Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,573 in Merseyside, North West. 10% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport.
Rainford grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 43% of UK towns, and #10 of 25 in Merseyside. Its strongest subject is safety (B+): 18.7 violent and sexual offences and 6 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Its weakest is cost of living (D): median sale £260,000, 6.2 years of area income; rent £807 a month.
The 3 things Rainford 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 Rainford is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 8 buildings inside Rainford’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 Rainford.
37% of adults hold a degree. Children under 15 make up 13%, below Merseyside’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%) alike, and on top of that people aged 15 to 24 are nearly a tenth of the population. Rainford has a median age of 53.5 years.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Rainford | Merseyside | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.4% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 33% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.3% | 5.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Merseyside and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Rainford’s three primaries and one secondary have 2,220 pupils between them. Of its 4 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Attainment 8 at the 2 secondary schools within 3 km averages 45.7, and 45% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainford CofE Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 230 | B− |
| Rainford High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,646 | B+ |
8% of households rent privately. Social housing holds 6% of households, lower than both Merseyside’s towns (21%) and England’s towns (18%). Half of the 238 standard sales inside Rainford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £260,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £380,126 | 64 |
| Semi-detached | £255,250 | 120 |
| Terraced | £205,000 | 40 |
| Flat or maisonette | £126,000 | 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 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Households had £50K a year before tax, higher than Merseyside’s towns (£47K) yet lower than England’s towns (£55K). 88% of commuters took the car to work at the census. In 2026, 1.8% of 16 to 64s were claiming unemployment benefits.
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.
Listed buildings per head: 14 for every 10,000 residents of Rainford. 15% of its homes were built before 1919.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Rainford logged 140 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 12 complaints of anti-social conduct. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 2.8 reports per 1,000, below Merseyside’s towns (8.2) and England’s towns (7.8) alike. Of all the crimes, 58% were violence and sexual offences. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Rainford has less crime per resident than 77% of them.
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.
2 GP practices serve the town; 97% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 20% of people here had a disability, between Merseyside’s towns (22%) and England’s towns (17%). Self-reported good health: just over four fifths of Rainford’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Rainford | Merseyside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 78% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.5% | 7.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 22% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Rainford. Best known first.
Historic houseBispham Hall3.8 km outside town, to the east
MuseumNorth West Museum of Road Transport4.3 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumWorld of Glass4.5 km outside town, to the southeastZooZooAcorn Farm3.6 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumSmithy Heritage Centre2.7 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumAmazing Novelty-Orium & Mechanical Museum4.4 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
4 notable people were born in Rainford.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainford | 5,573 | — | C+ | D | B+ | B− |
| Billinge | 4,963 | 3.2 | B− | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Skelmersdale | 34,921 | 3.5 | C− | A− | D | D− |
| Orrell | 23,412 | 3.7 | — | B− | — | C |
| St Helens | 107,684 | 4.2 | D | C+ | D | D− |
| Kirkby | 45,559 | 4.4 | D− | C− | D | D− |
| Knowsley | 2,345 | 4.4 | — | D− | C | D− |
| Haydock | 16,143 | 5.2 | D | C+ | C | D |
Knowsley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Orrell has 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.
Town in Merseyside, England
Rainford is a built-up area of 5,573 people, in the St. Helens 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.