Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 97,665: a large town in Greater Manchester, North West.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 28% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Its lowest grade is for cost of living — homes sell for a median £275,000, about 6.3 times local household income. It also trails on health — life expectancy is 76.2 for men and 80.4 for women. Schools are weaker too (D): primary results beat 24% of towns in England; secondary results beat 5% of towns in England.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS. Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Wythenshawe has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Wythenshawe is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish street-level crime to police.uk, so Wythenshawe has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Wythenshawe does most differently from other towns.
Historic England lists 35 buildings inside Wythenshawe’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
2% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1929.
Explore the history →35 listed buildings in Wythenshawe, 1 of them Grade I.
Baguley Hall: Photo: Roger May · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wythenshawe Bus Depot: Photo: KJP1 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church of St Michael and All Angels: Photo: Keith Williamson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Brooke Farmhouse: Photo: Terry Walsh · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Wythenshawe.
15% rent privately, below both Greater Manchester’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). Home ownership covers 48% of households. Private rents average £1,312 a month across the Manchester council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £480,000 | 423 |
| Semi-detached | £305,000 | 1,163 |
| Terraced | £247,500 | 808 |
| Flat or maisonette | £161,475 | 428 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Attainment 8 at the town’s 3 secondary schools averages 36.8, and 30% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths. Three of its 35 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Wythenshawe’s 26 primaries and four secondaries have 12,522 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossacres Primary AcademyLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 704 | B |
| Manchester Enterprise AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,145 | D− |
| Rack House Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 460 | A |
Nearly four fifths of Wythenshawe’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, lower than both Greater Manchester’s towns (81%) and England’s towns (82%). Disability touches just over a fifth of the town’s population. 15 GP practices serve the town; 84% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 7.3% of the town.
| Census 2021 | Wythenshawe | Greater Manchester | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 81% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.3% | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Households had £44K a year before tax, close to Greater Manchester’s towns (£46K) and below England’s towns (£55K). Each working resident is matched by 1.9 jobs in Wythenshawe. Of the commuters living locally, 41% work in the town itself. By car: that was how 68% of commuters travelled at the census.
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.
At the top of the list, 1 are Grade I and 5 Grade II*. Wythenshawe’s listed buildings include Baguley Hall, Grade I. The national list protects one ancient monument locally.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
People aged 15 to 24 make up just over a tenth of the town, below Greater Manchester’s towns (13%) and England’s towns (12%) alike. Half of Wythenshawe is older than 37.2, half younger. Among adults, 29% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Wythenshawe | Greater Manchester | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 28% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.3% | 5.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 29% | 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 Wythenshawe. Best known first.
Historic houseBramall Hall2.8 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseAbney Hall2.1 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumBritish Muslim Heritage Centre3.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumHat Works4.9 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseAdlington Hall4.5 km outside town, to the southeast
Art galleryStockport War Memorial Art Gallery4.8 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
40 notable people were born in Wythenshawe.
Ravel Morrison: Will bcfc, CC BY-SA 3.0 · David Schofield: John Thaxter, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tommy Rowe: Ceaton89, CC BY 3.0 · Daniel Rowe: Ncadc2004, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mike Kane: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0 · John Shipley Rowlinson: VladSokhan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large town in Greater Manchester, England
Wythenshawe is a built-up area of 97,665 people, in the Manchester 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wythenshawe | 97,665 | — | — | D− | — | D |
| Gatley | 9,149 | 1.2 | — | D− | — | B |
| Cheadle | 14,437 | 2.5 | — | D | — | C |
| Hale | 16,716 | 2.9 | — | D− | — | A+ |
| Cheadle Hulme | 24,782 | 3.1 | — | D− | — | A |
| Altrincham | 49,672 | 3.2 | — | D | — | B |
| Sale | 62,545 | 3.6 | — | D | — | B− |
| Bowdon | 6,107 | 4.2 | — | D− | — | A |
Gatley, Cheadle, Hale, Cheadle Hulme, Altrincham, Sale and Bowdon 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 Wythenshawe 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.