Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 14,114 people, this town lies in West Glamorgan, Wales.
Gorseinon’s weakest is health (C−) — 7.2% of residents report bad or very bad health, and 22.2% are disabled. It lags on jobs & income as well: households earn a mean £43,956 a year, and 2.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. Where it does best is cost of living: the median home sold for £190,000, 4.2 years of area income. The overall grade comes out at C, #6 of 19 in West Glamorgan. Set against the rest, it does better than just over a third of UK towns.
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 2 things Gorseinon 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 Gorseinon is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 4 buildings inside Gorseinon’s built-up area.
26% 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 Gorseinon.
2 GP practices serve the town. 79% of Gorseinon’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, about level with Wales’s towns (78%) and above West Glamorgan’s towns (78%). The nearest A&E to Gorseinon is Morriston Hospital, 4.8 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Gorseinon | West Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.2% | 7.9% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 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 2,274 pupils attend Gorseinon’s four primaries and one secondary. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg PontybreninLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 574 | – |
| Penyrheol Comprehensive SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 860 | – |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
26% of its homes were built before 1919, about level with Wales’s towns (27%) and below West Glamorgan’s towns (27%). Gorseinon has 3 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, below both West Glamorgan’s towns (10) and Wales’s towns (18).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Of the commuters living in Gorseinon, 15% work in the town itself. On foot, by bike or by bus and train: that was how just over one in ten commuters travelled at the census. This West Glamorgan town counts 0.7 jobs per working resident.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Private tenants account for 13% of households. 15% live in social housing, lower than both West Glamorgan’s towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (18%). The median sale, £190,000, comes from 550 standard sales inside Gorseinon’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £280,000 | 134 |
| Semi-detached | £190,000 | 253 |
| Terraced | £155,000 | 107 |
| Flat or maisonette | £102,250 | 56 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Police figures for Gorseinon’s built-up area: 698 crimes and 102 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Gorseinon has less crime per resident than 78% of them. 53% of the crimes fell under 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.
Children under 15 make up 17%, above West Glamorgan’s towns (16%) and close to Wales’s towns (17%). The middle age in Gorseinon is 42.5. Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Gorseinon | West Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 21% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 21% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.1% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 30% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
12 notable people were born in Gorseinon.
Michael Howard: Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0 · Tristan Garel-Jones: Congreso de la República del Perú, CC BY 2.0 · Lewis Jones: Unknown (Crown Studios of Wellington), Public domain · Ieuan Maddock: UK Atomic Energy Authority, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorseinon | 14,114 | — | C | B+ | B− | C− |
| Loughor | 4,632 | 1 | B− | B+ | B− | C |
| Grovesend | 1,148 | 1.4 | — | B+ | A− | C− |
| Penllergaer | 3,578 | 1.8 | C+ | C | B+ | C+ |
| Gowerton | 7,447 | 1.9 | C− | B | C | C− |
| Llangennech | 4,278 | 2.5 | B− | B+ | B+ | C+ |
| Bryn | 1,727 | 2.6 | — | B | B+ | C− |
| Dunvant | 1,732 | 2.9 | — | B− | A+ | B |
Grovesend, Bryn and Dunvant have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
4 on Cadw’s list.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades B−.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £190,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £102,250, terraced houses £155,000, semi-detached houses £190,000 and detached houses £280,000.
Town in West Glamorgan, Wales
Gorseinon is a built-up area of 14,114 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.