Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,460 in Powys, Wales.
Welshpool grades C− overall against UK towns: better than 19% of UK towns, and #5 of 7 in Powys. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 28% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is safety (D−): 66.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 home and vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents a year, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 3%. The median home sold for £185,000 in the last three years, 4.4 times what households in the Powys council area earn in a year.
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 Welshpool 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 Welshpool is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 203 buildings inside Welshpool’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
25% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1940.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Welshpool.
Over the year to August 2026, 634 offences were reported in Welshpool, along with 72 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 15 reports per 1,000, above Powys’ towns (8.4) and Wales’s towns (10.4) alike. Of all the crimes, 53% were violence and sexual offences.
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.
They are listed below. Between them, two primaries and one secondary teach 1,194 pupils in Welshpool. All of them are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welshpool Church in Wales Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 264 | – |
| Welshpool High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 816 | – |
| Ysgol Gymraeg y TrallwngLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 114 | – |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Cadw’s list names 203 listed buildings in Welshpool: 1 Grade I, 3 Grade II*. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of Saint Mary, Grade I. Conservation areas cover just over a tenth of the town’s land, lower than Powys’ towns (13%) yet higher than Wales’s towns (0%).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 15% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
4% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026, above Powys’ towns (2.9%) and Wales’s towns (3%) alike. By car: that was how 70% of commuters travelled at the census. Income per household averages £38K a year, before tax.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 7.9% of the town. One GP practice serves the town. At the census, 76% of people in Welshpool called their health good or very good, below both Powys’ towns (78%) and Wales’s towns (78%). The nearest A&E to Welshpool is Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, 15 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Welshpool | Powys | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.9% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy.
Social renters account for 28% of households. 22% rent privately, above Powys’ towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (17%) alike. Only one of the 7 towns in Powys costs less to buy into than Welshpool, whose median sale is £185,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £225,000 | 54 |
| Semi-detached | £175,000 | 41 |
| Terraced | £147,000 | 49 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Children under 15 make up 15%, about level with Powys’ towns (15%) and below Wales’s towns (17%). People 65 and over make up a quarter of the town. The median resident of Welshpool is 45.7 years old. The share aged 15 to 24 is 11%.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Welshpool | Powys | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 9.5% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 21% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 25% | 27% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 6.2% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 24% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Powys and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Welshpool. Best known first.
MuseumPowysland Museumin town
Castle · National TrustPowis Castle800 m outside town, to the southwest
CastleButtington1.5 km outside town, to the northeastMuseumMuseum · National TrustClive Museum800 m outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
203 listed buildings in Welshpool, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of Saint Mary: Photo: Dave Kelly · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Former Powysland Museum & Library: Photo: A J Paxton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Christ Church: Photo: Penny Mayes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Powis Castle Lodge: Photo: Rtenny · CC BY-SA 4.0
18 notable people were born in Welshpool.
Michael Jones: Alaric Favier, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Craig Williams: David Woolfall, CC BY 3.0 · Duster Bennett: M. Hohner, Inc. Hicksville New York--the harmonica maker. Both musicians are known for their harmonica work., Public domain · Glyn Davies: Glyn Davies, CC BY 2.0 · Russell George: National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru profile, CC BY 2.0 · Sarah Winifred Parry: Owen Morgan Edwards, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welshpool | 5,460 | — | C− | A− | D− | D |
| Guilsfield | 1,160 | 2.5 | — | B | A | B+ |
| Four Crosses | 1,469 | 7.3 | — | B− | A+ | B+ |
| Llanymynech | 1,040 | 8.5 | — | A | B | A− |
| Llanfyllin | 1,118 | 9 | — | A | C− | B− |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 9.3 | — | A− | C+ | C+ |
| Pant | 1,173 | 9.5 | — | B− | A | A− |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 10 | — | C+ | B− | B− |
Guilsfield, Four Crosses, Llanymynech, Llanfyllin, Minsterley, Pant and Pontesbury have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
203 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade I and 3 Grade II*. That is 15.3 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Church of Saint Mary. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £185,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £147,000, semi-detached houses £175,000 and detached houses £225,000.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Town in Powys, Wales
Welshpool is a built-up area of 5,460 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.