Greater Manchester

image
Ceremonial County in England
Region: North West

§ This page provides an overview of an England's ceremonial county. Our website has 48 such county pages.

Overview ⁞ Greater Manchester is a densely populated and highly urbanised ceremonial county centred around the city of Manchester, one of the UK’s largest and most influential cities. Formed in 1974, the county is made up of ten metropolitan boroughs, including Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Stockport, and Wigan. Once an industrial powerhouse, Greater Manchester has reinvented itself as a hub of culture, media, education, and technology. It is overseen by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, led by a directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Is Greater Manchester a historic county? No—Greater Manchester is not a historic county; it was created in 1974 from parts of Lancashire, Cheshire and others. Administratively, it is a metropolitan county of ten boroughs (with no county council since 1986).

Greater Manchester has 10 Local Authority Districts. The chart below shows how this compares with other counties in England.

Number of local authority districts in Greater Manchester and other counties
Number of local authority districts in Greater Manchester, compared with other counties
This county page, Greater Manchester, is a sub-page this region page: North West. It zooms in to local authorities, administrative districts, and parliamentary constituencies in this county. We have this list page for easy browsing of all historic counties, ceremonial counties, and administrative counties: List of all counties in the UK.

Local Authorities in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester, in England’s North West region, is a metropolitan county made up of ten metropolitan boroughs, each governed by its own council acting as a unitary authority responsible for all local services. These are Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan. Created in 1974, the county has no county council, with each borough handling functions such as education, housing, planning, transport, and social care independently, while also cooperating through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which oversees region-wide issues like transport, regeneration, and strategic planning under a directly elected mayor. Together, these councils serve a diverse area that includes the regional capital Manchester, with its global cultural and economic significance, alongside historic industrial towns, suburban communities, and extensive green spaces, reflecting the county’s blend of urban vitality and surrounding countryside.

Districts in Greater Manchester

In the International Territorial Levels (ITLs) hierarchy, Greater Manchester is one of ITLs Level 2 area that contains the following 5 ITLs Level 3 areas:

(ITL 1) North West
(ITL 2) ⇒ Greater Manchester
(ITL 3) ⇒⇒ Manchester ⁞ Greater Manchester South West ⁞ Greater Manchester South East ⁞ Greater Manchester North West ⁞ Greater Manchester North East

Constituencies in Greater Manchester

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies, 27 of them are in Greater Manchester.

Counties in North West