Photo: welshbabe · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Tenby than in 95% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally climbed 35% in a year. Annual rates stand at 52.6 violent and sexual offences and 21.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents. The grade is D, built on crimes police recorded inside Tenby’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #14 of 23 in Dyfed. Drugs stands out: 5.4 per 1,000 residents locally, against 1 in a typical town its size, with 22 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Tenby
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 35% more violent crime per resident in Tenby than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 21% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
51% of Tenby’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 0% 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.
What’s behind Tenby’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 804 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Tenby against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Tenby has moved
Dyfed Powys Police published four months short or not at all (Jan 2024, Feb 2024, Mar 2024 and Apr 2024), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 +35% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -21% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -41% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +10% (towns its size +0%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Tenby runs highest on drugs (5.4 per 1,000 against 1), shoplifting (5.9 per 1,000 against 1.8) and public order (10 per 1,000 against 3.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 239 | 58.4 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 66 | 16.1 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 51 | 12.5 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 41 | 10 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 26 | 6.4 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 24 | 5.9 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 22 | 5.4 | 1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 7 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 6 | 1.5 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
51% of Tenby residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 51% 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.
Tenby’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.
Police in Tenby identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 46% of Tenby’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 3% 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. 223 crimes.
How Tenby compares with UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 181 | Llangennech Dyfed | 4,278 | 20.1 | 5.1 | 2.2 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 602 | Tumble Dyfed | 4,040 | 40.5 | 11.5 | 2.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 616 | Glanaman Dyfed | 3,866 | 39.4 | 14.7 | 6.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 624 | Neyland Dyfed | 3,250 | 40 | 15.8 | 7.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 673 | Queenborough Kent | 3,915 | 49.7 | 23.4 | 23.4 | D |
| 674 | Keresley Newlands Warwickshire | 3,631 | 36.4 | 36.8 | 10.7 | D |
| 675 | Wingate County Durham | 5,033 | 37.8 | 35.4 | 20.1 | D |
| 676 | Tenby Dyfed | 4,092 | 52.6 | 21.1 | 18 | D |
| 677 | Aberbargoed Gwent | 4,412 | 52.9 | 21.8 | 6.6 | D |
| 678 | Thornton West Yorkshire | 5,410 | 51.5 | 23.7 | 25.7 | D |
| 679 | Chapel St Leonards Lincolnshire | 3,435 | 58.6 | 18 | 15.6 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Tenby, and others in Dyfed.
Crime in Tenby 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Tenby’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 24 collisions with injuries inside Tenby in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Tenby is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Tenby’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Tenby had 6.
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 Tenby’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Tenby
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenby | 4,092 | 52.6 | 21.1 | D |
| Saundersfoot | 2,515 | 31.3 | 11.5 | C |
| Wooden | 1,300 | 22.2 | 5.8 | B |
| Kilgetty | 1,247 | 21.6 | 5.4 | B |
| Pembroke | 7,963 | 50.6 | 16.4 | D |
| Narberth | 2,365 | 34.1 | 8.6 | C |
| Pembroke Dock | 9,659 | 63.4 | 20.2 | D− |
| Neyland | 3,250 | 40 | 15.8 | C− |
Tenby records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Pembroke Dock records more. Saundersfoot, 2.4 miles away, records 31.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Tenby’s 52.6.
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
- Some months are short. Dyfed Powys Police published January 2024, February 2024, March 2024 and April 2024 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Tenby 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 Tenby
Is Tenby safe?
Police recorded 52.6 violent and sexual offences and 21.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Tenby’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 5% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Tenby has less crime per resident than 5%.
Is crime going up in Tenby?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 35%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 21%, shoplifting and theft fell 41% and anti-social behaviour rose 10%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Tenby?
Violence & sexual offences: 239 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (51) and public order (41), with 66 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.