Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 28,010 people live in this large town, in Greater Manchester, North West.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 27% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Its schools beat most (A−): primary results beat 62% of towns in England; secondary results beat 90% of towns in England. The weak point is health: life expectancy is 77.4 for men and 83.1 for women. It takes 5.3 years of household income in the Trafford council area to buy the median home, at £291,250. Jobs and pay trail most towns: the mean household earns £49,237 a year.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Stretford has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Stretford 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 Stretford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Stretford has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Stretford’s built-up area.
24% 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 Stretford. Best known first.
MuseumImperial War Museum North1.1 km outside town, to the north · 2K visitors a year
MuseumEnglish Football Hall of Fame4.6 km outside town, to the northeast
Art galleryManchester Art Gallery4.1 km outside town, to the northeast
CathedralManchester Cathedral4.4 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumThe Manchester Museum3.8 km 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 Stretford.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 35% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Work in town: nearly a tenth of resident commuters. Each working resident is matched by 0.6 jobs in Stretford. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 53%, higher than both Greater Manchester’s towns (47%) and England’s towns (45%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Three of its 13 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 53.9, and three in five pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. At the town’s 7 primary schools, 64% of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moss Park Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 464 | A− |
| Stretford High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,000 | B− |
| Stretford Grammar SchoolTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 956 | A+ |
3 GP practices serve the town; just over three quarters of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Stretford is Salford Royal Hospital, 2.6 miles away. 5.3% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Greater Manchester’s towns (5.9%) and close to England’s towns (5.2%).
| Census 2021 | Stretford | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.3% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Historic England’s list names 11 listed buildings in Stretford, every one Grade II. Per 10,000 residents, Stretford counts 4 listed buildings. Of the town’s land, 1% lies in conservation areas, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (3%) and England’s towns (7%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Owners make up 63% of households, about level with England’s towns (61%) and above Greater Manchester’s towns (58%). Private rents average £1,369 a month across the Trafford council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 856 homes sold inside Stretford’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £291,250.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £411,000 | 53 |
| Semi-detached | £317,500 | 392 |
| Terraced | £275,000 | 292 |
| Flat or maisonette | £165,000 | 119 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
People aged 15 to 24 make up 11% of the town; what’s more, 14% of residents are 65 or over, below Greater Manchester’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The median resident of Stretford is 38.3 years old. Among adults, 37% have a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Stretford | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.8% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 32% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Greater Manchester and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
11 listed buildings in Stretford.
Union Baptist Church: Photo: Andycr100 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St Matthew: Photo: Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Top Rank Club (Former Essoldo Cinema): Photo: Malleus_Fatuorum · Public domain · Former Cross Base in St Matthew's Churchyard: Photo: Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0
36 notable people were born in Stretford.
Jay Kay: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 · L. S. Lowry: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 2.0 · John Sheridan: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tony Lloyd: ©House of Commons / Roger Harris, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stretford | 28,010 | — | — | C | — | C− |
| Old Trafford | 21,442 | 1.8 | — | B− | — | D |
| Urmston | 41,728 | 2.2 | — | C− | — | C |
| Sale | 62,545 | 2.2 | — | D | — | B− |
| Eccles | 41,116 | 2.9 | — | D− | — | D− |
| Salford | 108,431 | 3.1 | — | D | — | D− |
| Manchester | 470,395 | 3.9 | — | D− | — | D |
| Altrincham | 49,672 | 3.9 | — | D | — | B |
Old Trafford, Urmston, Sale, Eccles, Salford, Manchester and Altrincham have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 90% of towns in England. Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 62%.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Stretford has no Safety Grade. Greater Manchester Police’s own figures cover whole boroughs, not towns.
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Stretford is a built-up area of 28,010 people, in the Trafford 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.