Placetrics
City · Wales

Living in Bridgend

19 neighbourhoods · 91 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.62× nat.
38% below nat. avg · 62.3 / 1k / yr · #151 of 318 cities
Good schools
0%
% rated Good/Outstanding
Commute to hub
51 min
#103 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.39
#199 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£736/mo
+7.9% YoY · #41 of 314 cities
Council tax
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Bridgend

Tap any row or map polygon to drill into that neighbourhood — hovering on desktop will preview the link before you click. Switch the tab strip above the table to focus on Affordability, Schools, Transport, Safety or Wealth — the columns swap and the default sort follows.

19 neighbourhoods · 91 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Blaengarw, Pontycymer & Bettws£551+7.9%9279
Caerau£552+7.9%8235
Nant-y-moel, Ogmore Vale & Blackmill£571+7.9%7972
Maesteg East£581+7.9%8543
Maesteg West, Garth & Llangynwyd£631+7.9%9884
Pyle, Kenfig Hill & Cefncribwr£653+7.9%8471
Cornelly£689+7.9%7957
Ynysawdre & Aberkenfig£703+7.9%7965
Sarn, Bryn-coch & Bryncethin£719+7.9%8546
Central Bridgend£722+7.9%7612
Cefn-glas & Bryntirion£729+7.9%9181
Brackla West£730+7.9%7663
Pen-prysg, Hendre & Felindre£746+7.9%8184
Brackla East & Coychurch Lower£763+7.9%7270
Pen-dre, Litchard & Coity£802+7.9%6973
Pen-y-fai, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr£831+7.9%4481
Broadlands£879+7.9%7094
Porthcawl East£893+7.9%2142
Porthcawl West£994+7.9%2097

Sources: ONS, MHCLG, DfT, DESNZ, Defra, Police.uk, Ofsted, Ofcom, HM Land Registry. Some columns (salary, council tax, HPI) are published at council-area level.

Section 2 / 8

Where to look in Bridgend

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Bridgend. Each list is filtered from the same neighbourhood data above — the basis of each shortlist is stated above the list so you know what's been weighted.

Top 5 cheapest

Lowest estimated monthly rent. Rent is the LAD-published ONS PIPR median, scaled per neighbourhood by local sale prices (Land Registry).

  1. 1.Blaengarw, Pontycymer & Bettws£551/mo
  2. 2.Caerau£552/mo
  3. 3.Nant-y-moel, Ogmore Vale & Blackmill£571/mo
  4. 4.Maesteg East£581/mo
  5. 5.Maesteg West, Garth & Llangynwyd£631/mo
Top 5 most desirable

Highest composite liveability — combines safety, schools, transport access and rental affordability into one 0–100 score (higher = more liveable).

  1. 1.Maesteg West, Garth & Llangynwyd98/100
  2. 2.Blaengarw, Pontycymer & Bettws92/100
  3. 3.Cefn-glas & Bryntirion91/100
  4. 4.Sarn, Bryn-coch & Bryncethin85/100
  5. 5.Maesteg East85/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Bridgend.

Avg rent
£736/mo
#41 of 314 cities
Council tax
Sale price
£200,000
+3.4% YoY
Yrs to deposit
3.1 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£543/mo
2 bed£676/mo
3 bed£785/mo
4 bed£1,107/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£325,681
Semi-detached£209,502
Terraced£171,169
Flat£113,114
Affordability
Price-to-earnings6.3×
Rent / take-home28%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,039/mo

Rent: ONS PIPR (council area). Council tax: VOA + MHCLG. Sale prices: HM Land Registry.

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Bridgend

Crime in Bridgend runs at 38% below the national average. Above median (#151 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 62.3, averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods.

How crime is measured

What's counted. Incidents recorded by territorial police forces and published to data.police.uk each month. Rates use the latest 12 months of data divided by the area's mid-2024 ONS resident population — so the figure is reported incidents per 1,000 residents per year.

Anti-social behaviour is the largest category in most areas and is worth reading carefully — it's a community-reports bucket (noise, rowdiness, nuisance), not "crime" in the legal sense. ASB and shoplifting are weighted lower than violent offences in the safety score on each page.

Caveats. The denominator is residents, so workday and tourist destinations can look worse than they feel for someone living there. Greater Manchester forces stopped publishing to data.police.uk in 2020, so figures for those areas are intentionally blank rather than misleadingly low.

Total crime / 1k / yr
62.3
#151 of 318 cities
Crime detailTop crime types · safest neighbourhoods in this council area
All crime categories
incidents / 1,000 residents / year — sorted high → low
Violent & sexual offences
30.9
Anti-social behaviour
8.4
Public order
7.0
Criminal damage & arson
5.4
Shoplifting
4.3
Other theft
3.3
Drugs
2.2
Vehicle crime
2.2
Other crime
1.9
Burglary
1.5
Possession of weapons
1.0
Robbery
0.8
Theft from the person
0.7
Bicycle theft
0.7
Safest neighbourhoods in Bridgend
by safety score (higher = safer)
Porthcawl West97/100
Broadlands94/100
Pen-prysg, Hendre & Felindre84/100

Source: data.police.uk — incident counts adjusted for population, then averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods. National average = England + Wales population-weighted mean.

