County ranking
Best places to live in Cheshire
30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
40 towns in Cheshire clear our data thresholds: a population over 3,000 and real scores in 8 or more of 9 categories. The top 30 are ranked below. Warrington edges it on 68/100, a single point ahead of Chester on 67. Two towns clear 65/100, a mark roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches: Warrington (68) and Chester (67).
Cheshire as a whole runs 4 points above the national norm: a median of 58/100 across its 40 qualifying towns, against 54/100 for comparable UK towns. On price, Warrington is the top five's cheapest at a median of £246,000. Wilmslow, also in the top five, runs to £497,475. The listed towns cover 13 points in all, from Warrington on 68 to Culcheth on 55. See the detailed scores for Warrington, Chester and Davenham.
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warrington | 68 | Healthcare 76 Schools 75 | 160,387 | £246,000 |
| 2 | Chester | 67 | Healthcare 76 Transport 75 | 82,293 | £266,500 |
| 3 | Davenham | 64 | Transport 58 Schools 59 | 13,192 | £330,000 |
| 4 | Hartford | 63 | Schools 60 Transport 58 | 6,572 | £400,000 |
| 5 | Wilmslow | 63 | Healthcare 60 Lifestyle 61 | 25,024 | £497,475 |
| 6 | Barnton | 62 | Broadband 99 Healthcare 52 | 5,894 | £216,500 |
| 7 | Macclesfield | 62 | Healthcare 66 Transport 66 | 51,479 | £257,698 |
| 8 | Neston (Cheshire West and Chester) | 62 | Lifestyle 58 Healthcare 51 | 14,774 | £287,250 |
| 9 | Rudheath | 62 | Broadband 95 Healthcare 52 | 4,812 | £248,000 |
| 10 | Weaverham | 62 | Broadband 99 Schools 58 | 6,169 | £204,000 |
| 11 | Shavington | 61 | Broadband 96 Transport 55 | 5,255 | £250,000 |
| 12 | Tarporley | 61 | Healthcare 64 Broadband 94 | 3,009 | £405,000 |
| 13 | Crewe | 60 | Transport 77 Schools 66 | 70,423 | £195,000 |
| 14 | Lymm | 60 | Healthcare 49 Broadband 90 | 11,236 | £370,000 |
| 15 | Poynton | 60 | Transport 58 Lifestyle 52 | 10,875 | £440,000 |
| 16 | Widnes | 60 | Healthcare 68 Schools 70 | 61,095 | £192,500 |
| 17 | Elworth | 59 | Transport 52 Broadband 90 | 6,794 | £255,000 |
| 18 | Congleton | 58 | Lifestyle 58 Healthcare 53 | 28,065 | £270,000 |
| 19 | Ellesmere Port | 58 | Transport 68 Schools 67 | 60,500 | £205,000 |
| 20 | Nantwich | 58 | Transport 64 Healthcare 58 | 16,678 | £280,000 |
| 21 | Northwich | 58 | Healthcare 66 Lifestyle 65 | 13,831 | £215,000 |
| 22 | Willaston (Cheshire East) | 58 | Transport 56 Schools 46 | 3,933 | £287,000 |
| 23 | Alsager | 57 | Transport 57 Schools 50 | 14,766 | £270,000 |
| 24 | Frodsham | 57 | Broadband 96 Transport 45 | 8,494 | £293,000 |
| 25 | Haslington | 57 | Healthcare 46 Broadband 82 | 4,881 | £278,500 |
| 26 | Sandbach | 57 | Lifestyle 56 Transport 50 | 10,337 | £275,000 |
| 27 | Winsford | 57 | Healthcare 62 Broadband 94 | 33,499 | £210,000 |
| 28 | Knutsford | 56 | Broadband 95 Lifestyle 45 | 13,021 | £465,000 |
| 29 | Runcorn | 56 | Schools 63 Healthcare 57 | 59,326 | £185,000 |
| 30 | Culcheth | 55 | Broadband 88 Schools 48 | 6,272 | £390,000 |
Ranked on the default weighting, out of 100. Strongest categories are the two furthest above the national median for that category, not simply the two highest numbers. Almost every town scores well on safety, so raw highs would say little.
Find your own best place in Cheshire
The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 40 qualifying towns around what you actually care about — who's moving, a minimum on one category, a price ceiling for the type of home you'd buy.
Pick a persona or set a filter to re-rank 40 towns in place.
How this ranking was built
Every settlement in Cheshire was scored across 9 categories (safety, schools, healthcare, transport, environment, broadband, lifestyle, economic health and bills) from official sources including Police UK, Ofsted, the CQC, Ofcom, the Environment Agency and MHCLG. Two filters then decide who appears here:
- Population above 3,000. Without a floor the list fills with hamlets of a few dozen people. Cheshire has 40 towns above it.
- Real data in at least 8 of 9 categories. Places we can only partly measure are excluded rather than ranked on guesswork.
Counties are ceremonial, and a town belongs to the county its postcodes physically sit in, so border towns land where residents would expect them to.
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