Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town of 26,982 in Clwyd, Wales.
Rhyl grades D overall against UK towns: better than 14% of UK towns, and #31 of 39 in Clwyd. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A−): median sale £170,000, 3.8 years of area income; rent £718 a month. Its weakest is safety (D−): 89.1 violent and sexual offences and 22.9 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 0%.
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 Rhyl 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 Rhyl is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 99 buildings inside Rhyl’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
18% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 6 old photos and postcards going back to 1863.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Rhyl. Best known first.
Water parkSC2 Rhylin town
Castle · CadwRhuddlan Castle1.4 km outside town, to the south
Castle · CadwTwthill Castle1.7 km outside town, to the south
Historic houseBodelwyddan Castle5 km outside town, to the south
CastlePrestatyn Castle3.7 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseBodrhyddan Hall2.1 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rhyl.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 35.5 reports per 1,000, above both Clwyd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4). Reported offences in Rhyl came to 4,555 over twelve months to August 2026; nuisance and anti-social incidents added 991. Of all the crimes, 51% 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.
Rhyl’s five primaries and two secondaries have 4,492 pupils between them. 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 LlywelynLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 684 | – |
| Rhyl High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,167 | – |
| Ysgol Dewi SantLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 426 | – |
A disability affects 28% of people in Rhyl. At the census, nearly three quarters of people in Rhyl called their health good or very good, below both Clwyd’s towns (79%) and Wales’s towns (78%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 9.4% of the town. 4 GP practices serve the town.
| Census 2021 | Rhyl | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.4% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 28% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
Owners make up 56% of households, below Clwyd’s towns (66%) and Wales’s towns (65%) alike. The £170,000 median rests on 987 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). It is the 34th most expensive of 39 towns of 2,500+ in Clwyd.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £197,250 | 440 |
| Semi-detached | £165,000 | 361 |
| Terraced | £132,000 | 129 |
| Flat or maisonette | £100,000 | 57 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · 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.
At the census, just over three quarters of commuters went by car. About 31% of its commuters stay in Rhyl for work. Jobs per working resident: 0.8. Household income came to £39K a year before tax, lower than both Clwyd’s towns (£46K) and Wales’s towns (£44K).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Grade II* covers 1 of them. Homes from before 1919 make up 18% of the total, about level with Clwyd’s towns (17%) and below Wales’s towns (27%). One scheduled monument lies in Rhyl.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Degrees are held by 23% of adults. The 15-to-24 age group: 11%, between Clwyd’s towns (10%) and Wales’s towns (12%). Rhyl has a median age of 41.8.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Rhyl | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.5% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
99 listed buildings in Rhyl.
Parish Church of St Thomas: Photo: Pjposullivan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Main Building and Footbridge, Rhyl Railway Station: Photo: Simply south · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lookout tower in Boundry Walll: Photo: Joe Blundell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Town Hall: Photo: Joe Blundell · CC BY-SA 3.0
23 notable people were born in Rhyl.
Alexa Davies: MTV UK, CC BY 3.0 · Ann Jones: National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru profile, CC BY 2.0 · Chris Ruane: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · Robert Jones: Photogravure after Lafayette., CC BY 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhyl | 26,982 | — | D | A− | D− | D− |
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | 1.8 | C+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | 2.3 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Meliden | 2,002 | 2.6 | — | A− | C | C |
| Prestatyn | 16,678 | 2.6 | C− | A− | C− | C− |
| Dyserth | 2,038 | 2.9 | — | B+ | B− | C |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 3.5 | — | B | D− | C |
| St Asaph | 3,483 | 4.3 | C− | B− | C− | 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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £170,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £100,000, terraced houses £132,000, semi-detached houses £165,000 and detached houses £197,250.
Band D council tax in Rhyl is £2,339 for 2026–27, less than in 68% of UK towns (the Denbighshire council average, with police and community councils). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Large town in Clwyd, Wales
Rhyl is a built-up area of 26,982 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.