Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0How Clwyd stacks up
Clwyd is middling almost everywhere, with no grade above B. It struggles most with slow growth (+2.1% since 2011) and tighter household budgets. Its overall score of 20 ranks 52nd, a C−.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
45th of 65C31/100 More crime than the typical area. At 40.4 violent offences per 1,000 residents, Clwyd sits 14th highest among the areas. 29% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 40% in a bottom-quarter one; Mynydd Isa ranks highest.
Counting every recorded crime, not just violence: 78 per 1,000 a year (24th highest).
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
Its safest towns are Penrhyn Bay (#63), Gresford (#79) and Penyffordd (#118), ranked against every graded town in the UK. At the other end are Wrexham, Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in the quarter of town residents living with the most recorded crime. Its towns tell a different story from the county total: 32nd of 61 town by town, 14th highest county-wide.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Clwyd | 29% | 40% |
Where crimes are counted
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
Not gradedNot graded: Wales publishes no school results. Wales publishes no school-by-school or county test results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties, like Welsh towns, have no Schools grade. Their overall grade weighs the other subjects.
Cost of living
57th of 98C+42/100 Pricier than the typical area. At £210,000 for a typical home and £44,800 of household income, prices run 4.7 times income, the 49th lowest ratio of 98 areas. Over five years, typical prices have risen 14%. 35% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 2% in a bottom-quarter one; Rhyl ranks highest.
The middle home sold for £210,000 over the past year, 40th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £779 a month (23rd lowest); Band D council tax £2,373 (41st highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Health
58th of 98C+41/100 Slightly worse health than average. Gwynedd, Powys and Cheshire all do better on health. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 64.3 years (men and women averaged), 0.9 years fewer than the England and Wales figure. 15% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 35% in a bottom-quarter one; Penyffordd ranks highest.
Total life expectancy is 80.1 years (15th shortest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Jobs & income
77th of 98C−22/100 Money is tighter here. The average household income is £44,800 a year, 19% below the England and Wales figure. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Wrexham and Colwyn Bay sit in the bottom quarter for the UK.
Claimant rate: 3.3% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 39th highest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Getting about
52nd of 98B−47/100 About average without a car. At the 2021 Census, 14% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 11 points below the England and Wales figure. Connah's Quay and Prestatyn weigh on the town measure; 58% of town residents live in bottom-quarter places.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 21% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Flood risk
37th of 87B58/100 A bit less exposed than most. 1.3% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, against 1.6% across England and Wales (27th lowest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Holywell its best at #451 of 2,452.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 39 Clwyd towns.
Growth
83rd of 98C−15/100 Population barely moving. Since 2011 it has grown 2.1%, the 20th slowest change of 98 areas. Even its best town, Abergele, ranks #478 of 1,579.
Since the 2021 Census: +1.2%, 30th slowest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 32 Clwyd towns. Covers 92% of residents of Clwyd’s graded towns.
How Clwyd compares to its neighbours
Against Gwynedd, Powys, Cheshire and Shropshire, Clwyd trails on health.
| Clwyd | Gwynedd | Powys | Cheshire | Shropshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C− 2052nd of 65 | C− 2350th of 65 | D 661st of 65 | B 6424th of 65 | C+ 4238th of 65 |
| Safety | C 3152nd official · 29% in top towns | C 3434th official · 21% in top towns | D 1436th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4237th official · 26% in top towns | B 5628th official · 26% in top towns |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | A− 816th official · 30% in top towns | C− 2425th official · 4% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 4249th official · 35% in top towns | B 6346th official · 92% in top towns | C 3484th official · 55% in top towns | C 3368th official · 28% in top towns | C+ 4463rd official · 59% in top towns |
| Health | C+ 4137th official · 15% in top towns | B− 5123rd official · 12% in top towns | B 6020th official · 14% in top towns | A− 7519th official · 29% in top towns | B 5825th official · 18% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C− 2268th official · 5% in top towns | D 1167th official · 0% in top towns | D 1389th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6936th official · 20% in top towns | C 3441st official · 3% in top towns |
| Getting about | B− 4780th official · 4% in top towns | B− 5470th official · 4% in top towns | C− 2076th official · 0% in top towns | C 2668th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1878th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B 5827th official · 26% in top towns | D− 052nd official · 0% in top towns | C− 1943rd official · 14% in top towns | A− 7820th official · 40% in top towns | B+ 7212th official · 22% in top towns |
| Growth | C− 1579th official · 0% in top towns | D 989th official · 0% in top towns | D 1183rd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6623rd official · 15% in top towns | A 8719th official · 54% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.