Photo: Robert Eva · CC BY-SA 2.0Hatfield has more crime per resident than nine in ten UK towns
Each year brought 47.2 violent and sexual offences and 19.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. With 109 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, bicycle theft reaches 2.6 per 1,000 residents in Hatfield, well above the typical 0.3. Graded on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores D for safety. By contrast, violent crime was down 6% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hatfield
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% less violent crime per resident in Hatfield 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 165 UK towns of 29,000 to 56,000 people, Hatfield has the 125th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Wellingborough, Boston and Jarrow, higher than Northfleet, Pontypool and King's Lynn. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Hatfield
A firm grade. Built on 8,273 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hatfield 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, Hatfield runs highest on bicycle theft (2.6 per 1,000 against 0.3), theft from the person (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.3) and robbery (2.2 per 1,000 against 0.5).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,877 | 45.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 998 | 24 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 367 | 8.8 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 346 | 8.3 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 345 | 8.3 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 299 | 7.2 | 2.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 297 | 7.1 | 5.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 289 | 7 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 151 | 3.6 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 118 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 109 | 2.6 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 91 | 2.2 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 66 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 50 | 1.2 | 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.
Of 165 towns its size, Hatfield is 125th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| 2 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 13.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Hitchin Hertfordshire | 35,220 | 24.7 | 10.2 | 13.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 44 | Bishop's Stortford Hertfordshire | 40,916 | 28.6 | 13.8 | 15.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 46 | Cheshunt Hertfordshire | 43,694 | 29.7 | 13.1 | 21.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 122 | Northfleet Kent | 29,892 | 45 | 20.6 | 15.5 | D |
| 123 | Pontypool Gwent | 29,070 | 47 | 18.7 | 10.5 | D |
| 124 | King's Lynn Norfolk | 47,604 | 51.4 | 14.7 | 23.1 | D |
| 125 | Hatfield Hertfordshire | 41,561 | 47.2 | 19.4 | 20.7 | D |
| 126 | Folkestone Kent | 51,987 | 49.7 | 17.2 | 22 | D |
| 127 | Morley West Yorkshire | 32,562 | 46.9 | 20.3 | 20.8 | D |
| 128 | Batley West Yorkshire | 44,494 | 48.3 | 19.3 | 15.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 165 | Eston North Yorkshire | 29,625 | 62.1 | 42.7 | 27.4 | 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 Hatfield, and others in Hertfordshire.
Crime in Hatfield 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 19 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.
How Hatfield’s neighbourhoods rank in England
18% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 23% 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.
Hatfield’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Hatfield South West, Welham Green and Hatfield South and Hatfield East; highest in Hatfield Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield South West | 11,399 | 34.5 | 12.2 | |
| Welham Green and Hatfield South | 3,688 | 37 | 16.6 | |
| Hatfield East | 8,109 | 38.1 | 17.4 | |
| Hatfield Villages | 10,048 | 48.2 | 19.1 | |
| Hatfield Central | 8,317 | 74.4 | 30.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,240 | 32% anti-social behaviour |
| Supermarkets | 1,002 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 572 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 538 | 40% violent |
| Petrol stations | 278 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 151 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 89 | 45% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 71 | 45% anti-social behaviour |
| Hospitals | 40 | 38% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Hatfield Central records 1.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Hatfield. 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 Hatfield. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hatfield’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Hatfield 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 -6% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +2% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 71% of Hatfield’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% 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 11% of violent and 5% 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. 2,505 crimes.
Three people died in collisions on Hatfield’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 214 collisions with injuries inside Hatfield in five years, in which three people died (1 was a cyclist). 50 people were killed or seriously injured: 10 on foot and 11 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 Hatfield’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hatfield’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hatfield had 24.1 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). 20% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Hatfield’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hatfield
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatfield | 41,561 | 47.2 | 19.4 | D |
| Colney Heath | 1,059 | 21.1 | 16.7 | C+ |
| Welham Green | 2,962 | 19 | 18.1 | C+ |
| Welwyn Garden City | 51,504 | 32.8 | 14.5 | C |
| Brookmans Park | 4,033 | 20.1 | 9.4 | B |
| Sandridge | 1,457 | 30.7 | 14.2 | C |
| London Colney | 7,932 | 33.7 | 17.9 | C− |
| St Albans | 75,544 | 25.3 | 15.2 | C |
Hatfield records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Colney Heath, 1.7 miles away, records 21.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hatfield’s 47.2.
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 Hatfield 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 Hatfield
Is Hatfield safe?
Police recorded 47.2 violent and sexual offences and 19.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hatfield’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 165 UK towns of 29,000 to 56,000 people, Hatfield is 125th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Hatfield?
By council ward, Hatfield South West, Welham Green and Hatfield South and Hatfield East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 34.5, 37 and 38.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 74.4 in Hatfield Central.
Is crime going up in Hatfield?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hatfield?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,877 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (367) and criminal damage & arson (346), with 998 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hatfield compare with St Albans?
St Albans records 25.3 violent and sexual offences and 15.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hatfield’s 47.2 and 19.4, 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 · 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.