Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in West Glamorgan, Wales, home to 8,445 people.
Cheap to live in, with trade-offs. Jobs and pay trail most towns: households earn a mean £43,903 a year, and 3.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Where it does best is cost of living — a typical home costs £164,750 and rent runs £825 a month. Put together, the subjects come to a C− overall, better than 21% of UK towns. The ranking puts it #10 of 19 in West Glamorgan. Health is weaker too: nearly one in ten residents report bad or very bad health, and 24.4% are disabled.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age).
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 Clydach 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 Clydach is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 8 buildings inside Clydach’s built-up area.
32% 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 Clydach.
24% of residents in Clydach live with a disability. At the census, 8.6% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, above West Glamorgan’s towns (7.9%) and Wales’s towns (7.1%) alike. One GP practice serves the town.
| Census 2021 | Clydach | West Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.6% | 7.9% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 24% | 23% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy among them, do allow for age.
Some 855 pupils attend Clydach’s five primaries. Below are two of them, each with why it was picked. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 245 | – |
| Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg GellionnenLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 187 | – |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 21% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over a third of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. The car took 88% of commuters, above both West Glamorgan’s towns (83%) and Wales’s towns (81%). For every resident in work, Clydach has 0.5 jobs.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Half of the 270 standard sales inside Clydach’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £164,750. 16% rent privately, lower than both West Glamorgan’s towns (17%) and Wales’s towns (17%). Home ownership stands at 66% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £250,000 | 71 |
| Semi-detached | £159,000 | 136 |
| Terraced | £140,000 | 61 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Violence and sexual offences made up 52% of the total. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 506 recorded crimes inside Clydach’s built-up area, and 88 reports of anti-social behaviour. Burglary and damage came to 8.8 per 1,000 residents a year, above West Glamorgan’s towns (7.2) but below Wales’s towns (10.7).
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 built before 1919 account for 32% of the housing. Relative to its size, Clydach keeps 9 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, below West Glamorgan’s towns (10) and Wales’s towns (18) alike.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Children are 17% of the town. Half of Clydach is older than 43.2, half younger. Among adults, 26% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Clydach | West Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 21% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 21% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.5% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 26% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
8 listed buildings in Clydach.
Church of Saint Mary: Photo: Nigel Davies · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Statue of Sir Ludwig Mond: Photo: Els Pam Pels · CC0
4 notable people were born in Clydach.
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clydach | 8,445 | — | C− | B+ | C | D |
| Alltwen | 2,721 | 2.2 | C+ | C+ | A− | C− |
| Pontardawe | 5,539 | 2.4 | D | B | C− | D |
| Rhos | 2,560 | 2.8 | C | C | A− | C− |
| Neath | 40,738 | 4.4 | D | B | C− | D |
| Cilfrew | 2,178 | 4.9 | — | B | C+ | D− |
| Penllergaer | 3,578 | 5.2 | C+ | C | B+ | C+ |
| Tonna | 2,665 | 5.3 | C | B− | B | C− |
Cilfrew has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
8 on Cadw’s list.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £164,750, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £140,000, semi-detached houses £159,000 and detached houses £250,000.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 69% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less.
Town in West Glamorgan, Wales
Clydach is a built-up area of 8,445 people, in the Swansea 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.
