Merthyr Tydfil

Green space is genuinely abundant for a town this size — nearly 380 hectares of it across almost 200 sites, well above what you'd expect from the population density, so gardens, hillside walks and playing fields are never far from any front door. Full-fibre broadband reaches over three-quarters of properties, which matters more than it once did now that working from home is routine. The one grade that breaks the pattern is safety: everything else here — affordability, connectivity, environment, transport — sits at A or B+, comfortably above the Welsh average, but safety comes in at a C, with violence and sexual offences accounting for well over a third of recorded crime and anti-social behaviour the next largest share. It's flat rather than worsening, so this isn't a town sliding backwards, but it's the figure worth sitting with rather than skating past.

Property here is overwhelmingly terraced and freehold — of the recent sales sampled, the vast majority were freehold terraces, and even semi-detached and detached homes sell for markedly less than their Welsh equivalents. A "For Sale" board on a Merthyr street usually means a stone-built terrace you'll own outright, not a leasehold flat share. That combination — cheap entry, high fibre coverage, a real rail link, generous green space — tends to suit people who've already priced themselves out of pricier valleys towns or who work rurally and want space without the premium. Whether it suits you personally comes down to how much weight you put on that one weaker figure against everything else pointing the other way.

Data last updated: 19 October 2026