Situated to the south east of Manchester city centre, there is some light engineering industry to be found in Gorton but this mainly residential seat is characterised by low numbers of owner-occupiers. The percentage of homes which are privately rented is twice the national average, and the publicly-rented housing sector is also large. The number of workers employed in the managerial and technical fields is below the national average - 21.4% compared to 30.8%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, unemployment is above the national average, the number of residents with access to a car is low and nearly 40% of parents are raising their children alone. Interestingly, Gorton has the third highest number of residents aged between 16 and 24, (16.3% of the population), a statistic partly explained by the high numbers of students living in cheap, rented accommodation. Asians form 11.6% of Gorton’s population, and are mostly concentrated in the Longsight district.