Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,890 in Clwyd, Wales.
Mold grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 18% of UK towns, and #25 of 39 in Clwyd. Its strongest subject is walkability (A−): 20% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D): 56 violent and sexual offences and 18.6 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 4%. The median home sold for £210,000 in the last three years, 4.5 times what households in the Flintshire council area earn in a year.
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 2 things Mold 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 Mold is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 63 buildings inside Mold’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
11% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1825.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Mold.
For its size, Mold records more crime per resident than 96% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Police figures for the town’s built-up area: 922 crimes and 250 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 29.3 reports per 1,000, above Clwyd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences made up 52% 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.
Between them, three primaries and two secondaries teach 3,158 pupils in Mold. Below are three of them, each with why it was picked. Three of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Bryn Coch C.P.Largest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 636 | – |
| Mold Alun SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,480 | – |
| Ysgol Maes GarmonLargest Welsh-medium schoolSecondary | Secondary | 578 | – |
Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 5.7% of the town. One GP practice serves the town. Four fifths of Mold’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, above both Clwyd’s towns (79%) and Wales’s towns (78%). The nearest A&E to Mold is Wrexham Maelor Hospital, 10.1 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Mold | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.7% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
26% of commuters who live in Mold also work there. For every resident in work, Mold has 1.6 jobs. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 35%, lower than both Clwyd’s towns (39%) and Wales’s towns (41%). By car: that was how nearly four in five commuters travelled at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Behind the median of £210,000: 408 standard sales inside Mold’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. Private rents average £811 a month across the Flintshire council area. Nearly a fifth of households rent from a council or housing body.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £315,000 | 131 |
| Semi-detached | £200,000 | 152 |
| Terraced | £156,250 | 74 |
| Flat or maisonette | £130,000 | 51 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Mold’s listed buildings include the Parish Church in St Mary, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up just over a tenth of the total, below both Clwyd’s towns (18%) and Wales’s towns (27%). Also worth knowing: it has one scheduled monument.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
At 45.1, the median resident of Mold sits in the middle of the age range. 23% of residents are 65 or over, about level with Clwyd’s towns (23%) and above Wales’s towns (21%). The share aged 15 to 24 is 10%.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Mold | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 23% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.4% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Mold. Best known first.
Castle · CadwCastell Ewloe4.9 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumBuckley Library2.9 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
63 listed buildings in Mold, 1 of them Grade I.
Parish Church in St Mary: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Bailey Hill, Mold: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bethesda Welsh Presbyterian Chapel and Schoolroom: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Former Market Hall & Assembly Rooms: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0
18 notable people were born in Mold.
Daniel Owen: Elizabeth Mary Jones (Moelona), Public domain · Siân Gibson: Hmcst1, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mold | 9,890 | — | C− | B+ | D | C− |
| Mynydd Isa | 4,738 | 1.3 | A− | B | A | B |
| Soughton | 1,697 | 1.6 | — | B− | A+ | B+ |
| Buckley | 13,562 | 2.7 | B− | B+ | C+ | C |
| Northop | 1,030 | 2.9 | — | B− | A− | B |
| Northop Hall | 1,826 | 3.2 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Leeswood | 1,948 | 3.3 | — | A− | B | C+ |
| Penyffordd | 3,822 | 4.3 | A | C+ | A | A+ |
Soughton, Northop, Northop Hall and Leeswood have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
63 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade I and 1 Grade II*. That is 2.6 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Parish Church in St Mary. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £210,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £130,000, terraced houses £156,250, semi-detached houses £200,000 and detached houses £315,000.
Town in Clwyd, Wales
Mold is a built-up area of 9,890 people, in the Flintshire 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.