Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 5,539 residents in West Glamorgan, Wales.
A tough set of grades. Its weakest is jobs & income — households earn a mean £46,770 a year, and 3.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. With a D overall, Pontardawe is better than 7% of UK towns. Housing is within reach: a typical home costs £190,000 and rent runs £690 a month. It lags on health as well: 7.8% in bad or very bad health, 25% 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.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Wales), ordered by how far Pontardawe is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 2 things Pontardawe does most differently from other towns.
Cadw lists 12 buildings inside Pontardawe’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade II*.
39% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →12 listed buildings in Pontardawe.
Saron Old Chapel: Photo: Adrian Dust · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The War Memorial: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Pontardawe.
One GP practice serves the town. Women here live to 80.9 on average and men to 78.8 (2019–23). 77% of people in Pontardawe rate their own health good or very good.
| Census 2021 | Pontardawe | West Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.8% | 7.9% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 25% | 23% | 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.
Below are two of them, each with why it was picked. Pontardawe’s three primaries and one secondary have 1,617 pupils between them. Two of them are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| YGG PontardaweLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 342 | – |
| Cwmtawe Community SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,047 | – |
Violence and sexual offences accounted for 56% of recorded crime. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 416 recorded crimes inside Pontardawe’s built-up area, and 60 reports of anti-social behaviour. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Pontardawe has more crime per resident than nearly four fifths of them.
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 23% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Pontardawe counts 0.7 jobs per working resident. The car took 88% of commuters, above West Glamorgan’s towns (83%) and Wales’s towns (81%) alike. 13% of commuters who live in Pontardawe also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Nearly two fifths of its homes were built before 1919, above West Glamorgan’s towns (27%) and Wales’s towns (27%) alike. Grade II* covers 1 of them.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
24% live in social housing, above both West Glamorgan’s towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Behind the median of £190,000: 175 standard sales inside Pontardawe’s built-up area, September 2023 to August 2026.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £280,000 | 55 |
| Semi-detached | £174,500 | 90 |
| Terraced | £130,500 | 28 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Children under 15 make up 18%, above West Glamorgan’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (17%) alike. Residents of Pontardawe have a median age of 42.2. 29% of adults hold a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
| Pontardawe | West Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 21% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 21% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.7% | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 18% | 17% |
| Degree level | 29% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
16 notable people were born in Pontardawe.
Mary Hopkin: CBS Television, Public domain · Benjamin Davies: Photo by Walery (Muswell Hill Studio of either Count Stanislaw Julian Ostrorog (1830-1890) OR Stanislaw Julian Ignacy, Count Ostrorog jnr. (1863-1935)); scan by Steven J Plunkett, Public domain · Phil Hopkins: Frederic (www.rugby-pioneers. com), Public domain · Dafydd Rowlands: Geoff Charles, CC BY-SA 4.0
Town in West Glamorgan, Wales
Pontardawe is a built-up area of 5,539 people, in the Neath Port Talbot 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
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontardawe | 5,539 | — | D | B | C− | D |
| Alltwen | 2,721 | 0.7 | C+ | C+ | A− | C− |
| Rhos | 2,560 | 1.1 | C | C | A− | C− |
| Clydach | 8,445 | 2.4 | C− | B+ | C | D |
| Ystalyfera | 7,831 | 3.7 | D | A− | C | D |
| Cilfrew | 2,178 | 4 | — | B | C+ | D− |
| Creunant | 1,664 | 4.2 | — | B | B− | D |
| Neath | 40,738 | 4.5 | D | B | C− | D |
Cilfrew and Creunant have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
12 on Cadw’s list, 1 of them Grade II*.
Burglary was rare, with 7 reports in the year.
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 £190,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £130,500, semi-detached houses £174,500 and detached houses £280,000.
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.
