among adults, 30% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
| Blackrod | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 25% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.6% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
86% of commuters drove, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (72%) and England’s towns (70%). For 29% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. In 2026, 2.2% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Women here live to 82.8 on average and men to 79 (2019–23). There is no GP practice in Blackrod: the nearest is 1.5 miles off. The nearest A&E to Blackrod is Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, 3.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Blackrod | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.4% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
5 notable people were born in Blackrod.
Ivor Bolton: Benno Hunziker, Sinfonieorchester Basel, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Frank Wignall: Joop van Bilsen for Anefo, CC0 · Phil Clarke: Lando09, CC BY-SA 3.0
Town in Greater Manchester, England
Blackrod is a built-up area of 5,340 people, in the Bolton 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackrod | 5,340 | — | — | D | — | C |
| Aspull | 4,937 | 1.5 | — | B+ | — | C |
| Horwich | 20,703 | 1.7 | — | D | — | C− |
| Adlington | 8,777 | 1.9 | A− | A | B− | C+ |
| Wingates | 1,936 | 3.2 | — | C | — | D |
| Standish | 12,937 | 3.2 | — | B− | — | B− |
| Ince-in-Makerfield | 12,186 | 3.8 | — | A | — | D− |
| Coppull | 8,303 | 3.9 | B− | A | B− | C− |
Wingates has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Aspull, Horwich, Wingates, Standish and Ince-in-Makerfield have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Blackrod has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £220,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £166,750, semi-detached houses £220,000 and detached houses £320,000. Household incomes are lower than in 75% of UK towns, so cost of living grades D.
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.