Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The city, home to 184,077 people, lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Pupils here do better than most (B+): primary results beat 66% of towns in England; secondary results beat 67% of towns in England. Walkability is another plus — on the way to work, 19% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. A median £195,000 buys a home here, 4.5 times what households in the Bolton council area earn in a year. Its lowest grade is for health — life expectancy is 76.4 for men and 81.1 for women.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Bolton has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Bolton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Bolton has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Bolton does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 245 buildings inside Bolton’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I.
30% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1859.
245 listed buildings in Bolton, 2 of them Grade I.
Hall i' th' Wood: Photo: John Darch · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 10, Firwood Fold: Photo: Margaret Clough · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St Stephen and All Martyrs: Photo: Plucas58 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bridge Mill (Formerly Known As Old Mill Building): Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bolton.
38 GP practices serve the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 6.1% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, close to Greater Manchester’s towns (5.9%) and above England’s towns (5.2%). The nearest A&E to Bolton is Royal Bolton Hospital, 2 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Bolton | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.1% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
Below are three of its 78 schools, each with why it was picked. At the town’s 60 primary schools, 64% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Secondary results at the town’s 11 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 48.3, with 50% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Bede AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 610 | C+ |
| Canon Slade SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,724 | A− |
| The Olive School, BoltonTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 422 | A+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
At the top of the list, 2 are Grade I and 13 Grade II*. Bolton’s listed buildings include the Hall i' th' Wood, Grade I. Of the town’s 245 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 2 and Grade II* 13.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Half of the 5,039 standard sales inside Bolton’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £195,000. Social housing holds 22% of households, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £894 a month across the Bolton council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £361,000 | 993 |
| Semi-detached | £221,500 | 1,688 |
| Terraced | £148,000 | 1,936 |
| Flat or maisonette | £109,500 | 422 |
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 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The census counted 23% of workers working mainly from home. Work in town: 44% of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 0.9. Household income came to £42K a year before tax, below both Greater Manchester’s towns (£46K) and England’s towns (£55K).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
28% of adults hold a degree. Residents of Bolton have a median age of 37.2. The 65-and-over age group makes up 16% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Bolton | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.5% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bolton. Best known first.
MuseumBolton Art Gallery, Library & Museumin town
MuseumHall i' th' Wood Museumin town
MuseumThe Bolton Steam Museumin town
Historic houseSmithills Hall100 m outside town, to the northwest
MuseumTurton Tower1.1 km outside town, to the north
MuseumBury Transport Museum4.3 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
374 notable people were born in Bolton.
Thomas Cole: Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain · Norman Davies: Cezary Piwowarski, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nat Lofthouse: Heather from Leeds, England, CC BY 2.0 · Jason Kenny: Nicola, CC BY-SA 4.0
City in Greater Manchester, England
Bolton is a built-up area of 184,077 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton | 184,077 | — | — | C− | — | D |
| Farnworth | 28,761 | 2.5 | — | C | — | D− |
| Hunger Hill | 1,299 | 2.9 | — | D | — | B− |
| Little Lever | 12,524 | 3 | — | D | — | C− |
| Ainsworth | 1,595 | 3.2 | — | C+ | — | C+ |
| Little Hulton | 25,824 | 3.7 | — | D | — | D− |
| Kearsley | 11,117 | 3.8 | — | C | — | C− |
| Wingates | 1,936 | 4.1 | — | C | — | D |
Hunger Hill, Ainsworth and Wingates have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Farnworth, Hunger Hill, Little Lever, Ainsworth, Little Hulton, Kearsley and Wingates have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Its Grade I buildings include Hall i' th' Wood.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Bolton 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 £195,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £109,500, terraced houses £148,000, semi-detached houses £221,500 and detached houses £361,000. Household incomes are lower than in 90% of UK towns, so cost of living grades C−.
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.