Church of St Luke · Photo: Lewis Hulbert · CC BY-SA 3.0Abercarn records drugs at 2.6 times the rate of a typical town its size
Of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 16% record more crime per resident. Abercarn’s letter overall is C− (#14 of 38 in Gwent): more crime per resident than 81% of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally dropped 9% in a year. The yearly rates were 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Abercarn
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% less violent crime per resident in Abercarn 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Abercarn has the 431st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Waverley and Catcliffe, Drighlington and East Tilbury, higher than Backworth, Bagillt and Tumble. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Abercarn’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 802 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Abercarn 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, Abercarn runs highest on drugs (2.7 per 1,000 against 1), anti-social behaviour (22.6 per 1,000 against 8.8) and public order (8.6 per 1,000 against 3.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 150 | 29.3 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 116 | 22.6 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 45 | 8.8 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 44 | 8.6 | 3.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 23 | 4.5 | 2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 21 | 4.1 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 17 | 3.3 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 15 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 14 | 2.7 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| 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.
How Abercarn’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Abercarn’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.
431st of 518: Abercarn among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 134 | Undy and Magor Gwent | 5,742 | 18.6 | 8 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 249 | Oakdale Gwent | 6,126 | 24.1 | 9 | 3.7 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | Nelson Gwent | 4,235 | 28 | 16.3 | 6.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 428 | Backworth Tyne and Wear | 4,483 | 34.6 | 17.2 | 23.3 | C− |
| 429 | Bagillt Clwyd | 5,943 | 39.3 | 12.7 | 6.1 | C− |
| 430 | Tumble Dyfed | 4,040 | 40.5 | 11.5 | 2.8 | C− |
| 431 | Abercarn Gwent | 5,123 | 35.5 | 16.7 | 4.4 | C− |
| 432 | Allerton Bywater West Yorkshire | 6,958 | 34.2 | 18 | 3.8 | C− |
| 433 | Botley Hampshire | 5,900 | 38.9 | 13.5 | 7.4 | C− |
| 434 | Market Rasen Lincolnshire | 4,959 | 41.4 | 11.1 | 21.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 442 | Bedwas Gwent | 6,463 | 39.4 | 14.8 | 6.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 Abercarn, and others in Gwent.
Police in Abercarn identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 81% of Abercarn’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% 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 7% of violent and 0% 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. 307 crimes.
How crime in Abercarn has moved
“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 -9% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +26% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Abercarn 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 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 4 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 Abercarn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 11 collisions with injuries inside Abercarn in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Abercarn is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Abercarn’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Abercarn 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 Abercarn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Abercarn
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abercarn | 5,123 | 35.5 | 16.7 | C− |
| Newbridge | 7,582 | 36.2 | 15.9 | C− |
| Swffryd | 1,721 | 44.8 | 19.4 | D |
| Pontllanfraith | 9,363 | 31.7 | 15.2 | C |
| Oakdale | 6,126 | 24.1 | 9 | B− |
| Risca | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | D |
| Cwmfelinfach | 1,353 | 30.8 | 16 | C |
| Blackwood | 12,621 | 55.5 | 24.5 | D− |
Abercarn records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Newbridge, 1.6 miles away, records 36.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Abercarn’s 35.5.
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 Abercarn 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 Abercarn
Is Abercarn safe?
Police recorded 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Abercarn’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 19% of UK towns. Among 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Abercarn is 431st from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Abercarn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 26%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Abercarn?
Violence & sexual offences: 150 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (45) and public order (44), with 116 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Abercarn compare with Cwmbrân?
Cwmbrân records 50.5 violent and sexual offences and 19.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Abercarn’s 35.5 and 16.7, 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.