Crap Towns / West Glamorgan / Swansea
Swansea
46/100Crap Score
536th crappest of 984 towns, and 2nd in West Glamorgan. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
Got something to say about Swansea? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
The Gower's nice.
Gorgeous coast, Wind Street on a Saturday, and a city centre that's seen better days.
Swansea's got the Mumbles, the Gower and a bay that looks great on a postcard. Then you go into the city centre, which is tired and shabby, the parking costs a fortune, and gulls rip open the bin bags and shit on everything.
It chucks it down on 165 days a year, so the postcard bay's mostly grey. The banks have announced 6 branch closures. Wind Street's carnage on a Saturday night, and the buses run all night, which round there is a public service. The Jacks love it anyway, and they'll tell you Cardiff's worse.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Swansea's 89 for rain means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Rain89/100165 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills72/100646 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene72/1003.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 1,214 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson69/1008.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Fly-tipping44/10010.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Swansea council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour42/10014.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband31/1004.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 8.4% across the Swansea council area
- Air pollution21/1007.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions10/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Talbot | 53 |
| 2 | Swansea | 46 |
| 3 | Neath | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.4 | Baglan | 32 |
| 5 | Gorseinon | 25 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Swansea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 98.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 149 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.8 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 of 5 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 94 pubs, 63 hairdressers, 21 charity shops, 6 bookmakers, 10 vape shops, 17 banks, 12 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 4.6% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (7 of 151) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 6 bank branch closures announced since 2022 About the same: 3.5 per 100,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 19 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 13% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,543 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Swansea council
Have a crap-off
Swansea against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.