Photo: Mark Anderson · CC BY-SA 2.0Prestatyn records more violent crime per head than 86% of UK towns
Set against the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 31% of them. Overall, it grades C− for safety (#25 of 39 in Clwyd). Still, violent crime was down 13% in a year. Behind the grade sit 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 12.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Prestatyn
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Prestatyn than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 20% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Prestatyn has the 230th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Somercotes and Swanwick, Rhosllannerchrugog and Rhondda, higher than Rothwell, South Ockendon and Birtley. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
32% of Prestatyn’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 20% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C− for Prestatyn
A firm grade. Built on 2,663 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Prestatyn against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Prestatyn runs highest on anti-social behaviour (18.8 per 1,000 against 12.4) and shoplifting (8.9 per 1,000 against 6.1). Drugs and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 579 | 34.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 314 | 18.8 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 148 | 8.9 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 98 | 5.9 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 81 | 4.9 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 79 | 4.7 | 5.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 25 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 24 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 22 | 1.3 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 18 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 9 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How crime in Prestatyn has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -13% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -20% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -29% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -24% (towns its size -4%).
32% of Prestatyn residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
20% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 32% in the highest-crime 20%. The community safety domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and fire incidents where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Prestatyn’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (community safety domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Wales’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Prestatyn places 230th of 317 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 57 | Hawarden Clwyd | 14,284 | 23.5 | 7.8 | 7.6 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 117 | Buckley Clwyd | 13,562 | 29.7 | 8.2 | 9.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 152 | Conwy Clwyd | 15,706 | 31 | 10.7 | 8.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 165 | Connah's Quay Clwyd | 16,768 | 33.3 | 10.6 | 12 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 227 | Rothwell West Yorkshire | 20,964 | 35.4 | 17.9 | 10.2 | C− |
| 228 | South Ockendon Essex | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | 10.1 | C− |
| 229 | Birtley Tyne and Wear | 13,840 | 32.8 | 20.6 | 14 | C− |
| 230 | Prestatyn Clwyd | 16,678 | 41.3 | 12.2 | 18.7 | C− |
| 231 | Flint Clwyd | 12,776 | 40 | 13.5 | 21.8 | C− |
| 232 | Faversham Kent | 20,941 | 36 | 17.6 | 17.6 | C− |
| 233 | Scawthorpe and Cusworth South Yorkshire | 13,020 | 35.2 | 19 | 19.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 317 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Prestatyn, and others in Clwyd.
Crime in Prestatyn per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Prestatyn identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Prestatyn’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 6% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 1,079 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Prestatyn South West, Prestatyn North and Prestatyn Central; highest in Prestatyn East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prestatyn South West | 3,403 | 26.7 | 9.4 | |
| Prestatyn North | 5,859 | 33.2 | 8.4 | |
| Prestatyn Central | 3,498 | 42.7 | 11.6 | |
| Prestatyn East | 3,918 | 51.9 | 17.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 449 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 302 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 210 | 34% violent |
| Supermarkets | 67 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 25 | 36% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Prestatyn East records 1.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Prestatyn. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Prestatyn. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Prestatyn’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Prestatyn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 55 collisions with injuries inside Prestatyn in five years. 20 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Prestatyn’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Prestatyn’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Prestatyn had 23.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Prestatyn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Prestatyn
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prestatyn | 16,678 | 41.3 | 12.2 | C− |
| Meliden | 2,002 | 38.5 | 8.2 | C |
| Dyserth | 2,038 | 27.3 | 5.6 | B− |
| Rhyl | 26,982 | 89.1 | 22.9 | D− |
| Rhuddlan | 3,791 | 35.4 | 7.4 | C |
| Kinmel Bay | 9,016 | 61.6 | 15.2 | D− |
| St Asaph | 3,483 | 39.3 | 12.5 | C− |
| Bodelwyddan | 1,785 | 99.5 | 15.9 | D− |
Prestatyn records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Meliden, 1.2 miles away, records 38.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Prestatyn’s 41.3.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Prestatyn sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Prestatyn
Is Prestatyn safe?
Police recorded 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 12.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Prestatyn’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 17% of UK towns. Among 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Prestatyn is 230th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Prestatyn?
By council ward, Prestatyn South West, Prestatyn North and Prestatyn Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 26.7, 33.2 and 42.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 51.9 in Prestatyn East.
Is crime going up in Prestatyn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 20%, shoplifting and theft fell 29% and anti-social behaviour fell 24%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Prestatyn?
Violence & sexual offences: 579 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (148) and criminal damage & arson (98), with 314 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Prestatyn compare with Rhyl?
Rhyl records 89.1 violent and sexual offences and 22.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Prestatyn’s 41.3 and 12.2, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · Welsh Government Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025, community safety domain by LSOA · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.