The table covers the 22 Welsh principal council areas in the ONS lookup. Community and town councils form a separate local tier. The Welsh Government provides guidance for both principal councils and community councils. Source: Welsh Government.
Keep electoral systems and dates clear
The Welsh local government framework allows principal councils to choose between first past the post and STV. Check the rules for the election you are studying. Do not assume that a rule from an older election applies to a future contest. Source: Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 guidance.
The result tables here use the supplied 2022 candidate workbook. They show votes and elected status, with the original ward codes. The 2026 council seat and councillor archives provide a later snapshot. Neither file is a live record of the administration.
Local comparisons that have a clear meaning
Compare Cardiff with Powys to see the different scale of urban and rural council areas. Use population density with the boundary map. A large land area does not mean a large electorate.
The local figures include housing tenure, economic activity, qualifications and health from Census 2021, where the council code matches. The Welsh deprivation table counts neighbourhoods in Wales’s most deprived groups. It does not count people in poverty. Its groups overlap, so do not add them together.
Welsh deprivation ranks cannot be compared directly with English deprivation ranks. Each index has its own geography and method. Use the source links on the council page before you make a cross-border comparison.
Compare councils in Wales
Party seat totals are dated snapshots. They do not identify the current administration. Open a council for source notes, result coverage and downloads.
22 councils shown. Select a column heading to sort.
Council boundaries: May 2026. Population: mid-2025. Seat figures: the year shown on each row.
Every council page includes the source links used for its figures. If a result is missing, the page says so. Send corrections through our contact page, with the council code and source date.
