Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,998 in Gwent, Wales.
Rhymney grades D overall against UK towns: better than 12% of UK towns, and #21 of 38 in Gwent. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £115,500, 2.7 years of area income; rent £747 a month. Its weakest is health (D−): 13% in bad or very bad health, 30% disabled (adjusted for age in the grade).
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 Rhymney 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 Rhymney is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 19 buildings inside Rhymney’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*.
33% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1870.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rhymney.
On this, Rhymney is below both Gwent’s towns (77%) and Wales’s towns (78%). Women here live to 78.5 on average and men to 72.8 (2019–23). These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy.
| Census 2021 | Rhymney | Gwent | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 67% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 13% | 7.7% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 30% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
Two of its 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Y LawntLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 191 | – |
| Idris Davies School 3 to 18Largest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 812 | – |
In the comparison, Rhymney comes above both Gwent’s towns (16.5) and Wales’s towns (10.7). Violence comes to 67.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 764 crimes inside Rhymney’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 165 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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
For Rhymney, that is above both Gwent’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (18%). 50% of households own their home.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £277,500 | 5 |
| Semi-detached | £113,500 | 17 |
| Terraced | £110,000 | 62 |
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.
Rhymney sits above both Gwent’s towns (0%) and Wales’s towns (0%) on this measure. Rhymney has 19 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. Homes from before 1919 make up 33% of the total.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 15% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
That puts Rhymney above both Gwent’s towns (3.2%) and Wales’s towns (3%). Household income averages £35K a year before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Rhymney has a median age of 42.6.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Rhymney | Gwent | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 33% | 23% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 5.4% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 18% | 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 Rhymney. Best known first.
19 listed buildings in Rhymney.
Penuel Baptist Church: Photo: Robin Drayton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of St David: Photo: Robin Drayton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · War Memorial: Photo: Robin Drayton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ebenezer Calvinistic Methodist Chapel including vestry: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0
15 notable people were born in Rhymney.
Haydn Llewellyn Davies: Fungus Guy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alfred Mathews: David Duncan, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhymney | 4,998 | — | D | A | D− | D− |
| Pontlottyn | 1,832 | 1.1 | — | A | D− | D− |
| Fochriw | 1,148 | 1.5 | — | A | D | D− |
| Abertysswg | 1,424 | 1.6 | — | A | C | D− |
| Tredegar | 14,534 | 2.1 | D− | B− | D− | D− |
| New Tredegar | 3,280 | 3.4 | D | A | D− | D− |
| Ebbw Vale | 19,635 | 3.5 | D− | C+ | D− | D |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 39,542 | 4 | D− | B− | D | D− |
Pontlottyn, Fochriw and Abertysswg 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 £115,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £110,000, semi-detached houses £113,500 and detached houses £277,500.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 99% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less. Police recorded 764 crimes inside Rhymney’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.
19 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade II*. That is 1.6 times the typical UK town for its size.
Town in Gwent, Wales
Rhymney is a built-up area of 4,998 people, in the Caerphilly 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.