United Kingdom · North West · Local Authority
Cheshire West and Chester
Unitary authority · North West, England · population ~344k · 156 state-funded schools
Stronger pay prospects come at the cost of a steeper entry price into the housing market in Cheshire West and Chester. While median weekly earnings of £798.40 sit above the North West median, the median house price is 6.2 times annual pay, making it one of the more expensive areas in the region. Renting is similarly demanding, consuming 27.7% of gross median earnings. The trade-off is a safer environment and better educational outcomes, as the area records lower crime than the regional median and 92.3% of pupils attend schools rated Good or Outstanding. This location suits professionals who can leverage the higher local pay to offset the elevated cost of living, provided they are comfortable with a higher council tax burden.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-10 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 64% 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
186 state-funded schools · Ofsted Sep 2026
146 of 155 (94.2%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 31 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
156 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 156 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.