United Kingdom · North West · Local Authority
Rochdale
Metropolitan district · North West, England · population ~224k · 90 state-funded schools
Affordable to buy, but with significant trade-offs in earnings and quality of life. Rochdale's median house price is 5.7 times median annual pay, a multiple below the regional average, and rents take a manageable 27.6% of gross earnings. However, weekly pay is below the North West median at £689.50, and this is matched by the region's highest recorded crime rate at 105.5 per 1,000 and the highest deprivation score. School quality is also slightly below the regional median at 85.6% of pupils in Good or Outstanding places. This location suits those prioritising lower upfront housing costs over career prospects and neighbourhood safety.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Rochdale ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£35,854/yr
Very low
Worse than 85% of UK LAs
House price
£205,000
Affordable
Better than 78% of UK LAs
Rent
£824/mo
Affordable
Better than 70% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,601/yr
Most expensive
Worse than 90% of UK LAs
Crime
105.5/1k
Highest
Worse than 87% of UK LAs
Deprivation
34.4
Most deprived
Worse than 95% of UK LAs
Schools
87.6%
Concerning
Worse than 84% 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
89 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
78 of 89 (87.6%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. How we count →
The map
90 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 90 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Rochdale →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Rochdale 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.