Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,261 in Gwynedd, Wales.
Harlech has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is cost of living (B+): median sale £185,000, 4.1 years of area income; rent £724 a month. Its weakest is jobs & income (D): mean household income £41,840; 2.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
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 Harlech 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 Harlech is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 22 buildings inside Harlech’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
34% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Harlech. Best known first.
Castle · CadwCastell Harlechin townHistoric siteHistoric site · CadwFfridd Fron Kerb Cairn4.7 km outside town, to the eastHistoric siteHistoric siteLlanfair Slate Caverns800 m outside town, to the southAttractionAttractionChildren's Farm Park & Play Barn1 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumLasynys Fawr1.5 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Harlech.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 7.4% of the town. Just over a third of residents are 65 or over, higher than both Gwynedd’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (21%). Half of Harlech is older than 56, half younger. Graduates make up 39% of adults.
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Harlech | Gwynedd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.4% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 22% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 34% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 18% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 39% | 32% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Gwynedd and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
They are listed below. Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 408 pupils in Harlech. All of them are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol TanycastellLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 77 | – |
| Ysgol ArdudwyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 331 | – |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Scaled to its population, that is 174 listed buildings for every 10,000 people in Harlech. It is part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. Cadw’s list names 22 listed buildings here: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II*. The town’s listed buildings include Harlech Castle, Grade I.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Social housing holds 11% of households. 15% rent privately, below both Gwynedd’s towns (17%) and Wales’s towns (17%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 97 homes sold inside Harlech’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £185,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £340,000 | 33 |
| Semi-detached | £220,000 | 9 |
| Terraced | £168,150 | 26 |
| Flat or maisonette | £72,000 | 29 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 30% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Working from home was the norm for 30% of workers at the census. At the census, 16% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, about level with Wales’s towns (16%) and below Gwynedd’s towns (19%). Jobs per working resident: 0.5. Just over a fifth of commuters who live in Harlech also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
There were 24.9 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Gwynedd’s towns (15) and Wales’s towns (10.4). Over the year to August 2026, 66 offences were reported in Harlech, along with 40 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Each year, 8.2 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded per 1,000 residents. Of all the crimes, 62% 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.
Self-reported good health: 77% of Harlech’s residents. There is no GP practice locally: the nearest is 4.6 miles off. A disability affects 22% of people here.
| Census 2021 | Harlech | Gwynedd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.1% | 5.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 20% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlech | 1,261 | — | — | B+ | C+ | B− |
| Porthmadog | 2,579 | 4.5 | C+ | A− | C− | C+ |
| Penrhyndeudraeth | 1,463 | 5 | — | A− | C | C+ |
| Criccieth | 1,737 | 6.5 | — | C | B | C+ |
| Barmouth | 1,986 | 9.9 | — | B+ | D | B− |
| Blaenau Ffestiniog | 3,449 | 11 | C | A | D | C− |
Penrhyndeudraeth, Criccieth and Barmouth have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
22 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade I and 1 Grade II*. That is 7.2 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Harlech Castle. It also has 1 scheduled monument. Part of it is in the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site.
Burglary was rare, with 0 reports in the year.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £185,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £72,000, terraced houses £168,150, semi-detached houses £220,000 and detached houses £340,000.
Village in Gwynedd, Wales
Harlech is a built-up area of 1,261 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.