Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 10,248 in Gwent, Wales.
Abertillery grades D− overall against UK towns: better than 2% of UK towns, and #32 of 38 in Gwent. Its strongest subject is hazard risk (B): 0.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £37,577; 4.2% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £125,000 in the last three years, 3.3 times what households in the Blaenau Gwent 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 Abertillery 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 Abertillery is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 1 building inside Abertillery’s built-up area.
77% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1905.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Abertillery.
At the census, 74% of people in Abertillery called their health good or very good, below Gwent’s towns (77%) and Wales’s towns (78%) alike. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 9.3% of the town. The nearest A&E to Abertillery is The Grange University Hospital, 8.4 miles away. A disability affects a quarter of people in the town.
| Census 2021 | Abertillery | Gwent | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.3% | 7.7% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 25% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy.
It is shown below. Its one secondary school teaches 1,608 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abertillery Learning CommunityLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 1,608 | – |
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Abertillery has more crime per resident than 95% of them. Violence comes to 58.2 per 1,000 residents a year. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 1,211 offences in Abertillery and 248 cases of nuisance behaviour. There were 28.3 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both Gwent’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4).
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For its size, Abertillery has the second fewest listed buildings of the towns in Gwent. Grade II covers all 1 listed building that Cadw records here.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
16% live in social housing, below Gwent’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (18%) alike. Owners make up 62% of households. The median sale, £125,000, comes from 337 standard sales inside Abertillery’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £282,500 | 17 |
| Semi-detached | £152,500 | 44 |
| Terraced | £120,000 | 275 |
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.
Home was the main workplace for 14% of workers at the census. Of the commuters living in Abertillery, 17% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 0.3.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
16% of residents are children under 15. Young adults of 15 to 24 are one in ten residents, close to Gwent’s towns (11%) and below Wales’s towns (12%). Residents of Abertillery have a median age of 42.9.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Abertillery | Gwent | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 28% | 23% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 5.4% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gwent and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Abertillery. Best known first.
MuseumAbertillery & District Museumin townMuseumMuseum · CadwBlaenavon Iron Works4.2 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumBig Pit: National Coal Museum3.1 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionRhymney Brewery & Visitors Centre3.5 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumBlaenafon Community Museum4 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abertillery | 10,248 | — | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Llanhilleth | 2,450 | 2 | — | B | D− | D− |
| Cwm | 2,507 | 2.2 | D− | B | C− | D |
| Trinant | 1,504 | 2.5 | — | A | D | D |
| Blaina | 4,553 | 2.5 | D− | B− | D | D− |
| Abersychan | 7,495 | 3 | D− | B | D | D− |
| Swffryd | 1,721 | 3.4 | — | B− | D | D− |
| Blaenavon | 5,637 | 3.6 | D− | B | D− | D |
Llanhilleth, Trinant and Swffryd 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 £125,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £120,000, semi-detached houses £152,500 and detached houses £282,500.
Police recorded 1,211 crimes inside Abertillery’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 48% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
1 on Cadw’s list.
Town in Gwent, Wales
Abertillery is a built-up area of 10,248 people, in the Blaenau Gwent 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.