Manchester City Council

The Council and democracy Census 2021 - Overview

Ward Overview Summary

  • Gorton & Abbey Hey has the highest number of households (8,352), Fallowfield the lowest (4,314).
  • has the highest ward population (21,450), Piccadilly has the smallest population (11,671) but a high density.
  • Longsight has the highest number of people living in residential households (20,817), Deansgate has the smallest number (10,148).
  • Hulme has the highest number of residents living in communal establishments (3,759) followed by Ardwick (3,650) and Deansgate (3,543).
  • 24 of 32 wards have 50% or more residents from the White ethnic group, the largest proportion being in Woodhouse Park at 82% (12,572). The lowest proportion is in Longsight at 23% of residents (4,786). Here, 54% of Longsight residents (11,261) identify with the Asian ethnic group.
  • 8 wards have 50% or more residents identifying as Christian. 3 wards as Muslim (Longsight, Cheetham and Crumpsall), and 5 wards as No Religion (Piccadilly, Deansgate, Ancoats & Beswick Didsbury West and Chorlton).
  • English is the main language in every ward, with 8% or fewer residents unable to speak English well, and 2% or fewer unable to speak English at all. Longsight has the most residents who are unable to speak English at all (371).
  • While driving a car or van remains the most common travel to work method between censuses, working from home has become the second most common with Deansgate, Chorlton, Piccadilly, and Didsbury West all having over 50% of their population working from home.
  • Between censuses, distances travelled to work has decreased as in 2011 25% travelled between 2-5km and in 2021 32% worked from home.
  • Professional Occupations were the most common overall in 2021 (Didsbury West, Ancoats & Beswick), followed by Elementary Occupations (Gorton & Abbey Hey, Harpurhey).
  • Census 2021 took place during a period of rapid change. The ONS gave extra guidance to help people on furlough answer the census questions about work but are unable to determine how it was followed. Take care when using this data for planning purposes. Read more about specific quality considerations in the travel to work guidance from ONS.
  • Over half of households in Didsbury East, Chorlton, Moston, Chorlton Park, Burnage, and Brooklands are Owned, with Didsbury East having the highest at 68%.
  • Over half of households in Deansgate, Piccadilly, and Ancoats & Beswick are Private Rented, with Deansgate having the highest at 73%.
  • Woodhouse Park, Sharston, and Miles Platting and Newton Heath have the highest number of Social Rented households at 47% each.
  • Semi-detached households are most common in Burnage (63%) and East Didsbury (57%), Terraced households in Moss Side (56%) and Levenshulme (51%), and Purpose-built flats in Deansgate (86%), Piccadilly (77%), Hulme (68%) and Ancoats & Beswick (61%).
  • The majority of households in Piccadilly, Deansgate, Hulme, Ardwick, and Moss Side do not have access to a car or van, with Piccadilly having the highest at 68%.
  • Piccadilly has the highest percentage of households without central heating at 6.25% (391 households) in 2021, down from 9.5% (478 households) in 2011. Deansgate is second highest at 4.5% (283 households) down from 6.9% (395 households).
  • Second Address and Purpose of Second Address are resident counts. All other counts are of households.
  • Majority of the population in Fallowfield are students at 54.7% (7,796 people). The ward with the highest number of students is Ardwick at 9,411 students (47.3% of it’s population).
  • Didsbury West, Ancoats & Beswick, Chorlton, and Didsbury East all have over 80% of their population as non-students, with Didsbury West the highest at 85.2% (12,299 people).
  • Over 70% of every ward in Manchester has at least one qualification.
  • 29% of Miles Platting and Newton Heath have no qualifications (4,290 people). Didsbury West has the highest proportion of its population with level 4 qualifications and above (9,396 people).
  • Qualification data was collected for all usual residents aged 16 and over. School children and full-time student data was collected for all usual residents aged 5 and over.
  • Miles Platting and Newton Heath has the highest proportion of its residents with bad or very bad health at 9% (1,749 people). Deansgate has the highest proportion with good or very good health at 93% (12,765 people).
  • Miles Platting and Newton Heath has the highest proportion of its residents whose day-to-day activities are limited a lot at 12% (2,381 people). Deansgate has the highest proportion with no limitation at 90% (12,295 people).
  • Northenden has the highest proportion of its residents providing unpaid care at 10% (1,378 people).
  • Woodhouse Park, Burnage, and Sharston each have 41% of their households with 1 or more disabled residents, the highest in Manchester. Deansgate has the fewest households with disabled residents at 14 % (890 households).
  • Census 2021 was undertaken during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which may also have influenced how people perceive their health status and activity limitations and therefore may affect how people chose to respond.

For more information on the wards in Manchester, view our interactive insight tool.

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