Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Gwynedd, Wales, home to 3,757 people.
Where it falls short is jobs & income — households earn a mean £45,959 a year, and 3.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Prices are modest for what you get (A−): homes sell for a median £162,500, about 3.6 times local household income. Overall, that makes a C+, good for #6 of 13 in Gwynedd. It comes out better than 38% of UK towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income, ONS · claimants, DWP.
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 Bethesda 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 Bethesda is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 37 buildings inside Bethesda’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
57% 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 1890.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bethesda.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
The top grade, Grade I, goes to 1 of them. Bethesda’s listed buildings include Capel Jerusalem, Grade I. It has 37 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 1 Grade I.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Some 580 pupils attend Bethesda’s two primaries and one secondary. Two of them are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Pen-y-brynLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 106 | – |
| Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen BethesdaLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 398 | – |
119 standard sales inside Bethesda’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £162,500. Private rents average £724 a month across the Gwynedd council area. Social housing holds 17% of households, below Gwynedd’s towns (19%) and close to Wales’s towns (18%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £300,000 | 11 |
| Semi-detached | £207,250 | 30 |
| Terraced | £147,750 | 72 |
| Flat or maisonette | £57,500 | 6 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Violence and sexual offences were nearly three fifths of the crimes. Bethesda logged 244 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 51 complaints of anti-social conduct. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Bethesda has more crime per resident than 77% 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 police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
At the census, 19% of people here had a disability, below both Gwynedd’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (22%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 4.5% of the town. One GP practice serves the town.
| Census 2021 | Bethesda | Gwynedd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 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 · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy.
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.
The car took 83% of commuters, about level with Wales’s towns (81%) and above Gwynedd’s towns (79%). For every resident in work, Bethesda has 0.4 jobs. Of the commuters living locally, 12% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
19% are under 15, above Gwynedd’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (17%) alike. The age that splits Bethesda in two is 39.8. Aged 15 to 24: just over one in ten residents.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Bethesda | Gwynedd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 22% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 17% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.4% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 35% | 32% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gwynedd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Bethesda. Best known first.
Castle · National TrustPenrhyn Castle4.5 km outside town, to the northwestGardenGarden · National TrustWalled Garden4.6 km outside town, to the northwestAttractionAttractionY Rhaeadr Fawr4.9 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
37 listed buildings in Bethesda, 1 of them Grade I.
Capel Jerusalem: Photo: The National Churches Trust · CC BY 2.0 · Ty'n Twr: Photo: Meirion · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · The Victoria Hotel: Photo: idris · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Christ Church: Photo: Florin Huluba · CC BY-SA 4.0
8 notable people were born in Bethesda.
David Ffrangcon-Davies: Daniel Rees, Public domain · John Ogwen: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leila Megane: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain · William John Parry: W.J. Parry, Public domain · Idris Foster: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethesda | 3,757 | — | C+ | A− | C | C+ |
| Tregarth | 1,252 | 1.5 | — | B | A+ | C+ |
| Clwt-y-bont | 1,385 | 3.8 | — | A | C | C− |
| Bangor | 16,994 | 4.4 | C | A− | D | D |
| Llanberis | 1,838 | 5.1 | — | B | C | C |
| Menai Bridge | 3,045 | 5.7 | B | A− | C | B |
| Llanrug | 1,537 | 5.9 | — | B | B | B− |
| Beaumaris | 1,120 | 6.1 | — | B− | C | C+ |
Tregarth, Clwt-y-bont, Llanberis, Llanrug and Beaumaris have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
37 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade I. That is 4 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Capel Jerusalem. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £162,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £57,500, terraced houses £147,750, semi-detached houses £207,250 and detached houses £300,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Town in Gwynedd, Wales
Bethesda is a built-up area of 3,757 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.