Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 37,675 people live in this large town, in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
A tough set of grades. Aberdare ranks #27 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan, with a D overall. On that grade it does better than 8% of UK towns. The weak point is health: 9.2% of residents report bad or very bad health, and 25.6% are disabled. Work and incomes lag (D−): households earn a mean £40,228 a year, and 3.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its best grade is for cost of living (B+): a typical home costs £148,500 and rent runs £754 a month. Police record more crime here than in most towns: 46.4 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 13.4 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 23%.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · 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 Aberdare 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 Aberdare is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 70 buildings inside Aberdare’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
50% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1813.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Aberdare.
5 GP practices serve the town. Just over a quarter of residents have a disability, above both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (22%). Self-reported good health: 75% of Aberdare’s residents.
| Census 2021 | Aberdare | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.2% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 26% | 23% | 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.
Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Aberdare’s 16 primaries and three secondaries have 6,626 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol G.G. AberdarLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 426 | – |
| Aberdare Community SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,227 | – |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
The 12 months to August 2026 brought 3,102 recorded crimes inside Aberdare’s built-up area, and 536 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Aberdare has more crime per resident than 77% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 54% of recorded crime. There were 16.8 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), higher than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (9.3) 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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Cadw’s list names 70 listed buildings in Aberdare: 2 Grade II*. One scheduled monument lies here. The register of parks and gardens lists one locally.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Behind the median of £148,500: 1,342 standard sales inside Aberdare’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026. 16% live in social housing, above Mid Glamorgan’s towns (15%) but below Wales’s towns (18%). Owners make up 66% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £305,000 | 264 |
| Semi-detached | £187,000 | 322 |
| Terraced | £122,393 | 728 |
| Flat or maisonette | £63,497 | 28 |
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 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 34%, near Mid Glamorgan’s towns (35%) and lower than Wales’s towns (41%). For every resident in work, Aberdare has 0.5 jobs. 31% of commuters who live in Aberdare also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Half the people of Aberdare are older than 42.3. 11% of the population is aged 15 to 24, close to Mid Glamorgan’s towns (11%) and below Wales’s towns (12%). Children under 15 make up 18% of residents.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Aberdare | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Mid Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Aberdare. Best known first.
70 listed buildings in Aberdare.
St Elvan's Church: Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0 · St John the Baptist Parish Church: Photo: John Grayson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Siloa Capel Y Annibynwyr: Photo: GeraintTudur2 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bandstand in Aberdare Park: Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0
91 notable people were born in Aberdare.
Jo Walton: Fazalmajid, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gareth Evans: Nivrae, CC BY 2.0 · Kelly Jones: Yummifruitbat, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare: After Henry Tanworth Wells (1828-1903), Public domain · Sir Harry Llewellyn, 3rd Baronet: photographer of IOC, Public domain · Stuart Cable: Citizen Erased, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdare | 37,675 | — | D | B+ | D | D |
| Maerdy | 2,843 | 3.1 | D | B+ | D− | D− |
| Ferndale | 4,301 | 3.6 | C | B+ | C | D− |
| Mountain Ash | 13,002 | 4.1 | D | B+ | D | D− |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 39,542 | 4.3 | D− | B− | D | D− |
| Treorchy | 7,645 | 4.4 | C− | B+ | C | D |
| Troedyrhiw and Pentrebach | 3,780 | 4.5 | D− | B− | D | D− |
| Treherbert | 5,427 | 4.6 | D | B+ | C− | D− |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
70 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade II*. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £148,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £63,497, terraced houses £122,393, semi-detached houses £187,000 and detached houses £305,000.
Large town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Aberdare is a built-up area of 37,675 people, in the Rhondda Cynon Taf 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.