Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town in Lancashire, North West has a population of 6,713.
Whitworth’s weakest is jobs & income (D): households earn a mean £42,280 a year, and 4.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The town’s overall grade, C−, puts it better than 23% of UK towns. The ranking puts it #42 of 65 in Lancashire. Safety is weaker too: 35.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Against UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has more crime per resident than 81%. Pupils here do better than most (B): primary results beat 61% of towns in England; secondary results beat 53% of towns in England. It takes 4.2 years of household income in the Rossendale council area to buy the median home, at £190,000.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things Whitworth 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 Whitworth is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 17 buildings inside Whitworth’s built-up area.
37% 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 Whitworth.
Reported offences in Whitworth came to 437 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 177. 56% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
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.
Below are three of its 5 schools, each with why it was picked. Key Stage 2 results at the town’s 4 primary schools: 63% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (three-year average). Whitworth’s four primaries and one secondary have 1,413 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tonacliffe Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 294 | C+ |
| Whitworth Community High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 654 | B |
| Our Lady and St Anselm's Roman Catholic Primary School, WhitworthTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 195 | A− |
The nearest A&E to Whitworth is Fairfield General Hospital, 5.2 miles away. A disability affects a fifth of people locally. Also worth knowing: life expectancy here is 83.5 for women and 78.8 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Whitworth | Lancashire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.5% | 6.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 20% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like 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 17 listed buildings in Whitworth, every one Grade II. Scaled to its population, Whitworth has 25 listed buildings per 10,000 people, above Lancashire’s towns (15) but below England’s towns (39).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Private rents average £811 a month across the Rossendale council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 330 homes sold inside Whitworth’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £190,000. Owners make up nearly two thirds of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £275,500 | 68 |
| Semi-detached | £204,482 | 111 |
| Terraced | £150,000 | 137 |
| Flat or maisonette | £98,500 | 14 |
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 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 14% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train. Work in town: 10% of resident commuters. Driving is how 84% of commuters got to work at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The middle age in Whitworth is 45. Among adults, 28% have a degree. A fifth of residents are 65 or over, near Lancashire’s towns (20%) and higher than England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Whitworth | Lancashire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 9.5% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 20% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.7% | 6.3% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 28% | 29% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Lancashire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Whitworth. Best known first.
CastleDobroyd Castle4.6 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumRochdale Pioneers Museum2.6 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumTouchstones2.9 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
17 listed buildings in Whitworth.
The Briars: Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Church of St John Evangelist: Photo: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitworth | 6,713 | — | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Wardle | 2,112 | 1.9 | — | D | — | B− |
| Bacup | 13,559 | 2.8 | C− | B | D | D |
| Rochdale | 111,258 | 2.9 | — | C− | — | D |
| Littleborough | 12,164 | 3.2 | — | D | — | C |
| Summit | 1,728 | 3.6 | — | C− | — | C− |
| Milnrow | 9,237 | 4.2 | — | D | — | C− |
| Weir | 1,290 | 4.6 | — | C | B | C− |
Wardle, Summit and Weir have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Wardle, Rochdale, Littleborough, Summit and Milnrow have no Safety Grade: Greater Manchester Police doesn’t publish to police.uk. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £190,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £98,500, terraced houses £150,000, semi-detached houses £204,482 and detached houses £275,500.
Town in Lancashire, England
Whitworth is a built-up area of 6,713 people, in the Rossendale 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.
