Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Monmouth records shoplifting at 2.8 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime was down 13% in a year. Violence and property crime split as 32.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Across all the graded crimes, Monmouth lands on C (#6 of 38 in Gwent): more crime per resident than 72% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. It has more violent crime than 74% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 63%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Monmouth
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Monmouth 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Monmouth has the 280th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Barwell, Whittlesey and Buckhurst Hill, higher than Wantage, Stakeford and Hexham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Wales
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 ranks every neighbourhood in Wales on community safety. 13% of Monmouth’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 10% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Monmouth’s C for safety
A firm grade. Built on 1,369 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Monmouth 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, Monmouth runs highest on shoplifting (17.3 per 1,000 against 6.1) and public order (8.5 per 1,000 against 5.4). Drugs and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 283 | 27.4 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 179 | 17.3 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 147 | 14.2 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 88 | 8.5 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 73 | 7.1 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 34 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 22 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 20 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 17 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 12 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 7 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 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 Monmouth 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 -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -4% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -18% (towns its size -4%).
1 in 8 Monmouth residents lives in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
13% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 10% 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.
Monmouth’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.
Crime in Monmouth 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Monmouth places 280th of 453 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 71 | Rogerstone Gwent | 7,546 | 17.5 | 10.1 | 9.6 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 277 | Wantage Oxfordshire | 13,100 | 33.2 | 10.9 | 10.8 | C |
| 278 | Stakeford Northumberland | 8,197 | 30.7 | 13.4 | 18.2 | C |
| 279 | Hexham Northumberland | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 14.9 | C |
| 280 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| 281 | Cleveleys Lancashire | 11,121 | 32.5 | 11.9 | 11.1 | C |
| 282 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | 13,181 | 32.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | C |
| 283 | Ystalyfera West Glamorgan | 7,831 | 36 | 8.6 | 8.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 300 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | 9,363 | 31.7 | 15.2 | 7.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 311 | Chepstow Gwent | 11,939 | 34.2 | 14.4 | 20 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 313 | Caldicot Gwent | 9,813 | 34.8 | 14.1 | 9.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 453 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Monmouth, and others in Gwent.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 72% of Monmouth’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 2% 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. 507 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Town, Wyesham and Overmonnow; highest in Osbaston
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town | 1,672 | 27.1 | 9.2 | |
| Wyesham | 1,957 | 32.5 | 8.3 | |
| Overmonnow | 2,263 | 33 | 8.7 | |
| Drybridge | 2,365 | 30.2 | 11.8 | |
| Osbaston | 2,073 | 40.7 | 18.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 278 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 147 | 31% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 27 | 26% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Monmouth. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Monmouth’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 Monmouth’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 19 collisions with injuries inside Monmouth in five years. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 1 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 Monmouth’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Monmouth’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Monmouth’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 12 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Monmouth had 7.
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 Monmouth’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Monmouth
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monmouth | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | C |
| Berry Hill | 2,211 | 29.8 | 15.2 | C |
| Coleford | 5,023 | 43.6 | 13.9 | D |
| Broadwell and Coalway | 3,304 | 25.4 | 7.8 | B− |
| Welsh Bicknor | 1,988 | 17.1 | 7.5 | B+ |
| Raglan | 1,176 | 18.7 | 11.6 | B |
| Bream | 3,117 | 29.3 | 8.1 | C+ |
| Ruardean | 1,195 | 20.8 | 3.1 | B+ |
Monmouth records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Berry Hill and Coleford record more. Broadwell and Coalway, 5.1 miles away, records 25.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Monmouth’s 32.9.
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 Monmouth 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 Monmouth
Is Monmouth safe?
Police recorded 32.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Monmouth’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Monmouth is 280th from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Monmouth?
By council ward, Town, Wyesham and Overmonnow record the least violent and household crime per resident: 27.1, 32.5 and 33 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 40.7 in Osbaston.
Is crime going up in Monmouth?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 18%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Monmouth?
Violence & sexual offences: 283 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (179) and public order (88), with 147 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.