Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,016 in Clwyd, Wales.
A town with more to fix than most. Where it falls short is safety (D−): 61.6 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 15.2 home and vehicle crimes. With a D− overall, Kinmel Bay is behind almost every UK town. The median home sold for £185,000, 4.2 times what households in the Conwy council area earn in a year. It also trails on health (D−): one in ten residents report bad or very bad health, and 28% are disabled. Jobs and pay trail most towns: households earn a mean £36,946 a year, and 4.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
Figures: crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · claimants, DWP.
This town's Health Grade uses ONS's small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for 2019 to 2023, and two Census 2021 measures, bad health and disability, adjusted for age. English towns' grades also use OHID's small-area early deaths, hospital admissions and child obesity, which OHID publishes for England only.
The 3 things Kinmel Bay does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Wales), ordered by how far Kinmel Bay is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 4 buildings inside Kinmel Bay’s built-up area, 3 of them Grade II*.
1% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Kinmel Bay. Best known first.
Castle · CadwRhuddlan Castle2.6 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseBodelwyddan Castle3.8 km outside town, to the south
Castle · CadwTwthill Castle2.9 km outside town, to the east
CastleGwrych Castle2.8 km outside town, to the west
MuseumRhyl Miniature Railway400 m outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kinmel Bay.
Over the year to August 2026, 834 offences were reported in Kinmel Bay, along with 145 incidents of anti-social behaviour. There were 17.5 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above Clwyd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences made up 61% of the total.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
Kinmel Bay’s share in bad or very bad health, 10%, is the second highest of the 62 towns in Clwyd. 71% of people in Kinmel Bay rate their own health good or very good. One GP practice serves the town. Disability touches 28% of the town’s population.
| Census 2021 | Kinmel Bay | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 71% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 10% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 28% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 1% of the total.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Young adults of 15 to 24 are a tenth of the population. 28% of residents are 65 or over, above both Clwyd’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (21%). Kinmel Bay has a median age of 50.3 years.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Kinmel Bay | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 28% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 27% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 14% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
86% of commuters drove, above Clwyd’s towns (83%) and Wales’s towns (81%) alike. For 47% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. Work in town: 14% of resident commuters.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
8% of households rent from a council or housing body. Private rents average £796 a month across the Conwy council area. From September 2023 to August 2026, 429 homes sold inside Kinmel Bay’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £185,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £215,000 | 265 |
| Semi-detached | £172,750 | 128 |
| Terraced | £150,000 | 26 |
| Flat or maisonette | £87,500 | 10 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
4 listed buildings in Kinmel Bay.
Towyn and Kinmel Bay Youth Club: Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Catholic Church of Christ the King: Photo: Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | — | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Rhyl | 26,982 | 2.3 | D | A− | D− | D− |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 2.3 | — | B | D− | C |
| Pensarn | 1,329 | 2.3 | — | B | D− | D |
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | 2.6 | C+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Abergele | 8,531 | 2.9 | D | C+ | C− | C− |
| St Asaph | 3,483 | 4.4 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Dyserth | 2,038 | 4.5 | — | B+ | B− | C |
Bodelwyddan, Pensarn and Dyserth have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £185,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £87,500, terraced houses £150,000, semi-detached houses £172,750 and detached houses £215,000.
Town in Clwyd, Wales
Kinmel Bay is a built-up area of 9,016 people, in the Conwy council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Cadw listed buildings, scheduled monuments and registered historic parks and gardens via DataMapWales, October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
