Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,032 in Powys, Wales.
Ystradgynlais grades D− overall against UK towns: better than 4% of UK towns. Its strongest subject is cost of living (B+): median sale £220,000, 5.2 years of area income; rent £621 a month. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £40,614; 4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
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 Ystradgynlais 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 Ystradgynlais is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 7 buildings inside Ystradgynlais’s built-up area.
45% 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 Ystradgynlais.
Ystradgynlais has no GP practice of its own; the nearest is 0.6 miles away. Of the 18 towns in Powys, Ystradgynlais has the largest share in bad or very bad health: 11%; what’s more, a disability affects 29% of people locally. Women here live to 80.3 on average and men to 77.4 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Ystradgynlais | Powys | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 71% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 11% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 29% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy.
It is shown below. 188 pupils attend Ystradgynlais’s one primary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Golwg y CwmLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 188 | – |
Per 1,000 residents, 17.2 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded a year. Over the year to August 2026, 382 offences were reported in Ystradgynlais, along with 64 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Ystradgynlais has more crime per resident than 94% of them. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 58% 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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 19% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
There are 0.7 jobs in Ystradgynlais for each resident in work. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 34%, below both Powys’ towns (44%) and Wales’s towns (41%). Walking, cycling and public transport carried just over one in ten commuters at the census. About just over a tenth of its commuters stay in Ystradgynlais for work.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Social housing holds 22% of households, above both Powys’ towns (20%) and Wales’s towns (18%). The median sale, £220,000, comes from 175 standard sales inside Ystradgynlais’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Also worth knowing: nearly two thirds of households are owner-occupiers.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £325,000 | 67 |
| Semi-detached | £160,000 | 63 |
| Terraced | £153,000 | 45 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Ystradgynlais has 17 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents. Grade II covers all 7 listed buildings that Cadw records here.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
People 65 and over make up just over a quarter of the town, about level with Powys’ towns (27%) and above Wales’s towns (21%). Children under 15 count for 14% of the people here. The median resident of Ystradgynlais is 49.8 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Ystradgynlais | Powys | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.9% | 9.5% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 21% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 26% | 27% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.9% | 6.2% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 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 Ystradgynlais. Best known first.
AttractionDan yr Ogof4.8 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseCraig-y-Nos Castle4.5 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionHenrhyd Falls4.7 km outside town, to the eastZooZooWales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary2.9 km outside town, to the eastRuinsRuinsYnyscedwyn Ironworks400 m outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
6 notable people were born in Ystradgynlais.
Eve Myles: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Thomas Levi: John Thomas, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ystradgynlais | 4,032 | — | D− | B+ | D | D |
| Ystalyfera | 7,831 | 1.9 | D | A− | C | D |
| Seven Sisters | 1,343 | 2 | — | B+ | D | D |
| Cwmllynfell and Ystradowen | 1,354 | 3.1 | — | B+ | B+ | D |
| Creunant | 1,664 | 3.5 | — | B | B− | D |
| Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen | 2,744 | 5.4 | D | B+ | C | D |
| Brynamman | 2,636 | 5.4 | D | A− | C | D |
| Resolven | 2,162 | 5.5 | — | B+ | B− | D− |
Seven Sisters, Cwmllynfell and Ystradowen, Creunant and Resolven have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
7 on Cadw’s list.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on Natural Resources Wales’s flood risk service.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £220,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £153,000, semi-detached houses £160,000 and detached houses £325,000.
Town in Powys, Wales
Ystradgynlais is a built-up area of 4,032 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.