Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 19,635 in Gwent, Wales.
Ebbw Vale grades D− overall against UK towns: behind almost every UK town. Its weakest is safety (D−): 52.9 violent and sexual offences and 28 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 6%.
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 Ebbw Vale 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 Ebbw Vale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 12 buildings inside Ebbw Vale’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
34% 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 Ebbw Vale.
Burglary and damage came to 28 per 1,000 residents a year, above both Gwent’s towns (16.5) and Wales’s towns (10.7). Police recorded 2,247 crimes inside Ebbw Vale’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 609 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Ebbw Vale has more crime per resident than 94% 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
Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. Wales publishes no school-level results, so its schools have no letters.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willowtown Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 483 | – |
| Ebbw Fawr Learning CommunityLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 1,406 | – |
Women here live to 79.6 on average and men to 76.1 (2019–23). 8.8% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above both Gwent’s towns (7.7%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%). The nearest A&E to Ebbw Vale is Prince Charles Hospital, 7.5 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Ebbw Vale | Gwent | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.8% | 7.7% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 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 14% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
In the comparison, Ebbw Vale comes below both Gwent’s towns (£44K) and Wales’s towns (£44K). At the census, 10% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
For Ebbw Vale, that is below both Gwent’s towns (£191K) and Wales’s towns (£195K). 25% of households live in social housing.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £270,000 | 98 |
| Semi-detached | £197,000 | 198 |
| Terraced | £130,000 | 359 |
| Flat or maisonette | £69,000 | 18 |
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.
Ebbw Vale has 12 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Cadw’s list: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. 34% of its homes were built before 1919.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Ebbw Vale sits below both Gwent’s towns (28%) and Wales’s towns (31%) on this measure. Ebbw Vale has a median age of 43.1.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Ebbw Vale | Gwent | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 26% | 23% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 5.4% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 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 Ebbw Vale. Best known first.
MuseumAbertillery & District Museum4.6 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumBrynmawr and District Museum1.2 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumTredegar Museum1.5 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumTredegar Medical Aid Society Heritage Centre1.5 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumWinding House4.5 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
12 listed buildings in Ebbw Vale.
British Steel Tinplate Works General Office: Photo: Sionk · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Newtown Bridge: Photo: Colin Cheesman · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carmel Independent Chapel: Photo: andy dolman · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Christ Church: Photo: Dave Kelly · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ebbw Vale | 19,635 | — | D− | C+ | D− | D |
| Tredegar | 14,534 | 1.4 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Brynmawr | 5,250 | 1.8 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| Nantyglo | 4,548 | 1.9 | D− | C+ | D | D− |
| Blaina | 4,553 | 2.7 | D− | B− | D | D− |
| Cwm | 2,507 | 3.2 | D− | B | C− | D |
| Abertysswg | 1,424 | 3.5 | — | A | C | D− |
| Rhymney | 4,998 | 3.5 | D | A | D− | D− |
Abertysswg has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Police recorded 2,247 crimes inside Ebbw Vale’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.
12 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade II*.
By type: flats £69,000, terraced houses £130,000, semi-detached houses £197,000 and detached houses £270,000.
Town in Gwent, Wales
Ebbw Vale is a built-up area of 19,635 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.