Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
21,442 residents make their home in this large town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Old Trafford’s strongest is walkability (A+) — on the way to work, 37% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Homes sell for a median £250,000, about 4.6 years of what households in the Trafford council area earn. Where it falls short is health: men here can expect to live to 75.8, women to 80.4. Incomes are on the low side: mean household income £42,894; 6.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · claimants, DWP. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Old Trafford 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 Old Trafford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Old Trafford has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Old Trafford does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 9 buildings inside Old Trafford’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
29% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →9 listed buildings in Old Trafford, 1 of them Grade I.
Essence Factory: Photo: Anthony Parkes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Trafford Park Hotel: Photo: Malleus Fatuarum · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Trafford Town Hall: Photo: Parrot of Doom · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Trafford Road Bridge: Photo: John Harvey · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Old Trafford.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 36% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Jobs per working resident: 3.5. Working mainly from home: 36% of workers, above Greater Manchester’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (31%) alike. About 14% of its commuters stay in Old Trafford for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Old Trafford’s six primaries have 2,128 pupils between them. Seymour Park Community Primary School’s results beat 89% of schools in England like it. Below are two of its 6 schools, each with why it was picked. Secondary results at the 23 secondary schools within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 50.3, with 53% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seymour Park Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 682 | A |
| St Hilda's CofE Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 191 | A |
One GP practice serves the town; 74% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Old Trafford is Manchester Royal Infirmary, 1.8 miles away. A disability affects 17% of people in the town.
| Census 2021 | Old Trafford | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as 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.
Historic England’s list names 9 listed buildings in Old Trafford: 1 Grade I. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of All Saints, Grade I. For its size, Old Trafford has 4 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, 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
Renting privately is how 26% of households live. Owners make up 44% of households, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (58%) and England’s towns (61%). The median sale, £250,000, comes from 646 standard sales inside Old Trafford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £442,500 | 11 |
| Semi-detached | £390,000 | 125 |
| Terraced | £290,000 | 156 |
| Flat or maisonette | £195,500 | 354 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Half of Old Trafford is older than 34.1, half younger. The 15-to-24 age group: 15%, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%). Children under 15 make up 20% of residents.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Old Trafford | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 32% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 10% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.1% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 40% | 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 Old Trafford. Best known first.
MuseumImperial War Museum Northin town · 2K visitors a year
MuseumEnglish Football Hall of Fame2.4 km outside town, to the northeast
Art galleryManchester Art Gallery1.9 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumThe Manchester Museum1.3 km outside town, to the east
Big drawMuseumScience and Industry Museum1 km outside town, to the northeast · 830K visitors a year
CathedralManchester Cathedral2.2 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Old Trafford is a built-up area of 21,442 people, in the Trafford 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Trafford | 21,442 | — | — | B− | — | D |
| Stretford | 28,010 | 1.8 | — | C | — | C− |
| Manchester | 470,395 | 2.1 | — | D− | — | D |
| Salford | 108,431 | 2.3 | — | D | — | D− |
| Sale | 62,545 | 3.6 | — | D | — | B− |
| Pendlebury | 1,768 | 3.7 | — | D− | — | D |
| Eccles | 41,116 | 3.9 | — | D− | — | D− |
| Urmston | 41,728 | 4 | — | C− | — | C |
Pendlebury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Stretford, Manchester, Salford, Sale, Pendlebury, Eccles and Urmston have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Its Grade I building is Church of All Saints.
GCSE results beat 77% of towns in England, and primary results beat 75% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Old Trafford 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.