Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
11,443 people call this town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales home.
More weak spots than strong ones. Its weakest subject is health (D): 7.8% of residents report bad or very bad health, and 22.9% are disabled. Tonyrefail’s overall D puts it #29 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. That leaves it better than 7% of UK towns. It also trails on jobs & income: the mean household earns £40,520 a year. Cost of living is its strong suit (B): the median home sold for £186,950, 4.4 years of area income.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · income, ONS · 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 3 things Tonyrefail 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 Tonyrefail is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 6 buildings inside Tonyrefail’s built-up area.
24% 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 Tonyrefail.
One GP practice serves the town. The nearest A&E to Tonyrefail is The Royal Glamorgan Hospital, 2.9 miles away. At the census, 76% of people in Tonyrefail called their health good or very good, close to Mid Glamorgan’s towns (77%) and below Wales’s towns (78%).
| Census 2021 | Tonyrefail | Mid Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.8% | 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.
Some 2,421 pupils attend Tonyrefail’s three primaries and one secondary. Below are three of them, each with why it was picked. Three of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cwmlai Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 431 | – |
| Tonyrefail Community SchoolLargest secondary schoolAll-through | All-through | 1,707 | – |
| Ysgol G.G. TonyrefailLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 197 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Unemployment benefit claims came to 2.7% of 16 to 64s in 2026, lower than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (3.2%) and Wales’s towns (3%). Nine in ten commuters drove to work at the census. For 30% 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
Over the year to August 2026, 809 offences were reported in Tonyrefail, along with 83 incidents of anti-social behaviour. 52% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences. Violence accounts for 39.1 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents 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.
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 24% of the total, below both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (47%) and Wales’s towns (27%). Scaled to its population, Tonyrefail has 5 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
Owners make up 71% of households, higher than both Mid Glamorgan’s towns (68%) and Wales’s towns (65%). 377 standard sales inside Tonyrefail’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £186,950. Private rents average £754 a month across the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £320,000 | 101 |
| Semi-detached | £189,250 | 152 |
| Terraced | £144,000 | 123 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
19% of residents are 65 or over, below Mid Glamorgan’s towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (21%) alike. Typical age in Tonyrefail: 41.8, the median. Young adults of 15 to 24 are just over a tenth of the population.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Tonyrefail | Mid Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 19% | 20% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 24% | 24% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.5% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Degree level | 25% | 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 Tonyrefail. Best known first.
CastleLlantrisant Castle4 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumRhondda Heritage Park3.1 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseumThe Royal Mint Experience2.5 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumPaul Kirner's Music Palace3.9 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
6 listed buildings in Tonyrefail.
Tonyrefail School: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bingo Hall: Photo: Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tylcha Wen including attached range of former outbuildings: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ty'n y Bryn: Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0
6 notable people were born in Tonyrefail.
Matthew Rees: National Assembly for Wales from Wales, CC BY 2.0 · Jeffrey John: Richard Gillin from St Albans, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonyrefail | 11,443 | — | D | B | C− | D |
| Hendreforgan | 2,445 | 1.6 | — | B+ | C− | D− |
| Gilfach Goch | 1,531 | 2.1 | — | A− | C+ | D− |
| Porth | 13,352 | 2.4 | D | B+ | D | D− |
| Tonypandy | 17,209 | 2.6 | C− | B+ | C− | D− |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 3.3 | C− | C | B− | C |
| Talbot Green | 3,291 | 3.7 | D | C | D | C |
| Wattstown | 1,105 | 3.8 | — | B+ | D | D− |
Hendreforgan, Gilfach Goch and Wattstown have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
6 on Cadw’s list.
About the middle for its size: 60% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people report less crime per resident. Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C−.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £186,950, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £144,000, semi-detached houses £189,250 and detached houses £320,000.
Town in Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Tonyrefail is a built-up area of 11,443 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.