Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The city has 111,258 residents and lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Walkability is its strong suit: nearly a fifth of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Health outcomes fall short of most towns (D): life expectancy 76.1 for men, 80.4 for women. Homes are dear: a typical home costs £195,000 and rent runs £855 a month. It lags on jobs & income as well (D) — the mean household earns £41,540 a year.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and income, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · claimants, DWP. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Rochdale has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Rochdale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Rochdale has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Rochdale does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 134 buildings inside Rochdale’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
28% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →134 listed buildings in Rochdale, 4 of them Grade I.
Rochdale Cenotaph: Photo: Tim Green · CC BY 2.0 · Church of St Mary-in-the-Baum, St Mary's Gate, Rochdale: Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Former Blue Bell Inn: Photo: Mike Faherty · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rochdale Bridge, at the junction of The Esplanade, Yorkshire Street, The Butts, South Parade, Rochdale: Photo: Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rochdale.
80% of Rochdale’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (81%) and England’s towns (82%). 18 GP practices serve the town; 76% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 6.6% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2021 | Rochdale | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.6% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Caldershaw Primary School’s results beat 97% of schools in England like it. Between them, 33 primaries and six secondaries teach 18,467 pupils in Rochdale. Three of its 44 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Secondary results at the town’s 6 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 42.3, with 37% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heybrook Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 688 | B− |
| Wardle AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,366 | C+ |
| Caldershaw Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 235 | A+ |
Social housing holds 22% of households, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). The median sale, £195,000, comes from 2,928 standard sales inside Rochdale’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Private renters make up a fifth of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £328,000 | 767 |
| Semi-detached | £200,000 | 948 |
| Terraced | £145,000 | 1,053 |
| Flat or maisonette | £115,000 | 160 |
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 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
53% of commuters travelled under 5 km, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (47%) and England’s towns (45%). There are 1.1 jobs in Rochdale for each resident in work.
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.
The top grade, Grade I, goes to 4 of them. Rochdale counts 134 listed buildings on the national list (Historic England): 4 Grade I, 4 Grade II*. The register of parks and gardens lists 3 locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
15% of residents are 65 or over, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). At 36.2, the median resident of Rochdale sits in the middle of the age range. Degrees are held by 27% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Rochdale | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.2% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 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 Rochdale. Best known first.
MuseumRochdale Pioneers Museumin town
MuseumEllenroad Steam Museum800 m outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumTouchstonesin townZooZooLancaster Park & Animal Farm3.7 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
170 notable people were born in Rochdale.
Sajid Javid: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0 · Anna Friel: RedCarpetReport, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Keira Walsh: Katie Chan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Craig Dawson: Egghead06, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dwight McNeil: Kelvin Stuttard, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gracie Fields: Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0
City in Greater Manchester, England
Rochdale is a built-up area of 111,258 people, in the Rochdale 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochdale | 111,258 | — | — | C− | — | D |
| Milnrow | 9,237 | 2.1 | — | D | — | C− |
| Wardle | 2,112 | 2.5 | — | D | — | B− |
| Trub | 1,389 | 2.6 | — | D | — | D |
| Whitworth | 6,713 | 2.9 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Newhey | 2,711 | 2.9 | — | C− | — | C− |
| Littleborough | 12,164 | 3 | — | D | — | C |
| Heywood | 29,724 | 3.3 | — | C− | — | D |
Wardle and Trub have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Milnrow, Wardle, Trub, Newhey, Littleborough and Heywood have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Its Grade I buildings include Church of Saint Edmund and Associated Boundary Wall, Railings and Gates. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Rochdale has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
GCSE results trail 76% of towns in England, and primary results trail 65% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £195,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £115,000, terraced houses £145,000, semi-detached houses £200,000 and detached houses £328,000. Household incomes are lower than in 91% of UK towns, so cost of living grades C−.
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.