Former health secretary Mr Burnham won 63 per cent of the vote, easily seeing off his rivals in the first round of counting.
Labour also won the mayoralty in Liverpool today but otherwise was devastated by the loss of more than 380 councillors across the UK.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted his congratulations to Mr Burnham.
But the embattled leader was not mentioned in Mr Burnham's victory speech in Manchester.
Mr Burnham used his speech to vow he would tackle homelessness blighting Manchester and other towns in the region, and combat the 'London-centric' politics he claimed dominated the country.
He added: 'I've got a big job to do - I'll give it my all and I won't let you down.
'I will be a mayor for you - for the people.'
Mr Corbyn tweeted: 'Congratulations to Andy Burnham, who has served the Labour Party as a fine, campaigning MP and will do the same as Manchester's new Mayor.'
The former Cabinet minister and MP for Leigh took more than 60 per cent of the poll with 359,352 votes, well ahead of Tory candidate Sean Anstee in second place, who won 128,752 votes.
Mr Burnham becomes the first Metro Mayor of Greater Manchester, one of the newly created posts aimed to aid devolution - taking more powers from Whitehall to give to the biggest cities and regions outside London.
Out of an electorate of 1,982,343 in the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester, 573,543 votes were cast - giving a turnout of 28.93 per cent.
The £110,000-a-year role gives new metro mayors powers over policing, fire, housebuilding and transport, as well as influence over other areas - such as health and social care.
The mayor will also have a say on big strategic issues for the region, while individual councils carry on with day-to-day decisions.
And it will also give Mr Burnham a considerable voice on the national stage.
A cheery Jeremy Corbyn emerged in front of the cameras today as his Labour Party woke up to huge losses in the local elections.
Labour has lost more than 250 seats across the UK and surrendered control of a string of authorities - including Glasgow Council for the first time since 1980.
And the party took a battering in many of its Welsh heartlands, surrendering control of councils in Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil - where the party's founding father Keir Hardie served as MP until his death in 1915.
Although they beat expectations to cling on in Cardiff.
There was more bad news for Labour as they were beaten in a number of the mayoral races.
Source: DailyMail
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