Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 31,509 people, this large town lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: 24% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Its weakest is cost of living (D) — the median home sold for £300,000, 6.2 years of area income. Health lags: life expectancy 78 for men, 82.9 for women. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for schools, C+ for jobs & income and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Prestwich 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 Prestwich is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Prestwich has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 43 buildings inside Prestwich’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
21% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Prestwich. Best known first.
MuseumEnglish Football Hall of Fame3.7 km outside town, to the southeast
CathedralManchester Cathedral3.7 km outside town, to the southeast
Art galleryManchester Art Gallery4.5 km outside town, to the south
Big drawMuseumScience and Industry Museum4.5 km outside town, to the south · 830K visitors a year
MuseumChetham's Library3.7 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumImperial War Museum North5 km outside town, to the south · 2K visitors a yearPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Prestwich.
13% live in social housing, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). The £300,000 median rests on 1,045 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Private rents average £969 a month across the Bury council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £453,497 | 144 |
| Semi-detached | £310,000 | 521 |
| Terraced | £272,000 | 263 |
| Flat or maisonette | £166,500 | 117 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Between them, eight primaries and three secondaries teach 4,422 pupils in Prestwich. Three of its 12 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. GCSE results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: 41% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 42.4.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yesoiday Hatorah Girls AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 437 | B− |
| St Monica's RC High School, a Voluntary AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,032 | B− |
| Yesoiday Hatorah Boys AcademyTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 423 | A− |
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.
The 2026 claimant rate among 16 to 64s was 3.6%. 36% of workers worked mainly from home, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (31%). Income per household averages £54K a year, before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
6 GP practices serve the town; 71% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 83% of Prestwich’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (81%) and England’s towns (82%). At the census, 4.8% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2021 | Prestwich | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.8% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 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.
The age that splits Prestwich in two is 37.2. People aged 15 to 24 make up just over a tenth of the town, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%). 40% of adults hold a degree.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Prestwich | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.9% | 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
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
21% of its homes were built before 1919, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (16%). Prestwich’s listed buildings include the Church of St Mary, Grade I. The register of parks and gardens lists one here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
43 listed buildings in Prestwich, 1 of them Grade I.
Heaton Park: Photo: Pimlico Badger · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church Inn: Photo: Poliphilo · CC0 · Rookwood Wrenwood: Photo: Richerman · CC BY-SA 3.0 · War Memorial, St Mary's Churchyard: Photo: Doctorneroli · CC BY-SA 4.0
42 notable people were born in Prestwich.
Victoria Wood: MAG (Mines Advisory Group), CC BY 2.0 · Kevin Godley: Klaus Hiltscher, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Abbie McManus: Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 at · Lol Creme: Klaus Hitscher, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Marc Tierney: NCFCQ, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ivan Lewis: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prestwich | 31,509 | — | — | D | — | C− |
| Whitefield | 22,193 | 1.5 | — | C− | — | C− |
| Pendlebury | 1,768 | 1.6 | — | D− | — | D |
| Simister | 1,054 | 1.7 | — | D | — | C |
| Rhodes | 2,970 | 2.2 | — | C− | — | D |
| Clifton | 17,748 | 2.2 | — | D | — | C− |
| Salford | 108,431 | 2.6 | — | D | — | D− |
| Swinton | 22,886 | 3.2 | — | D− | — | C− |
Pendlebury and Simister have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Whitefield, Pendlebury, Simister, Rhodes, Clifton, Salford and Swinton 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 Prestwich has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Band D council tax in Prestwich is £2,555 for 2026–27, more than in 77% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Prestwich is a built-up area of 31,509 people, in the Bury 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.