Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
107,684 people call this city in Merseyside, North West home.
Where it falls short is health (D−) — life expectancy 76.1 for men, 80.1 for women. Overall, St Helens earns a D: better than 5% of UK towns, and #22 of 25 in Merseyside. A median £172,500 buys a home here, 4.1 times what households in the St. Helens council area earn in a year. Fewer journeys need a car: on the way to work, 17% walk, cycle or take a bus or train.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
The 3 things St Helens 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 St Helens is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 44 buildings inside St Helens’s built-up area, 5 of them Grade II*, and 4 scheduled monuments.
17% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1903.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in St Helens.
A disability affects nearly a quarter of people in St Helens. Nearly one in ten residents described their health as bad or very bad, above Merseyside’s towns (7.7%) and England’s towns (5.2%) alike. 18 GP practices serve the town; 80% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Asked at the census, 77% of residents of St Helens said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | St Helens | Merseyside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 78% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.2% | 7.7% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 22% | 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.
St Mary & St Thomas CofE Primary School’s results beat 95% of schools in England like it. Three of its 37 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Its 30 primaries and four secondaries have 13,412 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thatto Heath Community Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 631 | B− |
| Cowley International CollegeLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,514 | C− |
| St Mary & St Thomas CofE Primary SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 230 | A+ |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Burglary and damage came to 16.9 per 1,000 residents a year, above Merseyside’s towns (9.5) and England’s towns (9.4) alike. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 11,805 offences in St Helens and 1,242 cases of nuisance behaviour. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, St Helens has more crime per resident than 71% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 46% of recorded crime.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.8 jobs in St Helens for each resident in work. Of the commuters living here, 38% work in the town itself. Also worth knowing: household income averages £39K a year before tax. Working mainly from home: 20% of workers, lower than both Merseyside’s towns (26%) and England’s towns (31%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
17% rent privately, lower than both Merseyside’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (21%). Private rents average £807 a month across the St. Helens council area. 3,695 standard sales inside St Helens’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £172,500.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £310,000 | 623 |
| Semi-detached | £190,000 | 1,615 |
| Terraced | £125,000 | 1,298 |
| Flat or maisonette | £96,000 | 159 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 5 of them. The national list protects 4 ancient monuments in St Helens. 3 registered parks and gardens lie here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Line up the people of St Helens by age and the one in the middle is 41.7. People aged 15 to 24 make up 11% of the town. 17% are under 15, near both Merseyside’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%).
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| St Helens | Merseyside | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 21% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.2% | 5.4% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 30% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Merseyside and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near St Helens. Best known first.
MuseumNorth West Museum of Road Transportin town
MuseumWorld of Glassin town
Historic houseBispham Hall3.7 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumSmithy Heritage Centrein townWildlife parkWildlife parkKnowsley Safari1.9 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumPrescot Museum1.6 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
44 listed buildings in St Helens.
Statue of Queen Victoria: Photo: Rodhullandemu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tank house, beside canal at Crown Glass Works: Photo: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0 · St Helens Junction Station: Photo: andy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bridge over Railway: Photo: El Pollock · CC BY-SA 2.0
224 notable people were born in St Helens.
David Yates: Joella Marano, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Thomas Beecham: "Photograph by the Dover Street Studios" (active circa 1906 - c. 1912), individual photographer unknown, Public domain · Conor Coady: Catherine Kõrtsmik, CC BY 2.0 · John William Draper: Edward Bierstadt, Public domain · Bill Foulkes: North American Soccer League, Public domain · John Connelly: Hesekiel, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Helens | 107,684 | — | D | C+ | D | D− |
| Prescot | 39,227 | 2.8 | D | D | C− | D |
| Haydock | 16,143 | 3.1 | D | C+ | C | D |
| Billinge | 4,963 | 3.4 | B− | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Burtonwood | 3,504 | 3.8 | B+ | A | B+ | D |
| Cronton | 1,234 | 4 | — | D− | A | B− |
| Rainford | 5,573 | 4.2 | C+ | D | B+ | B− |
| Newton-le-Willows | 24,651 | 4.5 | D | C | C− | D |
Cronton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £172,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £96,000, terraced houses £125,000, semi-detached houses £190,000 and detached houses £310,000.
GCSE results trail 70% of towns in England, and primary results beat 50% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
City in Merseyside, England
St Helens is a built-up area of 107,684 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.