Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,500 in Clwyd, Wales.
Shotton grades C overall against UK towns: better than 25% of UK towns, and #17 of 39 in Clwyd. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 24% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D): 57.9 violent and sexual offences and 17.9 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 £160,000 in the last three years, 3.4 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 3 things Shotton 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 Shotton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 7 buildings inside Shotton’s built-up area.
25% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Shotton.
On this, Shotton is below both Clwyd’s towns (29%) and Wales’s towns (31%). Those 65 and older account for 18% of residents. Shotton has a median age of 40.9.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Shotton | Clwyd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 23% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 18% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 31% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 6.5% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 18% | 29% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Clwyd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
One of its 4 schools is below, with why it’s listed. Wales publishes no school-level results, so its schools have no letters.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Ty FfynnonLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 269 | – |
Violent crime ran at 57.9 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Clwyd’s towns (34.3) and Wales’s towns (33.8). Police recorded 786 crimes inside Shotton’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 181 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Shotton has more crime per resident than 96% of them.
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
Women here live to 79.7 on average and men to 77.1 (2019–23). At the census, 8.1% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above both Clwyd’s towns (6.5%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%). The nearest A&E to Shotton is The Countess of Chester Hospital, 5.9 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Shotton | Clwyd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 79% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.1% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 11% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In the comparison, Shotton comes above both Clwyd’s towns (2.8%) and Wales’s towns (3%). 56% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
For Shotton, that is below both Clwyd’s towns (66%) and Wales’s towns (65%). 24% of households live in social housing. Shotton is the second cheapest of the 39 towns in Clwyd, at £160,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £210,000 | 26 |
| Semi-detached | £174,000 | 100 |
| Terraced | £132,000 | 69 |
| Flat or maisonette | £68,000 | 6 |
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.
Shotton has 7 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Cadw’s list: 0 Grade I, 0 Grade II*. 25% of its homes were built before 1919.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Shotton. Best known first.
Castle · CadwCastell Ewloe1.4 km outside town, to the southwest
CastleOld Hawarden Castle2.4 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleHawarden Castle2.5 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumBuckley Library4.6 km outside town, to the southwestZooZooGreenacres Animal Park800 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
4 notable people were born in Shotton.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shotton | 6,500 | — | C | A− | D | D |
| Aston | 2,847 | 0.9 | A− | B | B+ | B |
| Connah's Quay | 16,768 | 1.1 | C+ | B+ | C | C |
| Garden City | 2,427 | 1.4 | — | B− | D− | D |
| Hawarden | 14,284 | 1.5 | B | B | B− | C+ |
| Northop Hall | 1,826 | 2.2 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Buckley | 13,562 | 3.2 | B− | B+ | C+ | C |
| Broughton | 6,532 | 3.7 | B+ | B | B | C+ |
Garden City and Northop Hall have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Police recorded 786 crimes inside Shotton’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 42% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £160,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £68,000, terraced houses £132,000, semi-detached houses £174,000 and detached houses £210,000.
Town in Clwyd, Wales
Shotton is a built-up area of 6,500 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.