Placetrics
City · Wales

Living in Cardiff

48 neighbourhoods · 218 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.79× nat.
21% below nat. avg · 79.7 / 1k / yr · #238 of 318 cities
Good schools
0%
% rated Good/Outstanding
Commute to hub
19 min
#40 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.63
#37 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£1,157/mo
+4.8% YoY · #183 of 314 cities
Council tax
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Cardiff

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.

48 neighbourhoods · 218 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Cardiff Bay£871+4.8%8147
Butetown£903+4.8%8525
Splott£967+4.8%7351
Trowbridge£976+4.8%1440
Tremorfa & Pengam£980+4.8%4337
Adamsdown£987+4.8%616
Caerau West£993+4.8%2338
Caerau East£995+4.8%5315
South Riverside£1,004+4.8%6212
Llanedeyrn£1,027+4.8%7658
St Mellons West£1,030+4.8%426
Fairwater North£1,032+4.8%7663
Pentwyn£1,037+4.8%6171
Grangetown South£1,041+4.8%6136
Llanrumney North£1,042+4.8%842
Grangetown North£1,043+4.8%7752
Cathays South & Bute Park£1,048+4.8%8058
Pwll-mawr & St Mellons East£1,049+4.8%2771
Llanrumney South£1,079+4.8%1749
Fairwater South£1,094+4.8%6947
Plasnewydd£1,096+4.8%6947
Ely East£1,103+4.8%4926
Rumney£1,120+4.8%3985
Ely West£1,137+4.8%5063
Pontprennau£1,165+4.8%2881
Roath£1,169+4.8%5566
Cathays North£1,196+4.8%9085
Canton£1,196+4.8%4059
Llandaf North£1,198+4.8%4451
Thornhill£1,199+4.8%9499
Tongwynlais & Coryton£1,229+4.8%8060
Llanishen£1,239+4.8%6361
Gabalfa£1,239+4.8%4580
Pontcanna£1,246+4.8%3954
Pen-y-lan South£1,254+4.8%1754
Victoria Park£1,259+4.8%5576
Llandaf & Danescourt£1,301+4.8%8290
Creigiau, Pentyrch & St Fagans£1,318+4.8%1476
Pen-y-lan North£1,338+4.8%2694
Whitchurch£1,344+4.8%5785
Birchgrove£1,351+4.8%7792
Radyr, Morganstown & Gwaelod-y-garth£1,364+4.8%6795
Heath£1,460+4.8%7498
Rhiwbina Village£1,473+4.8%7990
Cyncoed North£1,491+4.8%6698
Rhiwbina & Pant-mawr£1,508+4.8%6598
Cyncoed South & Roath Park£1,557+4.8%5688
Lisvane£1,565+4.8%7398

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 Cardiff

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Cardiff. 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.Cardiff Bay£871/mo
  2. 2.Butetown£903/mo
  3. 3.Splott£967/mo
  4. 4.Trowbridge£976/mo
  5. 5.Tremorfa & Pengam£980/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.Thornhill94/100
  2. 2.Cathays North90/100
  3. 3.Butetown85/100
  4. 4.Llandaf & Danescourt82/100
  5. 5.Cardiff Bay81/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Cardiff.

Avg rent
£1,157/mo
#183 of 314 cities
Council tax
Sale price
£258,000
+1.5% YoY
Yrs to deposit
3.9 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£894/mo
2 bed£1,068/mo
3 bed£1,186/mo
4 bed£1,680/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£513,816
Semi-detached£320,224
Terraced£258,496
Flat£160,327
Affordability
Price-to-earnings7.9×
Rent / take-home42%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,360/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Cardiff

Crime in Cardiff runs at 21% below the national average. Below median (#238 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 79.7, 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.

ContextRates are per resident. As a major workday and tourist destination, the daytime population here is much larger than the resident base — so the per-resident figure overstates a typical resident's exposure.
Total crime / 1k / yr
79.7
#238 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
24.8
Anti-social behaviour
8.5
Public order
7.6
Criminal damage & arson
6.9
Shoplifting
6.2
Vehicle crime
5.4
Other theft
4.1
Burglary
2.7
Drugs
2.5
Other crime
2.2
Bicycle theft
1.6
Robbery
1.3
Possession of weapons
1.2
Theft from the person
0.7
Safest neighbourhoods in Cardiff
by safety score (higher = safer)
Thornhill99/100
Rhiwbina & Pant-mawr98/100
Cyncoed North98/100

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 Cardiff

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 Cardiff
by school score
Adamsdown0/100
South Riverside0/100
Cathays North0/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Cardiff

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

Best hub
19 min
#40 of 318 cities
To Cardiff
19 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
63 min
Median across local areas
To London
127 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
19 min
Bristol
63 min
London
127 min
Birmingham
139 min
Manchester
215 min
Sheffield
222 min
Leeds
277 min
Liverpool
307 min
Glasgow
449 min
Edinburgh
454 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car45%Public5%Active10%WFH36%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Cardiff
by transport score
Rhiwbina Village99/100
Heath96/100
South Riverside92/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Cardiff

Cardiff has 0.63 jobs per resident locally. Top quartile

Jobs per resident
0.63
#37 of 318 cities
Drive to 5,000+ jobs
PT to 5,000+ jobs
5y jobs growth
+3.7%
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
17.9%
Health & social care
15.2%
Education
11.0%
Professional & business svcs
8.0%
Finance & insurance
8.0%
Tech & ICT
4.2%
Construction
3.4%
Manufacturing
3.2%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about Cardiff

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 Cardiff?
The median monthly rent across Cardiff is £1,157, 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 Cardiff?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Cardiff by estimated median rent is Cardiff Bay at approximately £871/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Cardiff?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Cardiff is Thornhill at 94/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Cardiff a safe area?
Cardiff has an average safety score of 61/100 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 Cardiff?
The median annual resident salary in Cardiff is £32,756, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Cardiff, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Cardiff?
The average property price in Cardiff is approximately £269,319 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 Cardiff?
Gross rental yield in Cardiff is approximately 5.0% — 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 Cardiff?
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 3.9 years in Cardiff. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Cardiff?
100% of premises in Cardiff 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 Cardiff?
3.9% of 16-64 residents in Cardiff 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 Cardiff?
Cardiff contains 48 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 218 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 Cardiff compare to other UK areas?
Cardiff's average liveability score is 56/100. 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 Cardiff

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.