Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
23,412 people live in this large town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Schools do well: primary results beat 99% of towns in England; secondary results beat 46% of towns in England. Health is its weak spot — men here can expect to live to 79.9, women to 83.2. It is hard to get around without a car: on the way to work, 11% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Buying the median home, at £219,750, takes 5.1 years of household income in the Wigan council area. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for jobs & income and B for hazard risk.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Orrell has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Orrell does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Orrell is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Orrell has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 60 buildings inside Orrell’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
16% 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 Orrell.
GCSE results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: 42% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 46.2. Crawford Village Primary School’s results beat nearly every one of schools in England like it. Just over four in five pupils at the town’s 7 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Three of its 10 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orrell Newfold Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 447 | A+ |
| St Peter's Catholic High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,026 | B |
| Crawford Village Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 79 | A+ |
Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.7% of residents. Children under 15 make up 16%, below Greater Manchester’s towns (19%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The middle age in Orrell is 45.9.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Orrell | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.4% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 31% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
2 GP practices serve the town; 85% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, nearly a fifth of people here had a disability, about level with Greater Manchester’s towns (18%) and above England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Orrell is Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, 3.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Orrell | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 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 · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
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.
36% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Household income came to £47K a year before tax, about level with Greater Manchester’s towns (£46K) and below England’s towns (£55K). The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 2.5%.
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.
Of Orrell’s 60 listed buildings on Historic England’s list, Grade I counts 1 and Grade II* 2. Its listed buildings include the Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Grade I. Homes built before 1919 account for 16% of the housing.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Owners make up 75% of households, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (58%) and England’s towns (61%). Social housing holds 13% of households. Behind the median of £219,750: 993 standard sales inside Orrell’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £332,916 | 250 |
| Semi-detached | £215,500 | 436 |
| Terraced | £160,000 | 279 |
| Flat or maisonette | £110,000 | 28 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Orrell. Best known first.
Historic houseBispham Hall100 m outside town, to the south
MuseumMuseum of Wigan Life3.4 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumAmazing Novelty-Orium & Mechanical Museum2 km outside town, to the northwestAttractionAttractionBridge Warehouse2.8 km outside town, to the eastHistoric siteHistoric siteThe Orwell at Wigan Pier2.8 km outside town, to the eastAttractionAttractionTrencherfield Mill2.9 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
60 listed buildings in Orrell, 1 of them Grade I.
Up Holland Benedictine priory: Photo: Karl and Ali · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Plough and Harrow Hotel: Photo: Ian Greig · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Cosy Cottage: Photo: Gary Rogers · CC BY-SA 2.0 · War Memorial: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0
24 notable people were born in Orrell.
Catherine Ashton: ©House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0 · Lee Croft: Matlock-Photo from Derbyshire, England, CC BY 2.0 · Zac Thompson: Jon Candy from Cardiff, Wales, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury: Wrythe Garter Book, Buccleugh Handschrift, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orrell | 23,412 | — | — | B− | — | C |
| Wigan | 81,580 | 2.5 | — | A− | — | D |
| Skelmersdale | 34,921 | 2.7 | C− | A− | D | D− |
| Shevington | 5,315 | 2.7 | — | B | — | C+ |
| Billinge | 4,963 | 2.8 | B− | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Appley Bridge | 5,131 | 3.2 | — | C+ | — | B |
| Rainford | 5,573 | 3.7 | C+ | D | B+ | B− |
| Ashton-in-Makerfield | 26,367 | 4 | — | B+ | — | C− |
Wigan, Shevington, Appley Bridge 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, trailing 55%.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Orrell 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 £219,750, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £110,000, terraced houses £160,000, semi-detached houses £215,500 and detached houses £332,916.
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Orrell is a built-up area of 23,412 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
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.