Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,678 in Clwyd, Wales.
Prestatyn grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 22% of UK towns, and #21 of 39 in Clwyd. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £185,000, 4.2 years of area income; rent £718 a month. Its weakest is hazard risk (D): 4.3% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
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 Prestatyn 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 Prestatyn is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 15 buildings inside Prestatyn’s built-up area, and 1 scheduled monument.
11% 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 Prestatyn. Best known first.
Castle · CadwRhuddlan Castle4.4 km outside town, to the southwest
Castle · CadwTwthill Castle4.5 km outside town, to the southwest
CastlePrestatyn Castle100 m outside town, to the east
Historic houseBodrhyddan Hall2.7 km outside town, to the south
MuseumRhyl Miniature Railway4.1 km outside town, to the southwest
Water parkSC2 Rhyl3.3 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Prestatyn.
Half the people of Prestatyn are older than 50.3. People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.4% of the town, below Clwyd’s towns (10%) and Wales’s towns (12%) alike. Among adults, 27% have a degree.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Prestatyn | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 29% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.3% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Between them, four primaries and one secondary teach 3,040 pupils in Prestatyn. Three of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodnant Community SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 475 | – |
| Prestatyn High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,487 | – |
| Ysgol Y LlysLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 344 | – |
Of all the crimes, 53% were violence and sexual offences. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 1,090 crimes and 314 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Prestatyn’s built-up area. The violent crime rate is 41.3 per 1,000 residents a year. Burglary and damage came to 12.2 per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both Clwyd’s towns (10.6) and Wales’s towns (10.7).
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.
At the census, 75% of people in Prestatyn called their health good or very good, lower than both Clwyd’s towns (79%) and Wales’s towns (78%). 8.5% of residents report bad or very bad health. The nearest A&E to Prestatyn is Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, 5.4 miles away. Also worth knowing: life expectancy here is 82.5 for women and 78.5 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Prestatyn | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.5% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 25% | 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.
8% live in social housing, below Clwyd’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (18%) alike. Owners make up 71% of households. Behind the median of £185,000: 829 standard sales inside Prestatyn’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £215,000 | 389 |
| Semi-detached | £176,250 | 336 |
| Terraced | £143,000 | 63 |
| Flat or maisonette | £100,000 | 41 |
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.
Homes from before 1919 make up just over a tenth of the total. One scheduled monument lies in Prestatyn. Of the town’s land, 2% lies in conservation areas, above both Clwyd’s towns (2%) and Wales’s towns (0%).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 18% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.6 jobs in Prestatyn for each resident in work. 33% of commuters travelled under 5 km, below Clwyd’s towns (39%) and Wales’s towns (41%) alike. Walking ranked second among ways to work, at 9%.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
15 listed buildings in Prestatyn.
Old Station: Photo: GingerBeast · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Shelter Shop: Photo: GingerBeast · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nant Hall Hotel: Photo: Jeff Buck · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Christ Church: Photo: Tim Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0
23 notable people were born in Prestatyn.
Barry Flanagan: N. Winslow, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Peggy Cummins: Columbia Pictures. Photographer not credited, Public domain · John Greaves: Michael S. Eisenberg, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mike Peters: Mark Heybourne, CC BY 2.0 · Danny Coyne: Jon Candy from Cardiff, Wales, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Karl Wallinger: Bob Mateljan, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prestatyn | 16,678 | — | C− | A− | C− | C− |
| Meliden | 2,002 | 1.2 | — | A− | C | C |
| Dyserth | 2,038 | 2.5 | — | B+ | B− | C |
| Rhyl | 26,982 | 2.6 | D | A− | D− | D− |
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | 3.4 | C+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | 4.9 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| St Asaph | 3,483 | 5.4 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 5.7 | — | B | D− | C |
Meliden, Dyserth and Bodelwyddan have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 69% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less. Burglary was rare, with 24 reports in the year.
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 £100,000, terraced houses £143,000, semi-detached houses £176,250 and detached houses £215,000.
Town in Clwyd, Wales
Prestatyn is a built-up area of 16,678 people, in the Denbighshire 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.