Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This city in Greater Manchester, North West has a population of 117,925.
Stockport is easy to get around without a car: on the way to work, 25% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy 77.1 for men, 81.6 for women. Homes are dear: homes sell for a median £263,000, about 5.1 times local household income. Jobs & income is weaker too — mean household income £47,057; 4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
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 Stockport has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Stockport 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 Stockport is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Stockport has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 122 buildings inside Stockport’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade I.
27% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1810.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Stockport. Best known first.
MuseumHat Worksin town
MuseumStaircase Housein town
Art galleryStockport War Memorial Art Galleryin town
MuseumThe Manchester Museum4.4 km outside town, to the northwest
Historic houseBramall Hall1.2 km outside town, to the south
MuseumPankhurst Centre3.9 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Stockport.
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.
Just over half of commuters travelled under 5 km, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (47%) and England’s towns (45%). There are 1.2 jobs in Stockport for each resident in work. Walking ranked second among ways to work, at 11%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Below are three of its 47 schools, each with why it was picked. Stockport’s 35 primaries and four secondaries have 13,982 pupils between them. Secondary results at the town’s 4 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 49.7, with 54% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Thomas' Church of England Primary School Heaton ChapelLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 647 | A− |
| Stockport SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,341 | B− |
| Norris Bank Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 403 | A+ |
10 GP practices serve the town; just over four in five patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Nearly a fifth of residents have a disability, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). The nearest A&E to Stockport is Stepping Hill Hospital, 2.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Stockport | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.9% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 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.
Private tenants account for 18% of households. From September 2023 to August 2026, 4,569 homes sold inside Stockport’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £263,000. 61% of households own their home, about level with England’s towns (61%) and above Greater Manchester’s towns (58%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £430,000 | 450 |
| Semi-detached | £300,000 | 1,924 |
| Terraced | £228,000 | 1,540 |
| Flat or maisonette | £165,000 | 655 |
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.
Stockport’s listed buildings include the Church of St George, Grade I. Historic England’s list names 122 listed buildings here: 3 Grade I, 8 Grade II*. It has one registered historic park or garden.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Graduates make up 36% of adults. At 39.1, the median resident of Stockport sits in the middle of the age range. 16% of residents are 65 or over, near Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and lower than England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Stockport | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 16% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.8% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 36% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
122 listed buildings in Stockport, 3 of them Grade I.
Parish Church of St Mary: Photo: Zzztriple2000 · CC BY 3.0 · Town Hall: Photo: G-Man · Public domain · Stockport Railway Viaduct: Photo: Steven Haslington · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wear Mill: Photo: Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent · CC BY-SA 3.0
14 notable people were born in Stockport.
Margaret Burbidge: Michael Webb, CC BY 4.0 · Josh Bugajski: National Lottery Good Causes, CC BY 3.0 · David Dickinson: [2] from Lancaster, United Kingdom, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockport | 117,925 | — | — | C− | — | D |
| Cheadle | 14,437 | 2 | — | D | — | C |
| Reddish | 22,189 | 2.3 | — | C+ | — | D |
| Bredbury and Woodley | 17,044 | 2.5 | — | C | — | C− |
| Hazel Grove | 20,163 | 2.7 | — | D | — | B |
| Cheadle Hulme | 24,782 | 2.8 | — | D− | — | A |
| Bramhall | 17,201 | 2.8 | — | D− | — | A |
| Romiley | 10,902 | 3 | — | D | — | C |
Cheadle, Reddish, Bredbury and Woodley, Hazel Grove, Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall and Romiley 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 St George.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Stockport has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Band D council tax in Stockport is £2,619 for 2026–27, more than in 88% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
City in Greater Manchester, England
Stockport is a built-up area of 117,925 people, in the Stockport 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.