Placetrics
City · Wales

Living in Swansea

30 neighbourhoods · 150 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.64× nat.
36% below nat. avg · 64.0 / 1k / yr · #160 of 318 cities
Good schools
0%
% rated Good/Outstanding
Commute to hub
90 min
#201 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.45
#123 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£833/mo
+6.1% YoY · #85 of 314 cities
Council tax
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Swansea

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.

30 neighbourhoods · 150 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Landore£638+6.1%8345
Townhill£660+6.1%7334
Morriston South£661+6.1%6450
Bon-y-maen£672+6.1%8150
Cwmbwrla£674+6.1%9785
St Thomas£681+6.1%7752
Central Swansea£682+6.1%824
Ravenhill£685+6.1%7852
Penderry£695+6.1%6734
Llansamlet£736+6.1%9880
Brynmill£738+6.1%8363
Clydach & Mawr£745+6.1%6173
Mynydd-bach£754+6.1%7875
Gorseinon£762+6.1%8272
Birchgrove£773+6.1%8275
Pontarddulais£790+6.1%8773
Cockett£792+6.1%5944
Loughor£836+6.1%9394
Morriston North£850+6.1%3353
Gowerton£871+6.1%9785
Llangyfelach & Tircoed£897+6.1%5581
Uplands£929+6.1%5956
Swansea 032£977+6.1%7198
Llanmorlais & Three Crosses£1,050+6.1%5292
West Cross£1,058+6.1%2574
Sketty£1,087+6.1%4389
Ty-coch£1,097+6.1%2986
Mayals & Bishopston£1,151+6.1%4799
Mumbles & Newton£1,152+6.1%3683
West Gower£1,198+6.1%2298

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 Swansea

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Swansea. 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.Landore£638/mo
  2. 2.Townhill£660/mo
  3. 3.Morriston South£661/mo
  4. 4.Bon-y-maen£672/mo
  5. 5.Cwmbwrla£674/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.Llansamlet98/100
  2. 2.Gowerton97/100
  3. 3.Cwmbwrla97/100
  4. 4.Loughor93/100
  5. 5.Pontarddulais87/100
Top 5 best value

Highest liveability per pound of rent — desirable areas where rent stays close to or below the Swansea median.

  1. 1.Cwmbwrla£674/mo97/100 liveability
  2. 2.Llansamlet£736/mo98/100 liveability
  3. 3.Landore£638/mo83/100 liveability
  4. 4.Bon-y-maen£672/mo81/100 liveability
  5. 5.Central Swansea£682/mo82/100 liveability
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Swansea.

Avg rent
£833/mo
#85 of 314 cities
Council tax
Sale price
£185,000
+3.3% YoY
Yrs to deposit
2.9 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£674/mo
2 bed£780/mo
3 bed£875/mo
4 bed£1,252/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£325,926
Semi-detached£209,474
Terraced£167,705
Flat£109,684
Affordability
Price-to-earnings5.8×
Rent / take-home31%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£973/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Swansea

Crime in Swansea runs at 36% below the national average. Below median (#160 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 64.0, 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
64.0
#160 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
26.5
Anti-social behaviour
8.4
Public order
7.1
Criminal damage & arson
5.3
Shoplifting
3.3
Other theft
3.3
Drugs
2.8
Vehicle crime
2.7
Other crime
2.1
Burglary
1.4
Possession of weapons
1.1
Theft from the person
0.7
Bicycle theft
0.7
Robbery
0.7
Safest neighbourhoods in Swansea
by safety score (higher = safer)
Mayals & Bishopston99/100
Swansea 03298/100
West Gower98/100

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 Swansea

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 Swansea
by school score
Brynmill0/100
Townhill0/100
Central Swansea0/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Swansea

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

Best hub
90 min
#201 of 318 cities
To Cardiff
90 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
163 min
Median across local areas
To London
201 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
90 min
Bristol
163 min
London
201 min
Birmingham
238 min
Manchester
290 min
Sheffield
321 min
Liverpool
336 min
Leeds
377 min
Glasgow
500 min
Edinburgh
505 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car63%Public3%Active7%WFH25%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Swansea
by transport score
Central Swansea92/100
Llansamlet82/100
Gowerton82/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Swansea

Swansea has 0.45 jobs per resident locally. Above median

Jobs per resident
0.45
#123 of 318 cities
Drive to 5,000+ jobs
PT to 5,000+ jobs
5y jobs growth
-5.6%
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
21.7%
Health & social care
18.0%
Education
10.3%
Construction
4.8%
Manufacturing
4.3%
Professional & business svcs
3.9%
Finance & insurance
3.8%
Tech & ICT
1.3%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about Swansea

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 Swansea?
The median monthly rent across Swansea is £833, 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 Swansea?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Swansea by estimated median rent is Landore at approximately £638/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Swansea?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Swansea is Llansamlet at 98/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Swansea a safe area?
Swansea has an average safety score of 65/100 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 Swansea?
The median annual resident salary in Swansea is £32,091, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Swansea, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Swansea?
The average property price in Swansea is approximately £204,297 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 Swansea?
Gross rental yield in Swansea is approximately 5.1% — 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 Swansea?
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 2.9 years in Swansea. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Swansea?
100% of premises in Swansea 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 Swansea?
3.4% of 16-64 residents in Swansea 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 Swansea?
Swansea contains 30 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 150 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 Swansea compare to other UK areas?
Swansea's average liveability score is 66/100. 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 Swansea

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.