Manchester, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester urban county, northwestern England. In 2013 there were 514,417 people living there, which makes it the fifth-largest city in the United Kingdom. Manchester was given city status in 1853. The city is in the middle of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, which has 2,240,230 people and is the United Kingdom's third-largest built-up place. Manchester is a very important city in England, and is often called the "Capital of the North." Manchester has many places for the arts, places for learning, businesses providing media as well as lots of shops. In a poll of British managers in 2006, Manchester was named the best place in Britain to have a business. A report in 2007 said Manchester is a fast-growing city (meaning lots of jobs are being created).

Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It has two well-known football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. Manchester was the first city to industrialize, because of the Industrial Revolution. It became the main place for making cloth and fabric. During the 19th century, it had the nickname Cottonopolis, because it had so many cotton mills. The middle of Manchester is important because of its network of canals and mills built during its 19th-century development.
 

• Manchester is 160 miles (257 km) northwest of England's capital, London.
• It lies at the height of 133 feet (40 meters) above sea level, enclosed by the slopes of the Pennine range on the east and the upland spur of Rossendale on the north.
• Manchester’s climate is most kindly described as mild, moist, and misty. The temperate climate is without extremes: winters are mild, with a January mean temperature in the high 30s °F (about 4 °C), and summers are cool, with a July mean temperature in the high 50s °F (about 15 °C). Occasional high-pressure systems produce cold, clear spells in winter or hot droughts in summer, but these rarely persist.
• The population of Manchester in the year 2019 was estimated to be 537,651.
• World’s first passenger train station was founded in Manchester in 1830. It was the first railway to rely exclusively on steam power, with no horse-drawn traffic permitted at any time; the first to be entirely double track throughout its length; the first to have a signaling system; the first to be fully timetabled; the first to be powered entirely by its own motive power; and the first to carry mail.
• 25 Nobel Prize winners have worked or studied at The University of Manchester, one of the biggest universities in the UK.
• Manchester airport is the largest and busiest airport outside of London. It is the third busiest in the UK, handling over 22 million passengers to over 200 destinations worldwide a year.
• Manchester is home to Chetham’s Library, which was first opened back in 1653, and is the UK’s first ever library that was open to the public for free.
• Rolls met Royce at The Midland Hotel. The iconic luxury British car manufacturing company was created over lunch at The Midland Hotel in Manchester in 1904. It was here car salesman Charles Rolls met engineer Henry Royce and the rest is history.  

The Local Government Act of 1972 (in effect from 1974) created a metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, divided into metropolitan boroughs, including the city of Manchester. The county-administered a number of general services (e.g., strategic planning, transport, and recreation), while the boroughs handled the main range of services (e.g., education, housing, and most personal and household services). The metropolitan county of Greater Manchester lost its administrative powers in 1986, however. Some of the general services that it had provided were taken over by specialist successor authorities, but many of its administrative powers passed to the city of Manchester and the other individual metropolitan boroughs, which are in effect now unitary authorities.

The economy of Manchester is among the largest in England. Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million. Manchester's commercial centre is in Manchester city centre, focused on Spinningfields, Mosley Street, Deansgate, King Street and Piccadilly Gardens.

Manchester City Council also plays a uniquely active role in business, where it owns key infrastructures such as a 35.5% stake in Manchester Airports Group, which owns other UK airports such as London Stansted Airport, and is the owner of the City of Manchester Stadium, home to one of the world's highest-earning football clubs.

Manchester and North West England are served by Manchester Airport. The airport has the most passengers in the UK outside London, with 22.1 million passengers in 2007. Planes fly to lots of destinations in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia (with more destinations from Manchester than from London Heathrow). Manchester is very well served by train and in terms of passengers, Manchester Piccadilly was the busiest English train station outside London in 2005 and 2006. Northern Rail operates all over the north of England, and other operators include Virgin Trains. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first passenger railway in the world. Greater Manchester has a very big railway network. The city centre has over a lot of park and ride sites. Manchester became the first city in the UK to get a new tram system when the Manchester Metrolink opened in 1992. There are lots of new lines being built. The city has one of the biggest bus networks outside London with over 50 bus companies operating in the Greater Manchester area around the city. First Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester are the main bus operators. First Manchester also operates three free bus services called Metroshuttle which carry workers around Manchester's business areas.