Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
25,563 people call this large town in Greater Manchester, North West home. Council tax at Band D comes to £2,152.
Golborne’s strongest subject is schools: primary results beat 93% of towns in England; secondary results beat 52% of towns in England. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy 79.1 for men, 82.3 for women. The median home sold for £232,250, 5.4 times what households in the Wigan council area earn in a year. It lags on hazard risk as well: 1.8% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for jobs & income and B− for walkability.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · flood risk, Environment Agency · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Golborne has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Golborne is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Golborne has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Golborne does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 9 buildings inside Golborne’s built-up area.
14% 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 Golborne.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 14% of the total, below Greater Manchester’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. For its size, Golborne has 4 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
73% of pupils at the town’s 9 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Gilded Hollins Community School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. GCSE results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: 44% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 46.8. Below are three of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowton West Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 428 | B+ |
| Golborne High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,144 | B− |
| Gilded Hollins Community SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 209 | A+ |
The nearest A&E to Golborne is Warrington Hospital, 5.8 miles away. 7 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. A disability affects 19% of people in the town.
| Census 2021 | Golborne | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
13% live in social housing, below both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). Private rents average £746 a month across the Wigan council area. Half of the 1,176 standard sales inside Golborne’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £232,250.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £339,972 | 390 |
| Semi-detached | £225,000 | 498 |
| Terraced | £154,000 | 239 |
| Flat or maisonette | £105,000 | 49 |
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 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
85% of commuters drove, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (72%) and England’s towns (70%). For 30% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 2.6%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over, above Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Those aged 15 to 24 account for one in ten residents. Golborne has a median age of 43.5 years. Degrees are held by 28% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Golborne | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 21% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.8% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 20% | 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 Golborne. Best known first.
20 notable people were born in Golborne.
Davey Boy Smith: James, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dynamite Kid: DianesDigitals, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Paul Hart: The original uploader was Holdenbuckley at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Richard Mather: John Foster (illustrator), Increase Mather (author), Public domain · Jimmy Pennington: Mikey3390, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Golborne is a built-up area of 25,563 people, in the Wigan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golborne | 25,563 | — | — | B | — | C− |
| Bickershaw | 2,277 | 2.7 | — | B+ | — | D |
| Leigh | 45,499 | 2.8 | — | A− | — | D |
| Newton-le-Willows | 24,651 | 2.8 | D | C | C− | D |
| Platt Bridge and Abram | 10,587 | 2.9 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Culcheth | 6,722 | 2.9 | B+ | C+ | A− | B |
| Croft | 1,520 | 3 | — | C+ | A | A− |
| Ashton-in-Makerfield | 26,367 | 3 | — | B+ | — | C− |
Bickershaw and Croft have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Bickershaw, Leigh, Platt Bridge and Abram and Ashton-in-Makerfield have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Secondary results are closer to the middle, beating 52%.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Golborne has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
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.