Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 4,301: a town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
Ferndale’s weakest is health (D−) — 9.8% in bad or very bad health, 24.4% disabled. Buying a home costs less than in most towns: homes sell for a median £98,000, about 2.3 times local household income. Put together, the subjects come to a C overall, ranking #6 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. It comes out better than 25% of UK towns. Jobs and pay trail most towns: mean household income £37,601; 2.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Its other grades sit near the middle: B for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Natural Resources Wales.
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 Ferndale 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 Ferndale is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 3 buildings inside Ferndale’s built-up area.
90% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1905.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ferndale.
One GP practice serves the town. At the census, nearly three quarters of people in Ferndale called their health good or very good, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (77%) and Wales’s towns (78%) alike. The nearest A&E to Ferndale is Prince Charles Hospital, 7.5 miles away. A disability affects 24% of people in the town.
| Census 2021 | Ferndale | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.8% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 23% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy.
It is listed below. 320 pupils attend Ferndale’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darran Park Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 320 | – |
Owners make up 72% of households. 6% live in social housing, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (15%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Private rents average £754 a month across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £270,000 | 9 |
| Semi-detached | £117,000 | 11 |
| Terraced | £95,000 | 127 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
46% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. 237 crimes and 30 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Ferndale’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Ferndale has more crime per resident than three quarters of them.
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 Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 17% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
16% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, about level with Wales’s towns (16%) and above Mid Glamorgan’s towns (13%). Work in town: 11% of resident commuters. Jobs per working resident: 0.4.
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.
Cadw’s list names 3 listed buildings in Ferndale, every one Grade II. Scaled to its population, Ferndale has 7 listed buildings per 10,000 people, lower than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (9) and Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Residents of Ferndale have a median age of 45.4. People 65 and over make up 24% of the town, above both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (21%). Under-15s account for 16% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Ferndale | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 24% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 26% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 23% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Mid Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
3 listed buildings in Ferndale.
Penuel Calvinistic Methodist Chapel: Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Church of Our Lady of Penrhys: Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
10 notable people were born in Ferndale.
Stanley Baker: Eli Chen, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wyn Williams: FruitMonkey, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale | 4,301 | — | C | B+ | C | D− |
| Tylorstown and Pontygwaith | 3,551 | 1.4 | D | A− | D | D− |
| Maerdy | 2,843 | 1.7 | D | B+ | D− | D− |
| Rhondda | 13,271 | 1.7 | D | B+ | C− | D− |
| Wattstown | 1,105 | 2.2 | — | B+ | D | D− |
| Treorchy | 7,645 | 2.7 | C− | B+ | C | D |
| Tonypandy | 17,209 | 3.1 | C− | B+ | C− | D− |
| Mountain Ash | 13,002 | 3.2 | D | B+ | D | D− |
Wattstown has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £98,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £95,000, semi-detached houses £117,000 and detached houses £270,000.
3 on Cadw’s list.
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Ferndale is a built-up area of 4,301 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.
