United Kingdom · North West · Local Authority
Wigan
Metropolitan district · North West, England · population ~331k · 126 state-funded schools
Affordable living comes at the cost of opportunity. Wigan offers a median house price that is 5.2 times median annual pay, a multiple below the regional average, and its council tax is the lowest in the North West. However, median weekly earnings are precisely at the North West median, and recorded crime is higher than three-quarters of England authorities. The standout figure is education, with 97.5% of pupils in Good or Outstanding schools, a figure higher than 88% of England authorities. This is a place that suits families prioritising school quality and lower living costs over career progression.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Wigan ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£37,794/yr
Low
Worse than 66% of UK LAs
House price
£197,500
Most affordable
Better than 81% of UK LAs
Rent
£732/mo
Most affordable
Better than 85% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,153/yr
Cheapest
Better than 93% of UK LAs
Crime
92.2/1k
High
Worse than 78% of UK LAs
Deprivation
25.7
High
Worse than 76% of UK LAs
Schools
96.8%
Strong
Better than 78% 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
126 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
122 of 126 (96.8%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. How we count →
The map
126 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 126 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Wigan →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Wigan 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.