County ranking

Best places to live in Merseyside

25 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.

25 Towns listed of 25 that qualify
72 Top score Prescot
63 County median UK median 54
11 Above 65 roughly the UK top eighth

We score 25 Merseyside towns with a population above 3,000 and data in at least 8 of our 9 categories. Here are the top 25, ranked by overall score. Prescot edges it on 72/100, a single point ahead of Bebington on 71. Above 65/100, which roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches, Merseyside has 11: Prescot (72), Bebington (71) and Greasby (70), among others.

Median score across the 25 towns we rank here is 63/100, 9 points above the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage. On price, Huyton with Roby is the top five's cheapest at a median of £182,000. Greasby, also in the top five, runs to £275,500. From top to bottom of this table there are 17 points: 72 at the head, 55 at the foot. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Prescot, Bebington and Greasby.

The top 25 places to live in Merseyside, ranked by overall score out of 100
# Town Score Strongest categories Population Median price
1 Prescot 72 Lifestyle 92 Transport 81 35,740 £200,000
2 Bebington 71 Healthcare 74 Transport 72 55,883 £235,000
3 Greasby 70 Healthcare 64 Schools 64 9,219 £275,500
4 Huyton with Roby 70 Healthcare 87 Lifestyle 90 57,112 £182,000
5 Lydiate 69 Healthcare 64 Schools 63 5,914 £252,400
6 Crosby (Sefton) 68 Healthcare 81 Schools 75 49,897 £250,000
7 Wallasey 68 Healthcare 82 Transport 80 85,474 £190,000
8 Birkenhead 67 Healthcare 84 Transport 82 105,604 £175,000
9 Litherland 67 Healthcare 88 Schools 85 18,853 £179,000
10 Liverpool 66 Healthcare 91 Transport 85 489,838 £190,500
11 Maghull 66 Healthcare 64 Schools 64 16,757 £255,000
12 Heswall 64 Transport 55 Healthcare 49 28,552 £321,000
13 Bootle (Sefton) 63 Healthcare 86 Transport 85 54,136 £160,000
14 Aintree 62 Healthcare 70 Transport 71 5,980 £230,000
15 West Kirby 62 Transport 54 Broadband 93 13,238 £330,000
16 Formby 61 Healthcare 57 Schools 54 22,599 £335,000
17 Newton-le-Willows 61 Transport 75 Healthcare 63 21,985 £203,500
18 Southport 61 Healthcare 72 Transport 72 92,586 £220,000
19 St Helens (St. Helens) 61 Healthcare 78 Transport 79 104,391 £168,000
20 Billinge 60 Healthcare 54 Transport 47 5,608 £245,000
21 Hoylake 59 Lifestyle 55 Transport 50 5,211 £236,000
22 Meols 59 Healthcare 54 Transport 50 5,469 £418,500
23 Rainford 58 Healthcare 53 Transport 47 5,117 £275,000
24 Haydock 57 Transport 65 Broadband 97 15,632 £175,000
25 Kirkby 55 Healthcare 64 Transport 64 46,857 £163,000

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.

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How this ranking was built

Every settlement in Merseyside 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:

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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