United Kingdom · North West · Local Authority
Bolton
Metropolitan district · North West, England · population ~288k · 128 state-funded schools
Relatively affordable to buy, but high rents and crime. Bolton’s median house price is 5.8 times median annual pay, a multiple below the North West median, but rents are high, taking 30% of gross median earnings. Recorded crime is also a concern, at 98.4 per 1,000 people, well above the North West median of 75.9. However, council tax is low, and schools are a strength, with 91.2% of pupils in Good or Outstanding places, above the North West median. This suits buyers prioritising school quality and lower upfront housing costs over lower rents and a safer environment.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Bolton ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£35,074/yr
Very low
Worse than 92% of UK LAs
House price
£205,000
Affordable
Better than 78% of UK LAs
Rent
£878/mo
Affordable
Better than 63% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,400/yr
Mid
Better than 59% of UK LAs
Crime
98.4/1k
Highest
Worse than 84% of UK LAs
Deprivation
30.7
Most deprived
Worse than 89% of UK LAs
Schools
96.1%
Strong
Better than 75% of UK LAs
Colour shows quintile position against 361 UK Local Authorities. Green is the best position for someone moving here; red is the worst. Direction is set per indicator — higher pay, lower rent, less crime, less deprivation are all green.
Schools
128 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
122 of 127 (96.1%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 1 school is on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
128 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 128 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Bolton →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Bolton head-to-heads
What we don't know yet
Commute times · GP appointment availability · broadband speeds · air quality at LA level · green-space proximity · public transport coverage. These matter for a relocation decision. We'll add them when the source data is reliable nationally and consistent across LA boundaries.