Chorley is officially classed as a non-metropolitan district with borough status located within the ceremonial county of Lancashire, North West England. It is a market town and the administrative center for the wider Borough of Chorley, often categorized as a "prospering smaller town" within the central Lancashire sub-region.
Chorley forms a conurbation with Preston and Leyland and was once proposed as being designated part of the Central Lancashire New Town under the New Towns Act, a proposal which was eventually scaled back.
Chorley is a thriving market town with a population of approximately 34,000. There is a bus station and train station serving the Northern Manchester to Preston Line. The town centre has a variety of independent shops along with a Morrisons, Asda, Aldi, Marks and Spencer food Hall and Booths.
Chorley Borough Council, which styles itself "Chorley Council", provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Lancashire County Council. Much of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.
Why we love Chorley - Arnold & Phillips Estate Agents
What are the 12 districts of Lancashire?
The 12 districts of the administrative county of Lancashire are Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, and Wyre, all forming part of the two-tier system with Lancashire County Council, while Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are separate unitary authorities within the ceremonial county.
Derek Draper, David Unsworth, Stephen Pemberton, Dave Spikey, Reg Holdsworth, Carl Crook (boxer), Sir Bill Beaumont, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Charles Lightoller, Second Officer on the RMS Titanic and the most senior crew member to survive.
Chorley is among the top 5 most dangerous medium-sized towns in Lancashire, and is the 25th most dangerous overall out of Lancashire's 236 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Chorley in 2025 was 77 crimes per 1,000 people.
People from Chorley, Lancashire, don't have a single widely known formal demonym, but locals sometimes use nicknames like "Chozzer" (though some dispute this) or simply refer to themselves as being from Chorley, with local areas having their own nicknames like Adlington's "Aggy".
Blackpool ranks as the most deprived authority in Lancashire-14 on five of the seven domains of deprivation, ranking 1st on the employment and health and disability domains and 2nd on the crime domain of all local authority districts in England.
Preston City Council is an authority in Central Lancashire that covers 142 square kilometres and has 16 wards for which Census 2021 profiles are available.
Downham. Nestling under the bulk of Pendle Hill this is one of the loveliest villages in Lancashire, quiet and unspoiled, with a gurgling brook running past the village green and stone-built cottages. The church tower is a splendid example of 15th century architecture.
Lancaster and Ribble Valley consistently rank as some of the safest areas in Lancashire due to their low crime rates, strong communities, and family-oriented environments.
Chorley is generally considered relatively affluent with good quality of life, strong transport links, and a thriving market, but it also contains pockets of significant deprivation, creating a divide, though overall deprivation levels have decreased, reports from Chorley Council. While areas like Whittle-le-Woods are among the richest in Lancashire, other parts experience poverty, with the cost of living crisis potentially widening these gaps, according to reports from local government association and this Yahoo News article.
