# Employment rate: highest and lowest councils in North West (March 2026)

Cheshire West and Chester and West Lancashire had the joint highest employment rate of North West’s 35 councils in March 2026, at 81.0%.

Hyndburn had the lowest, at 63.6%. The middle council, Sefton, had 74.3%.

| Rank | Area | Employment rate | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| =1 | [Cheshire West and Chester](https://openindex.co.uk/cheshire-west-and-chester) | 81.0% | – |
| =1 | [West Lancashire](https://openindex.co.uk/west-lancashire) | 81.0% | – |
| =3 | [Chorley](https://openindex.co.uk/chorley) | 80.4% | – |
| =3 | [Westmorland and Furness](https://openindex.co.uk/westmorland-and-furness) | 80.4% | – |
| 5 | [Pendle](https://openindex.co.uk/pendle) | 79.6% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 6 | [Trafford](https://openindex.co.uk/trafford) | 79.1% | – |
| =7 | [Cheshire East](https://openindex.co.uk/cheshire-east) | 78.3% | – |
| =7 | [Ribble Valley](https://openindex.co.uk/ribble-valley) | 78.3% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 9 | [South Ribble](https://openindex.co.uk/south-ribble) | 78.1% | – |
| 10 | [Lancaster](https://openindex.co.uk/lancaster) | 77.7% | – |
| 11 | [Warrington](https://openindex.co.uk/warrington) | 77.3% | – |
| 12 | [St. Helens](https://openindex.co.uk/st-helens) | 75.7% | – |
| 13 | [Preston](https://openindex.co.uk/preston) | 75.4% | – |
| 14 | [Cumberland](https://openindex.co.uk/cumberland) | 75.3% | – |
| =15 | [Halton](https://openindex.co.uk/halton) | 74.9% | – |
| =15 | [Manchester](https://openindex.co.uk/manchester) | 74.9% | – |
| =15 | [Rossendale](https://openindex.co.uk/rossendale) | 74.9% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 18 | [Sefton](https://openindex.co.uk/sefton) | 74.3% | – |
| 19 | [Wirral](https://openindex.co.uk/wirral) | 73.9% | – |
| 20 | [Stockport](https://openindex.co.uk/stockport) | 73.8% | – |
| 21 | [Tameside](https://openindex.co.uk/tameside) | 73.6% | – |
| 22 | [Wyre](https://openindex.co.uk/wyre) | 72.7% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 23 | [Wigan](https://openindex.co.uk/wigan) | 72.1% | – |
| 24 | [Knowsley](https://openindex.co.uk/knowsley) | 71.8% | – |
| 25 | [Liverpool](https://openindex.co.uk/liverpool) | 71.2% | – |
| 26 | [Salford](https://openindex.co.uk/salford) | 70.8% | – |
| 27 | [Burnley](https://openindex.co.uk/burnley) | 70.0% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 28 | [Bury](https://openindex.co.uk/bury) | 69.6% | – |
| 29 | [Bolton](https://openindex.co.uk/bolton) | 69.5% | – |
| 30 | [Fylde](https://openindex.co.uk/fylde) | 68.7% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 31 | [Blackpool](https://openindex.co.uk/blackpool) | 67.8% | – |
| 32 | [Rochdale](https://openindex.co.uk/rochdale) | 67.1% | – |
| 33 | [Blackburn with Darwen](https://openindex.co.uk/blackburn-with-darwen) | 65.4% | – |
| 34 | [Oldham](https://openindex.co.uk/oldham) | 64.3% | – |
| 35 | [Hyndburn](https://openindex.co.uk/hyndburn) | 63.6% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS population survey. Covers Great Britain. Period: March 2026. Period: March 2026.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [Great Britain](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/england)
- [Scotland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/scotland)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/wales)
- [North East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-east)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-midlands)
- [West Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/west-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-east)
- [South West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-west)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/employment)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/employment)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-west.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.10. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-west