# Most and least populated places in North West (2021)

Manchester was the most populated of North West’s 35 councils in 2021 (population 551,938).

Ribble Valley was the least populated (61,561). The middle council, Bury, had 193,851.

| Rank | Area | Population | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Manchester](https://openindex.co.uk/manchester) | 551,938 | – |
| 2 | [Liverpool](https://openindex.co.uk/liverpool) | 486,088 | – |
| 3 | [Cheshire East](https://openindex.co.uk/cheshire-east) | 398,772 | – |
| 4 | [Cheshire West and Chester](https://openindex.co.uk/cheshire-west-and-chester) | 357,150 | – |
| 5 | [Wigan](https://openindex.co.uk/wigan) | 329,330 | – |
| 6 | [Wirral](https://openindex.co.uk/wirral) | 320,199 | – |
| 7 | [Bolton](https://openindex.co.uk/bolton) | 295,963 | – |
| 8 | [Stockport](https://openindex.co.uk/stockport) | 294,773 | – |
| 9 | [Sefton](https://openindex.co.uk/sefton) | 279,233 | – |
| 10 | [Cumberland](https://openindex.co.uk/cumberland) | 273,276 | Worked out by Open Index by adding up the census output areas in this area, because the census was published on the boundaries before this council changed. |
| 11 | [Salford](https://openindex.co.uk/salford) | 269,923 | – |
| 12 | [Oldham](https://openindex.co.uk/oldham) | 242,088 | – |
| 13 | [Trafford](https://openindex.co.uk/trafford) | 235,052 | – |
| 14 | [Tameside](https://openindex.co.uk/tameside) | 231,071 | – |
| 15 | [Westmorland and Furness](https://openindex.co.uk/westmorland-and-furness) | 226,589 | Worked out by Open Index by adding up the census output areas in this area, because the census was published on the boundaries before this council changed. |
| 16 | [Rochdale](https://openindex.co.uk/rochdale) | 223,773 | – |
| 17 | [Warrington](https://openindex.co.uk/warrington) | 210,974 | – |
| 18 | [Bury](https://openindex.co.uk/bury) | 193,851 | – |
| 19 | [St. Helens](https://openindex.co.uk/st-helens) | 183,248 | – |
| 20 | [Blackburn with Darwen](https://openindex.co.uk/blackburn-with-darwen) | 154,738 | – |
| 21 | [Knowsley](https://openindex.co.uk/knowsley) | 154,519 | – |
| 22 | [Preston](https://openindex.co.uk/preston) | 147,835 | – |
| 23 | [Lancaster](https://openindex.co.uk/lancaster) | 142,934 | – |
| 24 | [Blackpool](https://openindex.co.uk/blackpool) | 141,036 | – |
| 25 | [Halton](https://openindex.co.uk/halton) | 128,478 | – |
| 26 | [Chorley](https://openindex.co.uk/chorley) | 117,732 | – |
| 27 | [West Lancashire](https://openindex.co.uk/west-lancashire) | 117,429 | – |
| 28 | [Wyre](https://openindex.co.uk/wyre) | 111,946 | – |
| 29 | [South Ribble](https://openindex.co.uk/south-ribble) | 111,035 | – |
| 30 | [Pendle](https://openindex.co.uk/pendle) | 95,757 | – |
| 31 | [Burnley](https://openindex.co.uk/burnley) | 94,646 | – |
| 32 | [Hyndburn](https://openindex.co.uk/hyndburn) | 82,234 | – |
| 33 | [Fylde](https://openindex.co.uk/fylde) | 81,374 | – |
| 34 | [Rossendale](https://openindex.co.uk/rossendale) | 70,871 | – |
| 35 | [Ribble Valley](https://openindex.co.uk/ribble-valley) | 61,561 | – |

Source: Census 2021, England and Wales and Scotland's Census 2022 and Census 2021, Northern Ireland, ONS Census 2021. Period: 2021. Period: 2021.

## Other rankings of this measure

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

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

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/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 2026.10.9. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/north-west