Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 13,002 people live in this town, in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
The data are hard on it. Residents’ health trails most towns: 9.7% in bad or very bad health, 26.4% disabled. Prices are modest for what you get: the median home sold for £119,000, 2.8 years of area income. All told, that adds up to a D overall and a rank of #17 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. It comes out better than 13% of UK towns. Jobs & income is weaker too: households earn a mean £39,266 a year, and 4.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Police record more crime here than in most towns (D): police record 48.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 12.9 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 20%.
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 Mountain Ash 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 Mountain Ash is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 10 buildings inside Mountain Ash’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
73% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Mountain Ash.
Self-reported good health: 73% of Mountain Ash’s residents. Just over a quarter of residents have a disability, higher than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (22%). 2 GP practices serve the town. The nearest A&E to Mountain Ash is Prince Charles Hospital, 5.9 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Mountain Ash | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 73% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.7% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 26% | 23% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
Below are two of them, each with why it was picked. Some 2,040 pupils attend Mountain Ash’s eight primaries and one secondary. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darrenlas Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 222 | – |
| Mountain Ash Comprehensive SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 909 | – |
Police figures for Mountain Ash’s built-up area: 1,114 crimes and 144 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. For its size, Mountain Ash records more crime per resident than 80% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Violence and sexual offences were 56% of the crimes.
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 £119,000 median rests on 402 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). 63% of households own their home, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (68%) and close to Wales’s towns (65%). Private rents average £754 a month across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £267,500 | 31 |
| Semi-detached | £153,500 | 58 |
| Terraced | £112,000 | 308 |
| Flat or maisonette | £102,000 | 5 |
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 16% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
16% of workers did their job mainly from home at the census. Of the commuters living in Mountain Ash, 19% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Mountain Ash has 0.5 jobs.
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 10 listed buildings in Mountain Ash: 1 Grade II*. Relative to its size, Mountain Ash keeps 8 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (9) and Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Half of Mountain Ash is older than 41.2, half younger. 18% are under 15, about level with Mid Glamorgan’s towns (17%) and above Wales’s towns (17%). People 65 and over make up 19% of the town.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Mountain Ash | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 19% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 30% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.1% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 21% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Mid Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
10 listed buildings in Mountain Ash.
Bethania Independent Chapel: Photo: GeraintTudur2 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Clock Tower and War Memorial: Photo: Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mountain Ash Town Hall: Photo: Darren Wyn Rees at Aberdare Blog · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St Margaret: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0
29 notable people were born in Mountain Ash.
Duane Jones: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bruce George: Antidotto at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stephen Williams: Policy Exchange, CC BY 2.0 · Tommy O'Sullivan: Jon Candy, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Edmund Davies, Baron Edmund-Davies: Rainich, CC BY-SA 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Ash | 13,002 | — | D | B+ | D | D− |
| Aberfan | 2,431 | 1.7 | — | B− | C− | D− |
| Abercynon | 6,376 | 2.5 | D | B+ | C− | D− |
| Troedyrhiw and Pentrebach | 3,780 | 2.9 | D− | B− | D | D− |
| Treharris | 5,042 | 3.2 | D | B− | C+ | D |
| Ferndale | 4,301 | 3.2 | C | B+ | C | D− |
| Ynysybwl | 4,580 | 3.2 | C− | B+ | C+ | D |
| Bedlinog | 1,098 | 3.3 | — | B− | C− | D− |
Aberfan and Bedlinog have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get 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 £119,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £102,000, terraced houses £112,000, semi-detached houses £153,500 and detached houses £267,500.
10 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade II*.
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Mountain Ash is a built-up area of 13,002 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.