Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The city, home to 108,431 people, lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Salford is easy to get around without a car: on the way to work, 45% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Health lags: men here can expect to live to 74.4, women to 78.6. Buying the median home, at £220,000, takes 4.9 years of household income in the Salford council area. Jobs & income is weaker too: the mean household earns £44,486 a year.
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 Salford has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
The 3 things Salford 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 Salford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Salford has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 124 buildings inside Salford’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
14% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1900.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Salford. Best known first.
CathedralCathedral Church of St. John the Evangelistin town
Art galleryThe Lowryin town
Historic houseOrdsall Hallin town
MuseumSalford Museum and Art Galleryin town
MuseumEnglish Football Hall of Fame200 m outside town, to the east
CathedralManchester Cathedral100 m outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Salford.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 33% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Among 16 to 64s, 6.1% claimed unemployment benefits in 2026. Of the commuters living in Salford, 26% work in the town itself. 64% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
GCSE results at the town’s 5 secondary schools: 46% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 45.9. St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School’s results beat 96% of schools in England like it. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 25 primary schools: 55% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Of its 33 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lark Hill Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 629 | D |
| Oasis Academy MediaCityUKLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 989 | D |
| St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 503 | A+ |
Asked at the census, 84% of residents of Salford said they were in good or very good health. 18 GP practices serve the town; 79% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 17% of people here had a disability, lower than Greater Manchester’s towns (18%) and near England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Salford | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.5% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
41% rent privately, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). Social renters account for 28% of households. The median sale, £220,000, comes from 3,917 standard sales inside Salford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £380,000 | 110 |
| Semi-detached | £275,550 | 552 |
| Terraced | £230,000 | 771 |
| Flat or maisonette | £190,000 | 2,484 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Salford’s listed buildings include Ordsall Hall, Grade I. The pre-1919 share of homes is 14%. The register of parks and gardens lists 3 locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Graduates make up nearly two in five adults. People 65 and over make up nearly a tenth of the town, below Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Line up the people of Salford by age and the one in the middle is 29.8.
48% women, 52% men
About 106 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Salford | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 19% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 37% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 17% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 9.2% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.8% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
124 listed buildings in Salford, 1 of them Grade I.
Cathedral of St John and Attached Cathedral House: Photo: Ian Roberts; derivative work: Rabanus Flavus · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ordsall Hall: Photo: Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club: Photo: Rjrodrigo589 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Former Kersal Bar Toll House: Photo: Richerman · CC BY-SA 3.0
307 notable people were born in Salford.
Paul Scholes: James Adams, CC BY 2.0 · Albert Finney: Unknown (Mondadori Publishers), Public domain · Christopher Eccleston: Super Festivals, CC BY 2.0 · Terry Eagleton: Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung, CC BY 2.0 · Phil Bardsley: Rach from Tadcaster, York, England, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salford | 108,431 | — | — | D | — | D− |
| Pendlebury | 1,768 | 1.4 | — | D− | — | D |
| Old Trafford | 21,442 | 2.3 | — | B− | — | D |
| Clifton | 17,748 | 2.5 | — | D | — | C− |
| Prestwich | 31,509 | 2.6 | — | D | — | C− |
| Swinton | 22,886 | 2.8 | — | D− | — | C− |
| Manchester | 470,395 | 2.9 | — | D− | — | D |
| Stretford | 28,010 | 3.1 | — | C | — | C− |
Pendlebury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Pendlebury, Old Trafford, Clifton, Prestwich, Swinton, Manchester and Stretford 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 Salford has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
GCSE results beat 53% of towns in England, and primary results trail 78% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £220,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £190,000, terraced houses £230,000, semi-detached houses £275,550 and detached houses £380,000. Household incomes are lower than in 81% of UK towns, so cost of living grades D.
City in Greater Manchester, England
Salford is a built-up area of 108,431 people, in the Salford 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.