Photo: Brian Whittle · CC BY-SA 2.0How West Glamorgan stacks up
West Glamorgan is middling almost everywhere, with no grade above C+. Overall it ranks 63rd of 65 graded areas, a D−. Its weak spots are shorter healthy lives (61.8 years of healthy life expectancy) and tighter household budgets.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
44th of 65C33/100 A bit above-average crime. Bishopston ranks #10 of 2,138 towns in the UK for safety. West Glamorgan records 37.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 people a year, against 37.9 across England and Wales. It leads its neighbours on safety, ahead of Mid Glamorgan.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 77 per 1,000 residents a year, 25th highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Hardly any high-crime towns
Rhos leads its towns at #128 of 2,138, with Alltwen and Penllergaer close behind. Of residents of its towns, 23% live in the safest quarter and almost none in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| West Glamorgan | 23% | 0% |
What the two figures count
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in West Glamorgan, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
Not gradedNot graded: Wales publishes no school results. Wales publishes no school-by-school or county test results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties, like Welsh towns, have no Schools grade. Their overall grade weighs the other subjects.
Cost of living
58th of 98C+41/100 Pricier than the typical area. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £183,500, or 4.2 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. The county total looks better than its towns do. Over five years, typical prices have risen 17%.
Typical sale price: £183,500 (3,595 sales, 20th lowest).
Private rent £791 a month (24th lowest); Band D council tax £2,352 (42nd lowest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Health
91st of 98D7/100 Among the least healthy areas. West Glamorgan ranks 6th shortest for healthy life expectancy, at 61.8 years. Only Bishopston (#66 of 2,515) stands out; just 2% of town residents live in a top-quarter town.
Life expectancy at birth: 79.2 years, 6th shortest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Jobs & income
86th of 98D12/100 Money is tighter here. Households take in £44,200 a year on average before tax, against £55,600 across England and Wales (24th lowest of 98 areas). Even its best town, Bishopston, ranks #492 of 2,156.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.3% of working-age adults (39th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Getting about
84th of 98D14/100 More car-dependent than most areas. At the 2021 Census, 14% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 12 points below the England and Wales figure. Even its best town, Swansea, ranks #1,005 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 24% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Flood risk
76th of 87D13/100 Rivers and the sea are a real risk. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (16th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Alltwen ranks highest, at #551.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 19 West Glamorgan towns.
Growth
72nd of 98C27/100 Slow growth. West Glamorgan grew 4.2% from 2011 to 2024, against 10.0% for England and Wales. Penllergaer is the exception, #69 of 1,579; almost no one else lives in a top-quarter town. Among its neighbours it does best on growth, with Mid Glamorgan second.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +3.9% (20th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 15 West Glamorgan towns. Covers 94% of residents of West Glamorgan’s graded towns.
How West Glamorgan compares to its neighbours
None of its neighbours (Dyfed, Mid Glamorgan and Powys) matches it on safety and growth.
| West Glamorgan | Dyfed | Mid Glamorgan | Powys | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D− 363rd of 65 | D− 065th of 65 | D 562nd of 65 | D 661st of 65 |
| Safety | C 3342nd official · 23% in top towns | D 954th official · 10% in top towns | C− 2350th official · 22% in top towns | D 1436th official · 0% in top towns |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Cost of living | C+ 4130th official · 5% in top towns | B− 4760th official · 63% in top towns | B− 5231st official · 29% in top towns | C 3484th official · 55% in top towns |
| Health | D 750th official · 2% in top towns | D 1141st official · 0% in top towns | D 655th official · 5% in top towns | B 6020th official · 14% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | D 1275th official · 1% in top towns | D 887th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1584th official · 5% in top towns | D 1389th official · 0% in top towns |
| Getting about | D 1482nd official · 0% in top towns | B− 5286th official · 10% in top towns | D 1285th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2076th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D 1340th official · 4% in top towns | D 845th official · 6% in top towns | C+ 3634th official · 21% in top towns | C− 1943rd official · 14% in top towns |
| Growth | C 2766th official · 2% in top towns | D 1381st official · 0% in top towns | C− 2169th official · 0% in top towns | D 1183rd official · 0% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.