Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 23,916 in Greater Manchester, North West.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: on the way to work, 24% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Cost of living is its weak spot (D): the median home sold for £212,675, 5.1 years of area income. It lags on health as well: men here can expect to live to 77.9, women to 80.5. Hazard risk is lower than in most UK towns (A).
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Droylsden 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 Droylsden is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Droylsden has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Droylsden does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 35 buildings inside Droylsden’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
14% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →35 listed buildings in Droylsden.
20-23 and 23A, Fairfield Square: Photo: Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Manchester and Ashton under Lyne Canal Former Tollhouse Adjacent to Fairfield Top Lock: Photo: David Jones from Isle of Wight, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0 · Church of St Mary: Photo: Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Former Moravian College: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Droylsden.
Social housing holds 14% of households, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). Half of the 678 standard sales inside Droylsden’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £212,675. Private rents average £931 a month across the Tameside council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £318,000 | 49 |
| Semi-detached | £225,000 | 371 |
| Terraced | £190,000 | 237 |
| Flat or maisonette | £120,000 | 21 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Three of its 9 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. GCSE results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: 55% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 50.5. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 6 primary schools: 60% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenside Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 446 | C+ |
| Laurus RyecroftLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,153 | B+ |
| Fairfield High School for GirlsTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 986 | A− |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Household income came to £43K a year before tax, close to Greater Manchester’s towns (£46K) and below England’s towns (£55K). Work in town: a tenth of resident commuters. For every resident in work, Droylsden has 0.3 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Line up the people of Droylsden by age and the one in the middle is 40.7. Young adults of 15 to 24 account for a tenth of the town. Children under 15 count for 18% of the people here.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Droylsden | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 17% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.5% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
3 GP practices serve the town; nearly four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Disability touches a fifth of Droylsden’s population. 6.4% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above Greater Manchester’s towns (5.9%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike.
| Census 2021 | Droylsden | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.4% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like 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.
Grade II* covers 2 of them. Of Droylsden’s land, 4% lies in conservation areas, above Greater Manchester’s towns (3%) but below England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Droylsden. Best known first.
MuseumEnglish Football Hall of Fame4.8 km outside town, to the west
Art galleryManchester Art Gallery4.8 km outside town, to the west
CathedralManchester Cathedral5 km outside town, to the west
MuseumThe Manchester Museum4.7 km outside town, to the west
MuseumChetham's Library4.9 km outside town, to the west
MuseumNational Football Museum4.8 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
21 notable people were born in Droylsden.
Howard Donald: Marc E., CC BY 2.0 · Eric Stewart: Klaus Hiltscher, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jeff Noon: Stuart, CC BY 2.0 · Harry Pollitt: Howard Coster (1885–1959), CC0 · Charlie McNeill: Timmy96, CC0
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Droylsden is a built-up area of 23,916 people, in the Tameside 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Droylsden | 23,916 | — | — | D | — | D |
| Audenshaw | 13,397 | 1.2 | — | D− | — | C− |
| Woodhouses | 1,094 | 1.4 | — | D− | — | C |
| Failsworth | 19,962 | 1.5 | — | D | — | D |
| Ashton-under-Lyne | 48,595 | 2.4 | — | D | — | D− |
| Denton | 36,005 | 2.6 | — | D | — | C− |
| Dukinfield | 21,151 | 2.9 | — | D | — | D |
| Reddish | 22,189 | 3.1 | — | C+ | — | D |
Woodhouses has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Audenshaw, Woodhouses, Failsworth, Ashton-under-Lyne, Denton, Dukinfield and Reddish 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 Droylsden 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 £212,675, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £120,000, terraced houses £190,000, semi-detached houses £225,000 and detached houses £318,000. Household incomes are lower than in 85% 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.