Photo: welshbabe · CC BY-SA 2.0How Dyfed stacks up
No area scores lower overall: Dyfed grades D−. No subject stands out: its best grade is a B−. Its weak spots are real flood risk and lower incomes (£42,800 a household).
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
59th of 65D9/100 Crime is a real weak spot. Violent crime runs at 41.1 offences per 1,000 residents a year, the 12th highest rate of 65 areas with police.uk figures. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Llanelli and Carmarthen sit in the bottom quarter for the UK. West Glamorgan, Powys and Gwynedd all do better on safety.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 76 per 1,000 residents a year, 27th 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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Crime gathers in the bigger places
Llangennech leads its towns at #356 of 2,138, with Hendy and Fforest and Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes close behind. Aberystwyth, Milford Haven and Haverfordwest sit at the high-crime end of the ranking. By population, 10% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and 74% in bottom-quarter ones.
| 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% | |
| Dyfed | 10% | 74% |
What the two figures count
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
52nd of 98B−47/100 Middle of the road on cost. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Llanelli and Glanaman are typical. Homes cost 5.1 times what the average household takes in a year: a typical sale of £216,000 against income of £42,800. Over five years, typical prices have risen 18%.
Typical sale price: £216,000 (3,941 sales, 47th lowest).
Private rent £696 a month (8th lowest); Band D council tax £2,304 (38th lowest). 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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Health
87th of 98D11/100 Health trails most areas. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Saundersfoot comes closest, at #1,215 of 2,515. Dyfed ranks 15th shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 63.9 years.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.6 years, 21st 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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Jobs & income
90th of 98D8/100 Among the lowest incomes anywhere. Its claimant rate, 3.0%, ranks 43rd lowest, while household income ranks 12th lowest. Households take in £42,800 a year on average (12th lowest), and 3.0% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Hendy and Fforest comes closest, at #1,186 of 2,156.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.0% of working-age adults (43rd lowest), weighed with income 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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Getting about
48th of 98B−52/100 About average without a car. At the 2021 Census, 13% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 13 points below the England and Wales figure. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Llanelli and Milford Haven sit in the bottom quarter for the UK.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 25% 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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Flood risk
80th of 87D8/100 Among the most flood-exposed areas. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (11th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes ranks highest, at #455.
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. 23 Dyfed towns.
Growth
85th of 98D13/100 Slow growth. ONS estimates put 389,160 people here in 2024, +1.9% on 2011 (18th slowest). No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Milford Haven, #663.
Since the 2021 Census: +1.7%, 37th 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. 12 Dyfed towns. Covers 77% of residents of Dyfed’s graded towns.
How Dyfed compares to its neighbours
Each of its neighbours (West Glamorgan, Powys and Gwynedd) does better on safety and jobs and income.
| Dyfed | West Glamorgan | Powys | Gwynedd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D− 065th of 65 | D− 363rd of 65 | D 661st of 65 | C− 2350th of 65 |
| Safety | D 954th official · 10% in top towns | C 3342nd official · 23% in top towns | D 1436th official · 0% in top towns | C 3434th official · 21% in top towns |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Cost of living | B− 4760th official · 63% in top towns | C+ 4130th official · 5% in top towns | C 3484th official · 55% in top towns | B 6346th official · 92% in top towns |
| Health | D 1141st official · 0% in top towns | D 750th official · 2% in top towns | B 6020th official · 14% in top towns | B− 5123rd official · 12% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | D 887th official · 0% in top towns | D 1275th official · 1% in top towns | D 1389th official · 0% in top towns | D 1167th official · 0% in top towns |
| Getting about | B− 5286th official · 10% in top towns | D 1482nd official · 0% in top towns | C− 2076th official · 0% in top towns | B− 5470th official · 4% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D 845th official · 6% in top towns | D 1340th official · 4% in top towns | C− 1943rd official · 14% in top towns | D− 052nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Growth | D 1381st official · 0% in top towns | C 2766th official · 2% in top towns | D 1183rd official · 0% in top towns | D 989th official · 0% 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.