Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,791 in Clwyd, Wales. 21 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I.
Rhuddlan grades C+ overall against UK towns: better than 40% of UK towns, and #10 of 39 in Clwyd. Its strongest subject is cost of living (B+): median sale £220,000, 5 years of area income; rent £718 a month. Its weakest is safety (C): 35.4 violent and sexual offences and 7.4 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 28%.
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 Rhuddlan 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 Rhuddlan is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 21 buildings inside Rhuddlan’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade II*, and 4 scheduled monuments.
11% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 5 old photos and postcards going back to 1770.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Rhuddlan. Best known first.
Castle · CadwRhuddlan Castle100 m outside town, to the southwest
Castle · CadwTwthill Castle100 m outside town, to the south
CathedralSt Asaph Cathedral2.8 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseBodelwyddan Castle2.3 km outside town, to the southwest
Historic houseBodrhyddan Hall1.5 km outside town, to the east
MuseumRhyl Miniature Railway2.8 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rhuddlan.
14% are under 15, below both Clwyd’s towns (17%) and Wales’s towns (17%). People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.1% of the town. The age that splits Rhuddlan in two is 50.8.
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.
| Rhuddlan | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.1% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 29% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
It is shown below. 210 pupils attend Rhuddlan’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Y CastellLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 210 | – |
Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Rhuddlan has more crime per resident than 72% of them. Reported offences in the town came to 204 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 58. Also worth knowing: of all the crimes, 65% were violence and sexual offences.
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.
Social housing holds 10% of households, below both Clwyd’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Home ownership stands at 70% of households. 161 standard sales inside Rhuddlan’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £220,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £260,000 | 81 |
| Semi-detached | £210,000 | 51 |
| Terraced | £165,000 | 22 |
| Flat or maisonette | £139,000 | 7 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
There is no GP practice in Rhuddlan: the nearest is 1.7 miles off. The nearest A&E to Rhuddlan is Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, 2.1 miles away. Life expectancy here is 84.4 for women and 78.7 for men (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Rhuddlan | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Cadw’s list names 21 listed buildings in Rhuddlan: 4 Grade II*. Relative to its size, Rhuddlan keeps 55 listed buildings per 10,000 residents.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 17% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
2.5% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026. Working mainly from home: 17% of workers, lower than both Clwyd’s towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (24%). Average household income comes to £47K a year before tax. About nearly a tenth of its commuters stay in Rhuddlan for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
21 listed buildings in Rhuddlan.
Castell Rhuddlan: Photo: Julie Anne Workman · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Church of Saint Mary: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Twthill (Further and Additional Areas): Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Parliament House: Photo: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0
7 notable people were born in Rhuddlan.
Philip Jones Griffiths: Original uploader was Cantikfotos at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kelly Lee Owens: Sylvain lasco, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jack Sargeant: National Assembly for Wales from Wales, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | — | C+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Rhyl | 26,982 | 1.8 | D | A− | D− | D− |
| Dyserth | 2,038 | 2.1 | — | B+ | B− | C |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 2.4 | — | B | D− | C |
| St Asaph | 3,483 | 2.5 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | 2.6 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Meliden | 2,002 | 2.6 | — | A− | C | C |
| Prestatyn | 16,678 | 3.4 | C− | A− | C− | C− |
Dyserth, Bodelwyddan and Meliden have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
21 on Cadw’s list, 4 of them Grade II*. That is 2.3 times the typical UK town for its size.
Burglary was rare, with 4 reports in the year.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £220,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £139,000, terraced houses £165,000, semi-detached houses £210,000 and detached houses £260,000.
Town in Clwyd, Wales
Rhuddlan is a built-up area of 3,791 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.