Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 2,599: a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Its listed buildings number 204, with 0 at Grade I.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 31% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Cost of living is another plus — a typical home costs £182,250 and rent runs £724 a month. Incomes are on the low side: households earn a mean £40,952 a year, and 2.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Crime is the sore point: 33.5 violent and sexual offences and 10.1 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year. Set beside UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, its crime per resident is higher than in 74%. The overall grade lands at B−, #3 of 13 in Gwynedd. That leaves it better than 54% of UK towns.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026.
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 Dolgellau 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 Dolgellau is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 204 buildings inside Dolgellau’s built-up area, 6 of them Grade II*.
44% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 7 old photos and postcards going back to 1805.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dolgellau.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Before 1919: that is when 44% of homes were built. Dolgellau has 204 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 6 Grade II*. Of the town’s land, 18% lies in conservation areas, above both Gwynedd’s towns (4%) and Wales’s towns (0%).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
It appears below. The town’s secondary school has 541 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Bro IdrisLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 541 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Dolgellau counts 1.8 jobs per working resident. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 57%, above Gwynedd’s towns (39%) and Wales’s towns (41%) alike. Of the commuters living in the town, 55% work in the town itself.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Private renters make up a fifth of households, above both Gwynedd’s towns (17%) and Wales’s towns (17%). The £182,250 median rests on 136 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Households that own their home make up 62%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £322,500 | 36 |
| Semi-detached | £226,750 | 22 |
| Terraced | £155,000 | 65 |
| Flat or maisonette | £125,000 | 13 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Of all the crimes, 46% were violence and sexual offences. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 163 offences in Dolgellau and 46 cases of nuisance behaviour. There were 17.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Gwynedd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4).
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, 5.2% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than both Gwynedd’s towns (5.5%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%). One GP practice serves the town. Men in Dolgellau can expect to live to 79.7, women to 85.7 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Dolgellau | Gwynedd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.2% | 5.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 20% | 20% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
The age that splits Dolgellau in two is 50.3. The 15-to-24 age group: 9.5%, below both Gwynedd’s towns (13%) and Wales’s towns (12%). Those 65 and older account for just over a quarter of residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Dolgellau | Gwynedd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.5% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 22% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 26% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 18% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 33% | 32% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gwynedd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
204 listed buildings in Dolgellau.
County Hall: Photo: Keith Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0 · T.H.Roberts, Ironmonger: Photo: Ted and Jen from Birmingham, England · CC BY 2.0 · Catholic Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows: Photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0 · Derelict Building to rear of Mill View: Photo: AlwynapHuw · CC0
17 notable people were born in Dolgellau.
Elfyn Evans: Lukas Raich, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alan Llwyd: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Evan Jones (Ieuan Gwynedd): Evan Jones (Ieuan Gwynedd), Public domain · John Jones: Thomas, John,, Public domain · Mary Morris: Linley Blathwayt, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolgellau | 2,599 | — | B− | A− | C | B− |
| Barmouth | 1,986 | 7.4 | — | B+ | D | B− |
| Machynlleth | 2,161 | 11 | — | A− | C | C |
Barmouth and Machynlleth have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
204 on Cadw’s list, 6 of them Grade II*. That is 32.2 times the typical UK town for its size.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £182,250, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £125,000, terraced houses £155,000, semi-detached houses £226,750 and detached houses £322,500.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Town in Gwynedd, Wales
Dolgellau is a built-up area of 2,599 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.