Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,801 in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
The picture is mixed. Jobs & income is its strong suit — mean household income £56,176; 1.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Pontyclun grades B overall, better than 56% of UK towns. Its place in the ranking is #2 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Housing is expensive (C−): the median home sold for £273,250, 6.4 years of area income. It lags on hazard risk as well — 7.1% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · 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 Pontyclun 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 Pontyclun is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 5 buildings inside Pontyclun’s built-up area.
15% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1905.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Pontyclun.
People 65 and over make up 18% of the town. 10% of the population is aged 15 to 24, lower than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (11%) and Wales’s towns (12%). Children under 15 count for 20% of the people here. Pontyclun has a median age of 43.3 years.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Pontyclun | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 18% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.3% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 45% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Mid Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
They are listed below. Some 608 pupils attend Pontyclun’s two primaries. All of them are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pontyclun Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 395 | – |
| YGGG LlantrisantLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 213 | – |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Homes from before 1919 make up 15% of the total, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (47%) and Wales’s towns (27%). Conservation areas cover 1% of Pontyclun’s land, above Mid Glamorgan’s towns (0%) and Wales’s towns (0%) alike.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
6% live in social housing, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (15%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Private renters make up 12% of households. Only one of the 32 towns in Mid Glamorgan costs more to buy into than Pontyclun, whose median sale is £273,250.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £420,000 | 71 |
| Semi-detached | £252,500 | 54 |
| Terraced | £230,000 | 59 |
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 38% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The census counted 38% of workers working mainly from home. 10% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, lower than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (13%) and Wales’s towns (16%). For 31% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Homes see 7.5 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year. 202 crimes and 40 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside Pontyclun’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 5.5 reports per 1,000, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (9.5) and Wales’s towns (10.4) alike. Violence and sexual offences were 46% 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.
4.2% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (8.2%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%). Asked at the census, 85% of residents of Pontyclun said they were in good or very good health. One GP practice serves the town.
| Census 2021 | Pontyclun | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.2% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 16% | 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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Pontyclun. Best known first.
CastleLlantrisant Castle1.3 km outside town, to the north
CastleHensol Castle1.7 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumThe Royal Mint Experience2.4 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
5 listed buildings in Pontyclun.
Chapel House: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Church of St David: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Miskin Arms: Photo: Mick Lobb · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Telephone Call-box: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0
5 notable people were born in Pontyclun.
Zoe Bäckstedt: Nicola, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontyclun | 5,801 | — | B | C− | B+ | B− |
| Talbot Green | 3,291 | 0.7 | D | C | D | C |
| Llantrisant | 4,196 | 1 | C− | C+ | D | C |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 1.9 | C+ | C+ | B | C+ |
| Beddau | 7,356 | 2.5 | C− | B | C+ | D |
| Creigiau | 2,304 | 2.5 | — | C− | A+ | A |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 3.1 | C− | C | B− | C |
| Pentyrch | 2,374 | 3.7 | — | D | A− | A− |
Creigiau and Pentyrch 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.
It has less crime than most places its size: less crime per resident than 77% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Pontyclun is a built-up area of 5,801 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.