Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 18,684 residents, it is a town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Schools do well: primary results beat 84% of towns in England; secondary results beat 49% of towns in England. Prices are high against local incomes (D−): homes sell for a median £268,000, about 6 times local household income. Elsewhere it is close to typical: C+ for jobs & income and B for walkability. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy is 79.2 for men and 83.6 for women.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Walkden has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
The thing Walkden 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 Walkden is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Walkden has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 10 buildings inside Walkden’s built-up area.
15% 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 Walkden.
Social housing holds 16% of households, below Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The private rented sector houses 17% of households. 763 standard sales inside Walkden’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £268,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £391,999 | 155 |
| Semi-detached | £275,000 | 357 |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 207 |
| Flat or maisonette | £130,000 | 44 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Below are three of its 9 schools, each with why it was picked. 69% of pupils at the town’s 8 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Some 3,759 pupils attend Walkden’s eight primaries and one secondary.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesne Lea Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 441 | C− |
| Co-op Academy WalkdenLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,414 | B− |
| James Brindley Community Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 239 | A |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 15% of the total, below Greater Manchester’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (16%) alike. Listed buildings per head: 5 for every 10,000 residents of Walkden.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
4 GP practices serve the town; 79% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Walkden is Royal Bolton Hospital, 2.8 miles away. Men in Walkden can expect to live to 79.2, women to 83.6 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Walkden | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.3% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 34% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.6 jobs in Walkden for each resident in work. Unemployment benefit claims came to 3.3% of 16 to 64s in 2026, between Greater Manchester’s towns (3.6%) and England’s towns (2.3%). The car carried just over four in five commuters at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Walkden has a median age of 39.5. Degrees are held by 35% of adults, above Greater Manchester’s towns (32%) and close to England’s towns (34%). The under-15s are 18% of the population here.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Walkden | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 30% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 18% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 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 Walkden. Best known first.
Garden · RHSRHS Garden Bridgewater1 km outside town, to the south
Historic house · RHSWorsley New Hall1 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumWinding House900 m outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumLancashire Mining Museum900 m outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumNorth West Computer Museum3.6 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumLeigh Spinners Mill Heritage Centre3.6 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
10 listed buildings in Walkden.
Church of St Paul, Walkden: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ellesmere Memorial: Photo: Philip Platt · CC BY-SA 2.0
14 notable people were born in Walkden.
David Bamber: Adam Wimpenny, CC BY 3.0 · Alan Halsall: The Co-operative, CC BY 2.0 · Carol Klein: Ronhjones, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fred Howard: Port Vale F.C., Public domain · Jamie Moore: Christophe95, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kay Hawke: Clavdia chauchat, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walkden | 18,684 | — | — | D− | — | C |
| Worsley | 11,958 | 1.1 | — | D− | — | A− |
| Little Hulton | 25,824 | 1.2 | — | D | — | D− |
| Wardley | 2,298 | 1.9 | — | D− | — | C− |
| Kearsley | 11,117 | 1.9 | — | C | — | C− |
| Farnworth | 28,761 | 2.2 | — | C | — | D− |
| Tyldesley | 16,205 | 2.3 | — | B− | — | C |
| Swinton | 22,886 | 2.5 | — | D− | — | C− |
Wardley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Worsley, Little Hulton, Wardley, Kearsley, Farnworth, Tyldesley and Swinton 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 Walkden 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.
Secondary results are closer to the middle, trailing 51%.
Town in Greater Manchester, England
Walkden is a built-up area of 18,684 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.
