Photo: Dave Croker · CC BY-SA 2.0More violent crime is recorded per resident in Hereford than in 87% of UK towns
At 1.7 per 1,000 residents, bicycle theft in Hereford runs well past the 0.9 of a typical town its size (102 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Violent crime barely moved in a year. That puts it at C− for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #3 of 5 in Herefordshire. Its police logs show 41.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hereford
One ward carries much of the rate
Central ward, where 43% of Hereford’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 2,402 of Hereford’s 7,564 violent and sexual offences in three years: 234.4 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Hereford the figure is 30.2. Where in Hereford ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 121 UK towns and cities of 42,000 to 82,000 people, Hereford has the 52nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Ellesmere Port, Grantham and Barry, higher than Braintree, Redditch and Newcastle-under-Lyme. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Hereford’s C− for safety
A firm grade. Built on 9,574 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hereford against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Whitecross, Saxon Gate and Tupsley; highest in Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitecross | 3,755 | 12.9 | 2.8 | |
| Saxon Gate | 4,036 | 12.8 | 3.3 | |
| Tupsley | 3,075 | 15.8 | 3.9 | |
| Belmont Rural | 3,327 | 16.7 | 6.5 | |
| Eign Hill | 3,580 | 18.4 | 4.9 | |
| Holmer | 3,975 | 19.5 | 6.5 | |
| Kings Acre | 3,122 | 24.5 | 6 | |
| Aylestone Hill | 3,473 | 23.9 | 7.7 | |
| College | 3,733 | 26.3 | 6.4 | |
| Bobblestock | 3,389 | 28 | 9.4 | |
| Backbury | 519 | 26.3 | 11.6 | |
| Dinedor Hill | 1,562 | 34.6 | 10.9 | |
| Greyfriars | 3,875 | 37.9 | 10.9 | |
| Newton Farm | 4,266 | 41.2 | 12.7 | |
| Hinton & Hunderton | 4,381 | 52 | 11.2 | |
| Widemarsh | 2,986 | 50.6 | 15.2 | |
| Red Hill | 4,001 | 62.7 | 17.3 | |
| Central | 3,416 | 234.4 | 54 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 1,059 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 896 | 68% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 749 | 61% violent |
| Car parks | 576 | 36% violent |
| Petrol stations | 544 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 337 | 54% violent |
| Police stations | 200 | 41% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 99 | 39% violent |
| College and university buildings | 49 | 37% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 43 | 47% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Central records 7.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Hereford. 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 Hereford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hereford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Hereford identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 42% of Hereford’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 8% 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. 3,417 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Hereford runs highest on bicycle theft (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.9). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,350 | 38.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 788 | 13 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 698 | 11.5 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 472 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 385 | 6.4 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 337 | 5.6 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 203 | 3.4 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 121 | 2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 117 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 102 | 1.7 | 0.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 88 | 1.5 | 4.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 64 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 42 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 29 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Hereford 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 19 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Hereford’s neighbourhoods rank in England
37% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Hereford’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +16% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -22% (towns its size -2%).
52nd of 121: Hereford among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Braintree Essex | 43,179 | 39.8 | 12.4 | 15.8 | C− |
| 50 | Redditch Worcestershire | 81,634 | 37.7 | 14.6 | 14.9 | C− |
| 51 | Newcastle-under-Lyme Staffordshire | 76,511 | 39.5 | 13.3 | 14.5 | C− |
| 52 | Hereford Herefordshire | 60,471 | 41.7 | 11.1 | 17.4 | C− |
| 53 | Washington Tyne and Wear | 51,318 | 32.7 | 20.4 | 18 | C− |
| 54 | Paignton Devon | 67,509 | 40.2 | 13.7 | 16.3 | C− |
| 55 | Corby Northamptonshire | 68,164 | 41.1 | 13.2 | 16.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 121 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Hereford, and others in Herefordshire.
Three people died in collisions on Hereford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 391 collisions with injuries inside Hereford in five years, in which three people died (2 were pedestrians). 81 people were killed or seriously injured: 24 on foot and 24 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Hereford’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hereford’s own rate (1.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hereford had 26.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 30% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Hereford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hereford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hereford | 60,471 | 41.7 | 11.1 | C− |
| Bartestree | 1,655 | 12.5 | 2.2 | A |
| Clehonger | 1,218 | 21.4 | 6 | B |
| Credenhill | 2,334 | 15.9 | 3.4 | A− |
| Kingstone | 1,500 | 32 | 13.3 | C |
| Weobley | 1,273 | 26.2 | 12.1 | C+ |
| Ewyas Harold | 1,037 | 15.8 | 6.8 | A− |
| Ross-on-Wye | 10,993 | 28.4 | 11 | C+ |
Hereford records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bartestree, 3.4 miles away, records 12.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hereford’s 41.7.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 337 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Hereford’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Hereford 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 Hereford
Is Hereford safe?
Police recorded 41.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hereford’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 18% of UK towns. Among 121 UK towns of 42,000 to 82,000 people, Hereford is 52nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Hereford?
By council ward, Whitecross, Saxon Gate and Tupsley record the least violent and household crime per resident: 12.9, 12.8 and 15.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 234.4 in Central.
Is crime going up in Hereford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 16% and anti-social behaviour fell 22%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Hereford town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 749 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 61% of them violent, and Central ward records 234.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Hereford?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,350 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (698) and criminal damage & arson (472), with 788 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 · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · 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.