Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 81,580: a large town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Prices are modest for what you get: the median home sold for £171,000, 4 years of area income. Its weakest is health — life expectancy 76.3 for men, 80.8 for women. Incomes are on the low side (C−): mean household income £41,314; 4.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Homes change hands at a median £171,000.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy and income, ONS · claimants, DWP. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Wigan has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Wigan is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Wigan has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Wigan does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 128 buildings inside Wigan’s built-up area, 10 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
20% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1881.
128 listed buildings in Wigan.
Church of St Mary: Photo: Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kirkless Hall and Kirkless Hall Farmhouse: Photo: Plucas58 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mabs Cross: Photo: David Hignett · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Pavilion: Photo: Davekpcv · CC BY-SA 4.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Wigan.
At the census, 21% of people here had a disability, above both Greater Manchester’s towns (18%) and England’s towns (17%). 15 GP practices serve the town; 89% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, nearly four in five residents of Wigan said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Wigan | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
Secondary results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 44.1, with 42% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Holy Family RC Primary School, New Springs, Wigan’s results beat 98% of schools in England like it. Of its 28 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Some 10,392 pupils attend the town’s 23 primaries and three secondaries.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mab's Cross Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 461 | B |
| The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form CollegeLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,365 | B− |
| Woodfield Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 209 | A+ |
Private rents average £746 a month across the Wigan council area. 22% live in social housing, about level with Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and above England’s towns (18%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 2,611 homes sold inside the town’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £171,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £285,000 | 399 |
| Semi-detached | £185,000 | 1,207 |
| Terraced | £140,000 | 889 |
| Flat or maisonette | £92,500 | 116 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working mainly from home: 19% of workers, below both Greater Manchester’s towns (29%) and England’s towns (31%). 53% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Work in town: nearly two fifths of resident commuters. At the census, 77% of commuters went by car.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 10 of them. Homes from before 1919 make up a fifth of the total, close to Greater Manchester’s towns (20%) and above England’s towns (16%). One scheduled monument lies in Wigan.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Young adults of 15 to 24 are 11% of residents, below Greater Manchester’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. The median resident of Wigan is 41.1 years old. Under-15s account for 18% of the population.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Wigan | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.1% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 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 Wigan. Best known first.
MuseumMuseum of Wigan Lifein town
Historic houseBispham Hall2.4 km outside town, to the southwestAttractionAttractionBridge Warehousein townHistoric siteHistoric siteThe Orwell at Wigan Pierin townAttractionAttractionTrencherfield Millin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
327 notable people were born in Wigan.
Leon Osman: The Bohs, CC BY 2.0 · Limahl: giorgioerriquez, CC BY 2.0 · George Formby: Carpenter (Sgt), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Public domain · Jason Lowe: Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 · Jenny Meadows: Jonathan Charters (Jonchart at en.wikipedia), CC BY 3.0 · Andy Griffin: TuborgLight, CC BY-SA 3.0
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Wigan is a built-up area of 81,580 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wigan | 81,580 | — | — | A− | — | D |
| Ince-in-Makerfield | 12,186 | 1.8 | — | A | — | D− |
| Orrell | 23,412 | 2.5 | — | B− | — | C |
| Shevington | 5,315 | 2.7 | — | B | — | C+ |
| Platt Bridge and Abram | 10,587 | 2.8 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Ashton-in-Makerfield | 26,367 | 3.2 | — | B+ | — | C− |
| Standish | 12,937 | 3.2 | — | B− | — | B− |
| Aspull | 4,937 | 3.6 | — | B+ | — | C |
Ince-in-Makerfield, Orrell, Shevington, Platt Bridge and Abram, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Standish and Aspull have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
By type: flats £92,500, terraced houses £140,000, semi-detached houses £185,000 and detached houses £285,000.
We can’t say from police.uk: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime data there, so Wigan 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.
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.