Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Primary school results beat 100% of towns in England. The town has 12,937 residents and lies in Greater Manchester, North West.
Standish’s best grade is for schools — primary results beat 100% of towns in England; secondary results beat 60% of towns in England. Households here earn well: the mean household earns £54,120 a year. A median £250,000 buys a home here, 5.8 times what households in the Wigan council area earn in a year. Few people walk, cycle or take the bus to work: on the way to work, 9% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for health and B for hazard risk.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Standish has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Standish 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 Standish is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Standish has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 15 buildings inside Standish’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
12% 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 Standish.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over a third of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Unemployment benefit claims came to 2.3% of 16 to 64s in 2026, lower than Greater Manchester’s towns (3.6%) and near England’s towns (2.3%). Jobs per working resident: 0.5. Of the commuters living in Standish, 10% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Three of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 3 primary schools: 83% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Some 2,480 pupils attend Standish’s three primaries and one secondary.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standish St Wilfrid's Church of England Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 582 | A+ |
| Standish Community High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,276 | A− |
| St Marie's Catholic Primary School StandishTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 197 | A+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Standish’s listed buildings include the Church of St Wilfrid, Grade I. Before 1919: that is when 12% of homes were built. 3 scheduled monuments lie in the town.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At the census, 4.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (5.9%) and England’s towns (5.2%). One GP practice serves the town; 61% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Disability touches 16% of Standish’s population.
| Census 2021 | Standish | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 84% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Private renters make up one in ten households, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). Nearly one in ten households live in social housing. 623 standard sales inside Standish’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £250,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 241 |
| Semi-detached | £232,950 | 252 |
| Terraced | £160,000 | 87 |
| Flat or maisonette | £147,000 | 43 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Those aged 15 to 24 account for one in ten residents. Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%). Ages in Standish split evenly at 44.5: half are older, half younger. Among adults, 38% have a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Standish | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 21% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 38% | 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 Standish. Best known first.
MuseumMuseum of Wigan Life3.1 km outside town, to the southAttractionAttractionBridge Warehouse3.3 km outside town, to the southHistoric siteHistoric siteThe Orwell at Wigan Pier3.3 km outside town, to the southAttractionAttractionTrencherfield Mill3.4 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
15 listed buildings in Standish, 1 of them Grade I.
Former Bradley Hall Public: Photo: Plucas58 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · No. 39, MARKET PLACE: Photo: Voello · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Boar's Head Public House: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Cross base on Green Lane 300m north of Strickland House Farm, Standish: Photo: Voello · CC BY 3.0
4 notable people were born in Standish.
Ashley Slanina-Davies: Ian Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standish | 12,937 | — | — | B− | — | B− |
| Shevington Moor | 2,717 | 1.2 | — | C+ | — | B− |
| Shevington | 5,315 | 1.7 | — | B | — | C+ |
| Appley Bridge | 5,131 | 2.3 | — | C+ | — | B |
| Coppull | 8,303 | 2.5 | B− | A | B− | C− |
| Adlington | 8,777 | 3.1 | A− | A | B− | C+ |
| Blackrod | 5,340 | 3.2 | — | D | — | C |
| Wigan | 81,580 | 3.2 | — | A− | — | D |
Shevington Moor, Shevington, Appley Bridge, Blackrod and Wigan have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary schools stand out: Key Stage 2 results beat almost all towns in England. Secondary results are closer to the middle, beating 60%.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Standish has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Band D council tax in Standish is £2,152 for 2026–27, less than in 83% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire, plus the parish or town council). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Town in Greater Manchester, England
Standish is a built-up area of 12,937 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.