Photo: Nilfanion · CC BY-SA 4.0How Gwynedd stacks up
Gwynedd struggles most with lower incomes (£44,900 a household). That balance adds up to a C− overall and 50th place among the UK’s areas. No subject stands out: its best grade is a B.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
43rd of 65C34/100 More crime than the typical area. At 35.2 violent offences per 1,000 residents, Gwynedd sits 32nd highest among the areas. 54% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Bangor and Holyhead. It leads its neighbours on safety, ahead of Clwyd.
With theft, burglary and the rest counted too, 66 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 22nd lowest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
The big places weigh on the total
At the quiet end sit Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll (#254), Tywyn (#732) and Amlwch (#1,207) of 2,138 towns. The busiest quarter for recorded crime takes in Caernarfon. Its towns tell a different story from the county total: 46th of 61 town by town, 32nd highest county-wide.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Gwynedd | 21% | 54% |
Town centres and the people who live there
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
Not gradedNot graded: Wales publishes no school results. Wales publishes no school-by-school or county test results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties, like Welsh towns, have no Schools grade. Their overall grade weighs the other subjects.
Cost of living
37th of 98B63/100 Somewhat affordable. At £210,000 for a typical home and £44,900 of household income, prices run 4.7 times income, the 46th lowest ratio of 98 areas. 92% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as Holyhead and Amlwch, and almost none at the bottom. It leads its neighbours on affordability, ahead of Dyfed.
The middle home sold for £210,000 over the past year, 40th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £720 a month (11th lowest); Band D council tax £2,392 (37th highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
Health
49th of 98B−51/100 About average health. People here can expect 66.2 years in good health, against 65.2 across England and Wales (23rd longest of 55 areas with figures). Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll leads its towns at #522 of 2,515; 12% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.7 years, 22nd shortest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
Jobs & income
87th of 98D11/100 Money is tighter here. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll comes closest, at #1,176 of 2,156. The average household income is £44,900 a year, 19% below the England and Wales figure.
Claimant rate: 3.1% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 47th highest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
Getting about
46th of 98B−54/100 About average without a car. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (29th lowest). It leads its neighbours on walkability, ahead of Dyfed. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Porthmadog ranks highest, at #79.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 23% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
Flood risk
87th of 87D−0/100 Flooding is the big risk here. No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, #1,308. Gwynedd ranks 4th highest of 55 areas with figures for flood risk: 3.8% of town homes are in harm’s way. Every neighbour scores higher, Clwyd, Powys and Dyfed among them.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 13 Gwynedd towns.
Growth
89th of 98D9/100 Among the slowest-growing areas. Even its best town, Llangefni, ranks #465 of 1,579. ONS estimates put 189,910 people here in 2024, -0.8% on 2011 (10th slowest). It trails all of its neighbours on growth.
Since the 2021 Census: +2.1%, 42nd slowest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 9 Gwynedd towns. Covers 82% of residents of Gwynedd’s graded towns.
How Gwynedd compares to its neighbours
Next to Clwyd, Powys and Dyfed, it comes out ahead on safety, cost of living and getting about and behind on flood risk and growth.
| Gwynedd | Clwyd | Powys | Dyfed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C− 2350th of 65 | C− 2052nd of 65 | D 661st of 65 | D− 065th of 65 |
| Safety | C 3434th official · 21% in top towns | C 3152nd official · 29% in top towns | D 1436th official · 0% in top towns | D 954th official · 10% in top towns |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Cost of living | B 6346th official · 92% in top towns | C+ 4249th official · 35% in top towns | C 3484th official · 55% in top towns | B− 4760th official · 63% in top towns |
| Health | B− 5123rd official · 12% in top towns | C+ 4137th official · 15% in top towns | B 6020th official · 14% in top towns | D 1141st official · 0% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | D 1167th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2268th official · 5% in top towns | D 1389th official · 0% in top towns | D 887th official · 0% in top towns |
| Getting about | B− 5470th official · 4% in top towns | B− 4780th official · 4% in top towns | C− 2076th official · 0% in top towns | B− 5286th official · 10% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D− 052nd official · 0% in top towns | B 5827th official · 26% in top towns | C− 1943rd official · 14% in top towns | D 845th official · 6% in top towns |
| Growth | D 989th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1579th official · 0% in top towns | D 1183rd official · 0% in top towns | D 1381st official · 0% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.