Photo: Christine Matthews · CC BY-SA 2.0How Merseyside stacks up
In Merseyside, healthy life expectancy at birth is 61.6 years here, 3rd shortest of 55 areas with figures. The overall grade: D, a score of 9 that ranks 59th. Its weak spots are lower incomes (£43,400 a household) and high costs against local pay.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
58th of 65D11/100 More recorded crime than most areas. Both its neighbours, Lancashire and Cheshire, score higher. Violent crime runs at 44.6 offences per 1,000 residents a year, the 7th highest rate of 65 areas with police.uk figures. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Greasby ranks highest, at #26.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 96 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 8th highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
The big places weigh on the total
At the quiet end sit Meols (#49), Lydiate (#111) and Heswall (#130) of 2,138 towns. The busiest quarter for recorded crime takes in Liverpool, St Helens and Bootle. Of residents of its towns, 17% live in the safest quarter and 48% in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Merseyside | 17% | 48% |
Town centres and the people who live there
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in Merseyside, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
79th of 90D12/100 Pupils score below most of England. Only Hoylake (#82 of 2,331) stands out; just 2% of town residents live in a top-quarter town. In the tests every English pupil sits at eleven, 60% here reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (6th lowest). Every neighbour scores higher, Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester among them.
At GCSE, pupils average 43.1 on Attainment 8 (5th lowest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Cost of living
74th of 98C25/100 Harder to afford than most areas. Even its best town, Birkenhead, ranks #1,347 of 2,515. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £210,000, or 4.8 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Over five years, typical prices have risen 20%.
Typical sale price: £210,000 (13,355 sales, 40th lowest).
Private rent £886 a month (40th lowest); Band D council tax £2,562 (12th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Health
84th of 98D14/100 Health trails most areas. 74% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Liverpool and Birkenhead. Of a life expectancy of 78.7 years, 61.6 are expected in good health (3rd shortest among the areas). Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester all do better on health.
Total life expectancy is 78.7 years (the shortest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Jobs & income
84th of 98D14/100 Money is tighter here. Liverpool and Birkenhead weigh on the town measure; 71% of town residents live in bottom-quarter places. At £43,400 a year, household incomes here are the 18th lowest of 98 areas. It trails all of its neighbours on incomes.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 4.4% of working-age adults (7th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Getting about
11th of 98A90/100 Among the easiest places to get about without a car. No neighbour beats it on walkability; Greater Manchester comes closest. 25% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work, against 26% across England and Wales (13th highest of 98 areas). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Liverpool its best at #74 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 26% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Flood risk
11th of 87A88/100 Low flood risk, town after town. Merseyside ranks 3rd lowest of 55 areas with figures for flood risk: 0.3% of town homes are in harm’s way. 43% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as Billinge and Crosby, and almost none at the bottom. It leads its neighbours on flood risk, ahead of Cheshire.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 25 Merseyside towns.
Growth
64th of 98C+35/100 Slower than most. Merseyside grew 6.9% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales. Only Newton-le-Willows (#239 of 1,579) stands out; just 2% of town residents live in a top-quarter town. It trails all of its neighbours on growth.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +3.6% (26th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 23 Merseyside towns.
How Merseyside compares to its neighbours
Next to Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, it comes out ahead on getting about and flood risk and behind on safety, schools and health.
| Merseyside | Lancashire | Cheshire | Greater Manchester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D 959th of 65 | C 2748th of 65 | B 6424th of 65 | No overall grade |
| Safety | D 1159th official · 17% in top towns | C− 1758th official · 24% in top towns | C+ 4237th official · 26% in top towns | Not graded |
| Schools | D 1242nd official · 2% in top towns | B− 4733rd official · 12% in top towns | A− 816th official · 30% in top towns | B+ 6715th official · 14% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 2553rd official · 0% in top towns | B− 5335th official · 36% in top towns | C 3368th official · 28% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 6% in top towns |
| Health | D 1453rd official · 9% in top towns | C 3344th official · 13% in top towns | A− 7519th official · 29% in top towns | C− 2447th official · 10% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | D 1481st official · 8% in top towns | C 2578th official · 9% in top towns | B+ 6936th official · 20% in top towns | C+ 3864th official · 12% in top towns |
| Getting about | A 9013th official · 36% in top towns | B 6157th official · 4% in top towns | C 2668th official · 0% in top towns | A− 8218th official · 21% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A 883rd official · 43% in top towns | C− 1541st official · 11% in top towns | A− 7820th official · 40% in top towns | A− 7617th official · 31% in top towns |
| Growth | C+ 3547th official · 2% in top towns | B 6234th official · 17% in top towns | B+ 6623rd official · 15% in top towns | A− 8415th official · 33% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.