Placetrics
City · Wales

Living in Torfaen

13 neighbourhoods · 60 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.54× nat.
46% below nat. avg · 54.6 / 1k / yr · #105 of 318 cities
Good schools
0%
% rated Good/Outstanding
Commute to hub
55 min
#108 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.40
#179 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£853/mo
+3.0% YoY · #95 of 314 cities
Council tax
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Torfaen

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.

13 neighbourhoods · 60 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Blaenavon£696+3.0%6659
Abersychan£725+3.0%7058
Trefethin & Pen-y-garn£752+3.0%6648
Pontypool£761+3.0%8781
Cwmbran£854+3.0%7169
Griffithstown & Sebastopol£866+3.0%9495
Pontnewydd & Upper Cwmbran£867+3.0%8575
Croesyceiliog£880+3.0%9786
Fairwater & Greenmeadow£885+3.0%7790
Hollybush & Henllys£902+3.0%8592
West Pontnewydd & Thornhill£941+3.0%7951
New Inn£944+3.0%9594
Llantarnam & Oakfield£981+3.0%5879

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 Torfaen

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Torfaen. 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.Blaenavon£696/mo
  2. 2.Abersychan£725/mo
  3. 3.Trefethin & Pen-y-garn£752/mo
  4. 4.Pontypool£761/mo
  5. 5.Cwmbran£854/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.Croesyceiliog97/100
  2. 2.New Inn95/100
  3. 3.Griffithstown & Sebastopol94/100
  4. 4.Pontypool87/100
  5. 5.Pontnewydd & Upper Cwmbran85/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Torfaen.

Avg rent
£853/mo
#95 of 314 cities
Council tax
Sale price
£180,000
+1.5% YoY
Yrs to deposit
2.8 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£612/mo
2 bed£759/mo
3 bed£886/mo
4 bed£1,374/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£328,392
Semi-detached£205,957
Terraced£163,098
Flat£98,120
Affordability
Price-to-earnings5.6×
Rent / take-home31%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£979/mo

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

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Torfaen

Crime in Torfaen runs at 46% below the national average. Above median (#105 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 54.6, 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
54.6
#105 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
21.4
Anti-social behaviour
10.0
Public order
5.5
Criminal damage & arson
5.0
Shoplifting
2.6
Other theft
2.4
Burglary
1.7
Other crime
1.5
Vehicle crime
1.4
Drugs
0.9
Possession of weapons
0.8
Bicycle theft
0.8
Robbery
0.8
Theft from the person
0.7
Safest neighbourhoods in Torfaen
by safety score (higher = safer)
Griffithstown & Sebastopol95/100
New Inn94/100
Hollybush & Henllys92/100

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 Torfaen

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 Torfaen
by school score
Cwmbran0/100
Trefethin & Pen-y-garn0/100
Croesyceiliog0/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Torfaen

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

Best hub
55 min
#108 of 318 cities
To Cardiff
55 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
74 min
Median across local areas
To London
138 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
55 min
Bristol
74 min
London
138 min
Birmingham
149 min
Manchester
199 min
Sheffield
223 min
Leeds
283 min
Liverpool
286 min
Glasgow
428 min
Edinburgh
433 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car68%Public3%Active5%WFH20%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Torfaen
by transport score
New Inn82/100
Cwmbran72/100
Croesyceiliog72/100

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

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Torfaen

Torfaen has 0.40 jobs per resident locally. Below median

Jobs per resident
0.40
#179 of 318 cities
Drive to 5,000+ jobs
PT to 5,000+ jobs
5y jobs growth
+2.5%
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
Health & social care
26.1%
Retail & hospitality
18.8%
Manufacturing
16.5%
Education
6.9%
Construction
5.1%
Professional & business svcs
3.2%
Tech & ICT
1.6%
Finance & insurance
1.1%

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

FAQ

Frequently asked about Torfaen

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 Torfaen?
The median monthly rent across Torfaen is £853, 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 Torfaen?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Torfaen by estimated median rent is Blaenavon at approximately £696/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Torfaen?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Torfaen is Croesyceiliog at 97/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Torfaen a safe area?
Torfaen has an average safety score of 71/100 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 Torfaen?
The median annual resident salary in Torfaen is £33,201, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Torfaen, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Torfaen?
The average property price in Torfaen is approximately £196,519 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 Torfaen?
Gross rental yield in Torfaen is approximately 4.9% — 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 Torfaen?
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 2.8 years in Torfaen. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Torfaen?
100% of premises in Torfaen 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 Torfaen?
3.8% of 16-64 residents in Torfaen 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 Torfaen?
Torfaen contains 13 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 60 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 Torfaen compare to other UK areas?
Torfaen's average liveability score is 77/100. 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.
Set up your move

What you need on day one

Set up your home
Slot
Compare broadband at Torfaen
See providers, speeds and prices for this postcode
Compare deals
Set up your home
Slot
Switch energy on your move-in date
Compare gas + electricity tariffs
Switch tariff
Cover your stuff
Slot
Renters' contents insurance
From £5/month — bundle with car or pet cover
Get a quote
Buying instead?
Slot
See if you'd qualify for a mortgage here
Whole-of-market broker — eligibility check, no fee
Check eligibility
Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in Torfaen

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.