Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,553 in Gwent, Wales.
Blaina grades D− overall against UK towns: behind almost every UK town, and #35 of 38 in Gwent. Its strongest subject is hazard risk (B): 0% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £37,411; 3.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £130,000 in the last three years, 3.4 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 Blaina 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 Blaina is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 1 building inside Blaina’s built-up area.
54% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1820.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Blaina.
At the census, 73% of people in Blaina 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 9.6% of the town. The nearest A&E to Blaina is Prince Charles Hospital, 9.8 miles away. A disability affects a quarter of people locally.
| Census 2021 | Blaina | Gwent | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 73% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.6% | 7.7% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 25% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
Between them, two primaries teach 508 pupils in Blaina. One of them is below, with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ystruth PrimaryLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 330 | – |
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.
Working mainly from home: 11% of workers, lower than both Gwent’s towns (24%) and Wales’s towns (24%). By car: that was how 92% of commuters travelled at the census. Work in town: 8% of resident commuters. Just over a third 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
Over the year to August 2026, 305 offences were reported in Blaina, along with 85 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Violence came to 43.6 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Gwent’s towns (36.5) and Wales’s towns (33.8). Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Blaina has more crime per resident than 93% 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
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Cadw’s list names 1 listed building in Blaina, every one Grade II. Scaled to its population, Blaina has 2 listed buildings per 10,000 people, below both Gwent’s towns (11) and Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
21% live in social housing, close to Gwent’s towns (20%) and above Wales’s towns (18%). Private rents average £681 a month across the Blaenau Gwent council area. Half of the 124 standard sales inside Blaina’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £130,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £315,000 | 15 |
| Semi-detached | £175,000 | 17 |
| Terraced | £119,000 | 92 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Children under 15 make up 17%, lower than Gwent’s towns (18%) and near Wales’s towns (17%). Aged 15 to 24: one in ten residents. The age that splits Blaina in two is 44.5.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Blaina | Gwent | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 26% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 28% | 23% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.6% | 5.4% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 19% | 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 Blaina. Best known first.
MuseumAbertillery & District Museum3.3 km outside town, to the south
MuseumBrynmawr and District Museum2.5 km outside town, to the northMuseumMuseumEbbw Vale Works Museum2.3 km outside town, to the westMuseumMuseumBig Pit: National Coal Museum2.9 km outside town, to the eastAttractionAttractionRhymney Brewery & Visitors Centre3.2 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
10 notable people were born in Blaina.
Florence Eleanor Soper: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £130,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £119,000, semi-detached houses £175,000 and detached houses £315,000.
1 on Cadw’s list.
Police recorded 305 crimes inside Blaina’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 50% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
Town in Gwent, Wales
Blaina is a built-up area of 4,553 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.