Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 9,119 people, this town lies in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
Pencoed’s weakest subject is health (C−): 6.2% of residents report bad or very bad health, and 20.6% are disabled. It is hard to get around without a car (C−): one in ten commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Hazard risk is higher than most: 5.2% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. At a median £225,000, a home costs 5 times the yearly income of households in the Bridgend council area. The overall grade lands at C, #5 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Nationally, it does better than 28% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for safety and C+ for jobs & income.
Figures: health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Natural Resources Wales · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · incomes, ONS · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · claimants, DWP.
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 thing Pencoed 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 Pencoed is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 8 buildings inside Pencoed’s built-up area.
12% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1800.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Pencoed.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
12% of homes date from before 1919. Pencoed has 9 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, higher than Mid Glamorgan’s towns (8) yet lower than Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 1,639 pupils in Pencoed. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pencoed Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 572 | – |
| Pencoed Comprehensive SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 882 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
2.1% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (3.2%) and Wales’s towns (3%). Driving is how 88% of commuters got to work at the census. Of the commuters living in Pencoed, 12% work in the town itself. For every resident in work, Pencoed has 1.2 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Asked at the census, 80% of residents of Pencoed said they were in good or very good health. At the census, 21% of people here had a disability, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (23%) and Wales’s towns (22%). 2 GP practices serve the town.
| Census 2021 | Pencoed | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 21% | 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.
Violence and sexual offences made up 54% of the total. In the 12 months to August 2026, police logged 461 crimes and 68 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Pencoed’s built-up area. Per 1,000 residents, 8.7 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded a year.
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.
Social housing holds just over one in ten households, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (15%) and Wales’s towns (18%) alike. The £225,000 median rests on 347 standard sales inside the built-up area (September 2023 to August 2026). Private rents average £763 a month across the Bridgend council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £324,000 | 94 |
| Semi-detached | £220,000 | 181 |
| Terraced | £185,000 | 57 |
| Flat or maisonette | £118,750 | 15 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
One measure of family life: 16% of residents are under 15. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 10% of residents, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (11%) and Wales’s towns (12%) alike. Typical age in Pencoed: 45.5, the median.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Pencoed | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 23% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 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 Pencoed. Best known first.
Castle · CadwCastell Coety2.3 km outside town, to the west
Castle · CadwY Castell Newydd4.6 km outside town, to the west
Abbey or priory · CadwEwenny Priory4.8 km outside town, to the southwestArt galleryArt galleryNolton Art Gallery4.5 km outside town, to the southwestCastleCastleCoity Castle2.3 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
8 listed buildings in Pencoed.
Bridge over Afon Ewenni: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Salem Chapel: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0
5 notable people were born in Pencoed.
Stan Stennett: Watt Dabney, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Paul Amos: Super Festivals, CC BY 2.0 · Luke Fletcher: Senedd Cymru - Welsh Parliament, CC BY 4.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pencoed | 9,119 | — | C | B− | C+ | C− |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 2.3 | C− | C | B− | C |
| Bridgend | 51,751 | 3.2 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 3.5 | C+ | C+ | B | C+ |
| Sarn | 11,867 | 3.7 | D | B | C | D |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 3.8 | — | C | A | C+ |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 4.4 | — | B+ | B− | D |
| Hendreforgan | 2,445 | 4.4 | — | B+ | C− | D− |
Pen-y-fai, Llangeinor and Hendreforgan have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
About the middle for its size: 60% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, it grades C+. Burglary was rare, with 10 reports in the year.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £225,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £118,750, terraced houses £185,000, semi-detached houses £220,000 and detached houses £324,000.
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Pencoed is a built-up area of 9,119 people, in the Bridgend 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.
