Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales, home to 15,797 people. Mortgage-free owners make up 50% of households.
A town with more to fix than most. Overall, Porthcawl earns a D: better than just over a tenth of UK towns, and #19 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Where it falls short is cost of living: a typical home costs £320,000 and rent runs £763 a month. Its strongest subject is hazard risk (B) — 0.1% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: flood risk, Natural Resources Wales · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years.
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.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Wales), ordered by how far Porthcawl is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 2 things Porthcawl does most differently from other towns.
Cadw lists 24 buildings inside Porthcawl’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 3 scheduled monuments.
19% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 5 old photos and postcards going back to 1905.
24 listed buildings in Porthcawl, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of St John the Baptist: Photo: David Lewis · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Look-out Tower: Photo: WelshDave · CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Farmers' Arms: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Grand Pavilion: Photo: Photographed by Mark Phillips Summer 2004 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Porthcawl.
Nearly a tenth of the population is aged 15 to 24, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (11%) and Wales’s towns (12%). Residents of Porthcawl have a median age of 54.1. Graduates make up 37% of adults.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Porthcawl | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 33% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 37% | 28% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Mid Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Porthcawl’s four primaries and one secondary have 2,258 pupils between them. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Park Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 395 | – |
| Porthcawl Comprehensive SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,185 | – |
Council and housing-body homes hold 6% of households. No town in Mid Glamorgan costs more to buy into than Porthcawl, at £320,000, the highest of 32. The median sale, £320,000, comes from 796 standard sales inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £428,750 | 276 |
| Semi-detached | £310,000 | 271 |
| Terraced | £240,000 | 117 |
| Flat or maisonette | £170,000 | 132 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police figures for Porthcawl’s built-up area: 1,105 crimes and 149 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 45% of recorded crime. Violent crime ran at 32.1 per 1,000 residents a year, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (36.7) and Wales’s towns (33.8) alike.
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 nearest A&E to Porthcawl is Princess of Wales Hospital, 6 miles away. One GP practice serves the town. At the census, 7.5% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than Mid Glamorgan’s towns (8.2%) and near Wales’s towns (7.1%).
| Census 2021 | Porthcawl | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.5% | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 23% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These shares come straight from the census, without allowing for age, and young towns benefit; the Health Grade instead weighs age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Before 1919: that is when 19% of homes were built. Porthcawl’s listed buildings include the Church of St John the Baptist, Grade I. Grade II* covers 1 of them, Grade I 1. It counts 24 listed buildings on the national list (Cadw): 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II*.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.6 jobs in Porthcawl for each resident in work. Household income came to £45K a year before tax, higher than Mid Glamorgan’s towns (£40K) and near Wales’s towns (£44K). Unemployment benefit claims reached 2.5% of 16 to 64s in 2026. About 22% of its commuters stay in Porthcawl for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Porthcawl. Best known first.
Theme parkConey Beach Funfairin town
Castle · CadwOgmore Castle3.1 km outside town, to the east
CastleKenfig Castle3.5 km outside town, to the northwest
CastleCandleston Castle2 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumPorthcawl Museumin townMuseumMuseumCefn Junction5 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Porthcawl is a built-up area of 15,797 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porthcawl | 15,797 | — | D | C− | C | C |
| Pyle | 14,075 | 2.9 | D | B+ | C− | D |
| Ogmore-by-Sea | 1,356 | 3.3 | — | D | A | A |
| Cefn Cribwr | 1,379 | 3.9 | — | B | B+ | D |
| Coedhirwaun | 1,270 | 4.4 | — | D | A+ | C+ |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 5.5 | — | C | A | C+ |
| Bridgend | 51,751 | 5.6 | C− | B− | C− | C− |
| Sarn | 11,867 | 6.5 | D | B | C | D |
Ogmore-by-Sea, Cefn Cribwr, Coedhirwaun and Pen-y-fai have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
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.