Photo: Betty Longbottom · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Aberdare records more violent crime than 90% of UK towns
Violence and property crime split as 46.4 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Measured against the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 23% of them record more crime per resident. The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Aberdare’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #23 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Aberdare
More crime than many places its size
Of 184 UK towns of 26,000 to 51,000 people, Aberdare has the 128th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Pontypridd, Worksop and Yeovil, higher than Stroud, Skelmersdale and Aldershot. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
39% of Aberdare’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 12% 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.
The D for Aberdare, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 6,751 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Aberdare against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Aberdare identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 51% of Aberdare’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” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 6% 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. 2,269 crimes.
39% of Aberdare residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 39% 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.
Aberdare’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Aberdare runs highest on public order (11.9 per 1,000 against 5.4), violence & sexual offences (44.8 per 1,000 against 30.4) and other crime (2.4 per 1,000 against 1.8). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,689 | 44.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 536 | 14.2 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 450 | 11.9 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 304 | 8.1 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 144 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 120 | 3.2 | 6.1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 90 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 89 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 79 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 72 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 32 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 17 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 15 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0 | 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.
Crime in Aberdare 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Aberdare places 128th of 184 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 125 | Stroud Gloucestershire | 26,073 | 38 | 20.2 | 18.1 | D |
| 126 | Skelmersdale Lancashire | 34,921 | 41.5 | 17.2 | 9.9 | D |
| 127 | Aldershot Hampshire | 39,827 | 43 | 15.8 | 17.1 | D |
| 128 | Aberdare Mid Glamorgan | 37,675 | 46.4 | 13.4 | 9.6 | D |
| 129 | Winsford Cheshire | 32,522 | 49.9 | 10.3 | 7.7 | D |
| 130 | Nelson Lancashire | 33,808 | 44.8 | 15.6 | 13.4 | D |
| 131 | Caerphilly Gwent | 33,104 | 42.1 | 18.6 | 12.5 | D |
| 132 | Pontypridd Mid Glamorgan | 31,895 | 46.7 | 14.4 | 16.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 141 | Merthyr Tydfil Mid Glamorgan | 39,542 | 45.6 | 19.1 | 25.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 184 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Aberdare, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Lowest recorded crime in Hirwaun, Penderyn and Rhigos, Aberaman and Aberdare West and Llwydcoed; highest in Aberdare East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hirwaun, Penderyn and Rhigos | 4,394 | 37.8 | 9.9 | |
| Aberaman | 9,690 | 38.6 | 12.2 | |
| Aberdare West and Llwydcoed | 9,196 | 40.1 | 11.3 | |
| Pen-y-waun | 2,974 | 47.4 | 13 | |
| Cwmbach | 4,851 | 43.6 | 17 | |
| Aberdare East | 6,570 | 73.6 | 18 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and recreation grounds | 289 | 45% violent |
| Shopping areas | 252 | 44% violent |
| Car parks | 233 | 32% violent |
| Nightclubs | 168 | 45% violent |
| Petrol stations | 114 | 30% drugs, public order & other |
| Supermarkets | 98 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 52 | 79% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 36 | 39% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Aberdare East records 1.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Aberdare. 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 Aberdare. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Aberdare’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -11% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -21% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -10% (towns its size -4%).
Two people died in collisions on Aberdare’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 99 collisions with injuries inside Aberdare in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 27 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 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 Aberdare’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Aberdare’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Aberdare had 14.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Aberdare’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Aberdare
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdare | 37,675 | 46.4 | 13.4 | D |
| Maerdy | 2,843 | 62.4 | 15.6 | D− |
| Ferndale | 4,301 | 31.3 | 13.1 | C |
| Mountain Ash | 13,002 | 48.8 | 12.9 | D |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 39,542 | 45.6 | 19.1 | D |
| Treorchy | 7,645 | 33.6 | 9.1 | C |
| Troedyrhiw and Pentrebach | 3,780 | 47.8 | 15.5 | D |
| Treherbert | 5,427 | 41.9 | 12.6 | C− |
Aberdare records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Ferndale, 3.6 miles away, records 31.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Aberdare’s 46.4.
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 Aberdare 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 Aberdare
Is Aberdare safe?
Police recorded 46.4 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Aberdare’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 12% of UK towns. Among 184 UK towns of 26,000 to 51,000 people, Aberdare is 128th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Aberdare?
By council ward, Hirwaun, Penderyn and Rhigos, Aberaman and Aberdare West and Llwydcoed record the least violent and household crime per resident: 37.8, 38.6 and 40.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 73.6 in Aberdare East.
Is crime going up in Aberdare?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft fell 21% and anti-social behaviour fell 10%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Aberdare town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 168 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 45% of them violent, and Aberdare East ward records 73.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in April.
What is the most common crime in Aberdare?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,689 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (450) and criminal damage & arson (304), with 536 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Aberdare compare with Merthyr Tydfil?
Merthyr Tydfil records 45.6 violent and sexual offences and 19.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Aberdare’s 46.4 and 13.4, 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 · 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.