Section 5 / 8

Schools in Bridgend

Distribution of Ofsted ratings amongst schools serving this council area.

Good or Outstanding
Outstanding only
Good w/in 2 km
0%
#288 of 318 cities
Schools rated
School breakdownOfsted distribution · best neighbourhoods for schools
Ofsted rating distribution
Outstanding (count)
Good (count)
Requires improvement
Inadequate
Best neighbourhoods for schools in Bridgend
by school score
Ynysawdre & Aberkenfig0/100
Brackla West0/100
Broadlands0/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Bridgend

Modelled door-to-door commute from this council area to nearby employment hubs. Closest first.

Best hub
51 min
#103 of 318 cities
To Cardiff
51 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
110 min
Median across local areas
To London
160 min
Median across local areas
Transport detailAll city commute times · mode share · best-connected neighbourhoods
Commute to major UK cities
public transport, off-peak typical
Cardiff
51 min
Bristol
110 min
London
160 min
Birmingham
186 min
Manchester
248 min
Sheffield
270 min
Leeds
324 min
Liverpool
331 min
Glasgow
475 min
Edinburgh
480 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car69%Public2%Active6%WFH21%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Bridgend
by transport score
Ynysawdre & Aberkenfig92/100
Central Bridgend92/100
Maesteg East92/100

DfT Journey Time Statistics + ONS Travel-to-Work.

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Bridgend

Bridgend has 0.39 jobs per resident locally. Below median

Jobs per resident
0.39
#199 of 318 cities
Drive to 5,000+ jobs
PT to 5,000+ jobs
5y jobs growth
+1.6%
Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area
Reachable jobs by mode
Drive — 100 jobs
PT — 100 jobs
Drive — 500 jobs
PT — 500 jobs
Drive — 5,000 jobs
PT — 5,000 jobs
Local job mix by sector
ONS BRES, % of local jobs
Retail & hospitality
22.0%
Manufacturing
11.2%
Health & social care
10.6%
Education
8.2%
Construction
5.6%
Professional & business svcs
4.3%
Tech & ICT
3.2%
Finance & insurance
1.1%

ONS BRES (jobs density) + DfT job-accessibility minutes.

FAQ

Frequently asked about Bridgend

Short answers to the questions we get most often. Each answer is anchored in the data above and links onward where you can dig deeper.

What is the average rent in Bridgend?
The median monthly rent across Bridgend is £736, based on ONS Private Rental Prices data. Individual neighbourhoods vary — see the shortlist above for the cheapest and most desirable areas.
Where is the cheapest place to rent in Bridgend?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Bridgend by estimated median rent is Blaengarw, Pontycymer & Bettws at approximately £551/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Bridgend?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Bridgend is Maesteg West, Garth & Llangynwyd at 98/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Bridgend a safe area?
Bridgend has an average safety score of 62/100 across its constituent neighbourhoods (higher is safer). The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted so 100 means the safest 1% of England + Wales.
What is the average salary in Bridgend?
The median annual resident salary in Bridgend is £31,475, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Bridgend, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Bridgend?
The average property price in Bridgend is approximately £212,043 according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Individual neighbourhoods vary — typically ±20% around this council area median.
What's the rental yield in Bridgend?
Gross rental yield in Bridgend is approximately 4.1% — the council-area level median rent annualised over the council-area level median sale price. Net yield (after agency, void, maintenance and tax) typically runs 30–40% lower.
How long does it take to save a deposit in Bridgend?
Saving a 10% deposit at the council area median sale price on the council area median salary, while putting away 10% of takehome pay each month, takes approximately 3.1 years in Bridgend. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Bridgend?
100% of premises in Bridgend are gigabit-capable per Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Coverage is patchier in older terraces and rural fringes — check your specific postcode for service availability.
What's the unemployment rate in Bridgend?
3.0% of 16-64 residents in Bridgend are on the DWP Claimant Count — Universal Credit while seeking work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. That's the live monthly local indicator. It's narrower than the ONS Labour Force Survey "ILO unemployment rate" (which counts anyone actively job-seeking on a separate denominator) and narrower again than Census 2021's "% unemployed" (which is calculated against all 16+ residents and so isn't directly comparable).
How many neighbourhoods are in Bridgend?
Bridgend contains 19 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 91 sub-areas (local areas). Browse the full list at the bottom of this page or use the neighbourhood map above to drill into a specific area.
How does Bridgend compare to other UK areas?
Bridgend's average liveability score is 70/100. To compare it side-by-side with another local authority, use the comparison tool at /compare. To see how every council area in Wales ranks across rent, safety, schools and transport, see /gb/wales.
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Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in Bridgend

Every local area, ordered by crawl priority. Most readers want the neighbourhood-level view — these are for deep-link cases or external search-engine arrivals.