Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The large town, home to 20,703 people, lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (B+): 18% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is cost of living — the median home sold for £230,000, 5.4 years of area income. It also trails on health (C−) — life expectancy 78 for men, 81.7 for women. Pupils here do less well than most: primary results beat 37% of towns in England; secondary results beat 32% of towns in England.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Horwich has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its 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 Horwich is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Horwich has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The thing Horwich does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Horwich’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
27% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →11 listed buildings in Horwich.
Church of Holy Trinity: Photo: Ickleweb · Public domain · Lower House Farmhouse: Photo: Plucas58 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · War Memorial at Former Horwich Locomotive Works: Photo: Peter Broster · CC BY 4.0 · Horwich Parish Church of England Primary School: Photo: Plucas58 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Horwich.
The private rented sector houses 17% of households. 16% live in social housing, below 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 | £360,497 | 314 |
| Semi-detached | £237,495 | 341 |
| Terraced | £165,000 | 340 |
| Flat or maisonette | £124,997 | 72 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
GCSE results at the 4 secondary schools within 3 km: two in five pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 43.3. Nearly three in five pupils at the town’s 6 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Horwich’s six primaries and one secondary have 2,541 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chorley New Road Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 316 | C+ |
| St Joseph's RC High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,047 | C |
At the census, 6.3% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above Greater Manchester’s towns (5.9%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. 2 GP practices serve the town; 78% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Disability touches a fifth of Horwich’s population.
| Census 2021 | Horwich | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.3% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
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.
The car took nearly four in five commuters, above Greater Manchester’s towns (72%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. In 2026, 3.2% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits. Work in town: 25% of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 1.8.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Horwich counts 11 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 1 Grade II*. Scaled to its population, Horwich has 5 listed buildings per 10,000 people, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (7) and England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
One measure of family life: 16% of residents are under 15. Horwich has a median age of 42.5 years. Nearly a fifth of residents are 65 or over, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Horwich | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.1% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 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 Horwich. Best known first.
Historic houseSmithills Hall4 km outside town, to the east
MuseumThe Bolton Steam Museum3.7 km outside town, to the eastZooZooSmithills Open Farm4.3 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
12 notable people were born in Horwich.
Jimmy Hodson: Brentford FC, Public domain
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Horwich is a built-up area of 20,703 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horwich | 20,703 | — | — | D | — | C− |
| Blackrod | 5,340 | 1.7 | — | D | — | C |
| Aspull | 4,937 | 2.5 | — | B+ | — | C |
| Wingates | 1,936 | 2.6 | — | C | — | D |
| Adlington | 8,777 | 2.8 | A− | A | B− | C+ |
| Hunger Hill | 1,299 | 3.4 | — | D | — | B− |
| Westhoughton | 21,969 | 3.5 | — | D | — | C |
| Bolton | 184,077 | 4.4 | — | C− | — | D |
Wingates and Hunger Hill have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Blackrod, Aspull, Wingates, Hunger Hill, Westhoughton and Bolton have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
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 Horwich has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
GCSE results trail 68% of towns in England, and primary results trail 63% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
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.