Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,753 in Gwynedd, Wales.
Holyhead grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 25% of UK towns. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): median sale £145,000, 3.2 years of area income; rent £714 a month. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £40,185; 5.8% 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 Holyhead 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 Holyhead is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 53 buildings inside Holyhead’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
32% 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 1750.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Holyhead.
That puts Holyhead above both Gwynedd’s towns (31.7) and Wales’s towns (33.8). Burglary and damage come to 15.4 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 1,199 crimes inside Holyhead’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 346 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
Two of its 6 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 CybiLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 425 | – |
| Ysgol Uwchradd CaergybiLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 818 | – |
On this, Holyhead is above both Gwynedd’s towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Owners make up 53% of households. Holyhead is the second cheapest of the 13 towns in Gwynedd, at £145,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £246,000 | 86 |
| Semi-detached | £180,800 | 72 |
| Terraced | £120,000 | 201 |
| Flat or maisonette | £112,500 | 14 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
In the comparison, Holyhead comes above both Gwynedd’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (22%). Women here live to 80.9 on average and men to 75.5 (2019–23). The nearest A&E to Holyhead is Ysbyty Gwynedd, 20.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Holyhead | Gwynedd | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.1% | 5.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 20% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 12% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
For Holyhead, that is above both Gwynedd’s towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (16%). 51% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Holyhead has 53 listed buildings inside its built-up area on Cadw’s list: 2 Grade I, 3 Grade II*. 32% of its homes were built before 1919.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Holyhead sits above both Gwynedd’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (17%) on this measure. Those 65 and older account for 18% of residents. Half the people of Holyhead are older than 39.4.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Holyhead | Gwynedd | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 22% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 18% | 23% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 18% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.3% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 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 Holyhead. Best known first.
FortCaer Gybi Roman Fortin town
MuseumHolyhead Maritime Museumin town
FortWorld War II Pillbox1.7 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumHolyhead at Warin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
53 listed buildings in Holyhead, 2 of them Grade I.
St Cybi's Church: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Roman Wall Surrounding St Cybi's Churchyard: Photo: Nigel Mykura · CC BY-SA 2.0 · George IV Arch: Photo: Velela · Public domain · Market Hall: Photo: Sirhissofloxley · CC BY-SA 4.0
15 notable people were born in Holyhead.
Dawn French: Frank Blackwell, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Francis Dodd: Randolph Schwabe, Public domain · Albert Owen: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tony Roberts: Jon Candy, CC BY-SA 2.0 · John Griffith: Lafayette Studio, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holyhead | 11,753 | — | C− | A | D | D |
| Valley | 2,003 | 3.2 | — | B | B | C+ |
| Bodedern | 1,193 | 5.6 | — | A− | B− | C− |
| Cemaes | 1,023 | 10 | — | B+ | B− | C− |
| Llanerchymedd | 1,155 | 11 | — | A | B+ | C− |
Valley, Bodedern, Cemaes and Llanerchymedd have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 91% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less. Police recorded 1,199 crimes inside Holyhead’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 51% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
53 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade I and 3 Grade II*. That is 1.9 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include St Cybi's Church. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £145,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £112,500, terraced houses £120,000, semi-detached houses £180,800 and detached houses £246,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Town in Gwynedd, Wales
Holyhead is a built-up area of 11,753 people, in the Isle of Anglesey 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.