Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It skews young: one resident in 4 is 15 to 24. 27,720 residents make their home in this large town in Lancashire, North West.
Jobs & income is where it shines (A−) — mean household income £51,769; 1.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Walkability is another plus: on the way to work, 21% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. The median home sold for £265,000, 5.6 times what households in the West Lancashire council area earn in a year. What counts against it is health (C+) — life expectancy is 79.8 for men and 82.7 for women. All told, that adds up to an A− overall, better than 77% of UK towns. It ranks #9 of 65 in Lancashire. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B for safety and C+ for hazard risk.
Figures: income and life expectancy, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Ormskirk 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 Ormskirk is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 57 buildings inside Ormskirk’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
16% 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 1915.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ormskirk.
Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over, above Lancashire’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The under-15s are 12% of the population here. The median resident of Ormskirk is 38.7 years old.
55% women, 45% men
About 83 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Ormskirk | Lancashire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 27% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.6% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 32% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lancashire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Below are three of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked. Secondary results at the town’s 2 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 47.2, with 47% at grade 5 or above in English and maths. Two thirds of pupils at the town’s 7 primary schools met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average).
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ormskirk Church of England Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 411 | C+ |
| Ormskirk SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,169 | C |
| Aughton Christ Church Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 203 | A+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 76% of commuters, near Lancashire’s towns (78%) and higher than England’s towns (70%). About 23% of its commuters stay in Ormskirk for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.9.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
4 GP practices serve the town; 82% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. 4.7% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below Lancashire’s towns (6.3%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. Women here live to 82.7 on average and men to 79.8 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Ormskirk | Lancashire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 6.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Violence and sexual offences accounted for just over half of recorded crime. Ormskirk logged 1,140 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 298 complaints of anti-social conduct. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 17.2 reports per 1,000, about level with Lancashire’s towns (17.3) and above England’s towns (7.8). Property crime (burglary and damage) runs at 7.4 per 1,000 residents a year.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
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 16% of the total, about level with England’s towns (16%) and below Lancashire’s towns (23%). Ormskirk has 57 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 3 Grade II*. One scheduled monument lies here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Private renters make up 14% of households, below both Lancashire’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (21%). 10% of households rent from a council or housing body. 964 standard sales inside Ormskirk’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £265,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £442,500 | 253 |
| Semi-detached | £260,000 | 448 |
| Terraced | £196,250 | 158 |
| Flat or maisonette | £142,000 | 105 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
57 listed buildings in Ormskirk.
Church of St Peter and St Paul: Photo: Small-town hero · Public domain · Water Tower on Tower Hill: Photo: Small-town hero · Public domain · Moor Hall: Photo: Richard Cooke · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · The Windmill Public House: Photo: Galatas · CC BY-SA 2.0
68 notable people were born in Ormskirk.
James Hopwood Jeans: Kokorik (Uploader), Public domain · Stephen Warnock: Mr. Phillip Chambers, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Kieran Dowell: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Robbie Slater: Camw, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tony Morley: stavros1, CC BY 3.0 · Ben Wiggins: Nicola, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ormskirk | 27,720 | — | A− | B− | B | C+ |
| Burscough | 8,773 | 3.2 | B− | B− | B− | C |
| Lydiate | 6,516 | 3.4 | B | D | A | B |
| Maghull | 20,367 | 4.1 | C | D | C+ | B− |
| Skelmersdale | 34,921 | 5 | C− | A− | D | D− |
| Parbold | 2,409 | 5.3 | — | C | A+ | A |
| Kirkby | 45,559 | 5.4 | D− | C− | D | D− |
| Rufford | 1,562 | 5.5 | — | C | A | C+ |
Parbold and Rufford have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Primary schools stand out: Key Stage 2 results beat 77% of towns in England. Secondary results are closer to the middle, beating 59%.
Large town in Lancashire, England
Ormskirk is a built-up area of 27,720 people, in the West Lancashire 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.