Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,994 in Gwynedd, Wales. One resident in 3 is 15 to 24.
Bangor grades C overall against UK towns: better than 29% of UK towns, and #9 of 13 in Gwynedd. Its strongest subject is walkability (A+): 30% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D): 57.2 violent and sexual offences and 18.7 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 7%. The median home sold for £175,000 in the last three years, 3.9 times what households in the Gwynedd 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 Bangor 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 Bangor is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 187 buildings inside Bangor’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
26% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 8 old photos and postcards going back to 1770 and a map from 1834.
Two U.S. towns are named after Bangor. The oldest, Bangor, New York, was settled in 1806.
Bangor, New York, settled in 1806, takes its name from this town.
Also named after Bangor:Bangor, WI1,564
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bangor. Best known first.
CathedralBangor Cathedralin town
Castle · CadwCastell Biwmares / Beaumaris Castle3.7 km outside town, to the northeast
Castle · National TrustPenrhyn Castle1.1 km outside town, to the east
PierGarth Pier100 m outside town, to the northeast
GardenTreborth Botanic Garden500 m outside town, to the west
MuseumThomas Telford Centre500 m outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bangor.
Children under 15 count for 13% of the people here. People 65 and over make up 12% of the town, below both Gwynedd’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (21%). Bangor has a median age of 26.4 years.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Bangor | Gwynedd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 34% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 22% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 17% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 12% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 18% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.8% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 33% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 32% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gwynedd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Bangor’s five primaries and two secondaries have 3,088 pupils between them. Two of them are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Y GarneddLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 394 | – |
| Ysgol FriarsLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,383 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Bangor counts 2.3 jobs per working resident. 56% of commuters travelled under 5 km, above both Gwynedd’s towns (39%) and Wales’s towns (41%). Before tax, the average household brings in £47K a year. Of the commuters living locally, 47% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
There were 27.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Gwynedd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4). In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 2,318 crimes and 557 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Bangor’s built-up area. For its size, Bangor records more crime per resident than 93% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Of all the crimes, 41% were violence and sexual offences.
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 police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 26% of the total. Bangor has 187 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 2 Grade I, 2 Grade II*. Per 10,000 residents, Bangor counts 110 listed buildings, higher than both Gwynedd’s towns (76) and Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
83% of people in Bangor rate their own health good or very good. At the census, 4.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, below both Gwynedd’s towns (5.5%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%). Disability touches nearly a fifth of the town’s population. 4 GP practices serve the town.
| Census 2021 | Bangor | Gwynedd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.5% | 5.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 20% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy.
Social housing holds 27% of households. 44% of households own their home, below both Gwynedd’s towns (63%) and Wales’s towns (65%). Private rents average £724 a month across the Gwynedd council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £353,000 | 75 |
| Semi-detached | £223,500 | 121 |
| Terraced | £138,000 | 171 |
| Flat or maisonette | £89,000 | 31 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
187 listed buildings in Bangor, 2 of them Grade I.
Cathedral church of St Deiniol: Photo: Denis Egan from Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales · CC BY 2.0 · Bangor University Main Arts (formerly University College of North Wales main building): Photo: David Stowell · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Clock Tower: Photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0 · Town Hall: Photo: Deri Tomos · CC BY-SA 4.0
119 notable people were born in Bangor.
Duffy: B. Erdödy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wayne Hennessey: Steindy 16:09, 10 November 2016 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Charles Warren: Herbert Rose Barraud of London, Public domain · MJ Williams: Fleets, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sasha: Dosio Dosev, CC BY 2.5 · Aled Jones: Ben Salter, CC BY 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangor | 16,994 | — | C | A− | D | D |
| Menai Bridge | 3,045 | 1.4 | B | A− | C | B |
| Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll | 2,905 | 2.7 | B+ | B | A− | B+ |
| Tregarth | 1,252 | 2.9 | — | B | A+ | C+ |
| Beaumaris | 1,120 | 3.4 | — | B− | C | C+ |
| Y Felinheli | 2,333 | 4 | — | B+ | B− | B− |
| Bethesda | 3,757 | 4.4 | C+ | A− | C | C+ |
| Bethel | 1,091 | 4.7 | — | B | A | B− |
Tregarth, Beaumaris, Y Felinheli and Bethel have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
187 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade I and 2 Grade II*. That is 4.5 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Cathedral church of St Deiniol. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Town in Gwynedd, Wales
Bangor is a built-up area of 16,994 people, in the Gwynedd 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.