United Kingdom · North West · Local Authority
Cheshire West and Chester
Unitary authority · North West, England · population ~344k · 157 state-funded schools
Expensive to live in, but with good schools and low crime. Cheshire West and Chester has a median house price 6.2 times median annual pay, and rents take 27.7% of gross median earnings, both among the highest in the North West. However, recorded crime is low at 66.7 per 1,000, and 92.1% of pupils attend Good or Outstanding schools, well above the regional median. This is a place that suits those prioritising educational outcomes and safety over affordability, and where the higher cost of living is not fully matched by earnings, which are only slightly above the regional average.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Cheshire West and Chester ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£41,517/yr
High
Better than 66% of UK LAs
House price
£257,750
Mid-range
Better than 58% of UK LAs
Rent
£959/mo
Mid-range
Around UK average
Council tax
£2,517/yr
Expensive
Worse than 73% of UK LAs
Crime
66.7/1k
Mid
Better than 59% of UK LAs
Deprivation
18.1
Mid
Around UK average
Schools
94.2%
Strong
Better than 62% 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
157 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
146 of 155 (94.2%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 2 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
157 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 157 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Cheshire West and Chester →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Cheshire West and Chester 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.