Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 2,065 in Powys, Wales. It skews older: 33% of residents are 65 or over.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A+): a third of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. The local economy is weaker than most (C−): mean household income £43,341; 2.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Homes are dear: homes sell for a median £292,500, about 6.9 times local household income. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for safety and B− for health.
Figures: commuting, Census 2021 · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age). Below 2,500 residents there is no overall grade, so Hay-on-Wye has its subject grades alone.
Dyfed Powys Police published 32 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published. 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 Hay-on-Wye 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 Hay-on-Wye is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists them inside Hay-on-Wye’s built-up area, along with 2 scheduled monuments.
42% 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 Hay-on-Wye.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Hay-on-Wye’s land, 25% lies in conservation areas, above Powys’ towns (12%) and Wales’s towns (0%) alike. The town’s listed buildings include Hay Castle, Grade I. It has 152 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 1 Grade I. The pre-1919 share of homes is 42%.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
It is listed below. The town’s primary school has 185 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hay-On-Wye C.P. SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 185 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 32% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Nearly two thirds of commuters drove to work at the census. About 44% of its commuters stay in Hay-on-Wye for work. For 49% 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
13% of residents are children under 15. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 7.7% of residents, below both Powys’ towns (9.5%) and Wales’s towns (12%). Over-65s are 33% of the population. Hay-on-Wye has a median age of 53.8.
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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.
| Hay-on-Wye | Powys | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.7% | 9.5% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 21% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 33% | 27% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.6% | 6.2% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 41% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Powys and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
92 standard sales inside Hay-on-Wye’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £292,500. Nearly three in five households own their home. The social rented sector houses 17% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £435,000 | 23 |
| Semi-detached | £275,000 | 17 |
| Terraced | £280,000 | 41 |
| Flat or maisonette | £177,000 | 11 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest A&E to Hay-on-Wye is The County Hospital, 17.9 miles away. Seeing a GP means leaving Hay-on-Wye: the nearest practice is 6.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Hay-on-Wye | Powys | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
Burglary and damage came to 8 per 1,000 residents a year, below Powys’ towns (12) and Wales’s towns (10.7) alike. A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 96 offences in Hay-on-Wye and 12 cases of nuisance behaviour. Among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Hay-on-Wye has more crime per resident than 72% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 52% of recorded crime.
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.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Hay-on-Wye. Best known first.
CastleHay Castlein town
CastleClifford Castle2.7 km outside town, to the northeastCastleCastleLlowes Castle Tump2.9 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hay-on-Wye | 2,065 | — | — | C | B− | B− |
| Talgarth | 1,252 | 7 | — | B | C+ | B− |
| Kington | 2,423 | 10 | — | B+ | C | C+ |
Talgarth and Kington have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
152 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade I. That is 30.2 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Hay Castle. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Village in Powys, Wales
Hay-on-Wye is a built-up area of 2,065 people, in the Powys 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.