Photo: Terrence Morgan · CC BY-SA 2.0Maesteg sees more burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident than 82% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally climbed 20% in a year. Police recorded 241 cases of shoplifting in Maesteg in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 13.1 per 1,000 against a typical 6.1. Counting crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades C− for safety: #19 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Out of every 1,000 residents, 36.7 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Maesteg
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 20% more violent crime per resident in Maesteg 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 fell 15% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Maesteg has the 208th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Keynsham, East Ardsley and Leek, higher than Wick, Sleaford and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
28% of Maesteg’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 6% 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 grade: C− for Maesteg
A firm grade. Built on 2,861 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Maesteg against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Maesteg 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 +20% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -15% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -32% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Maesteg runs highest on shoplifting (13.1 per 1,000 against 6.1), public order (11.1 per 1,000 against 5.4) and criminal damage & arson (8.7 per 1,000 against 6.2).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 717 | 39.1 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 246 | 13.4 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 241 | 13.1 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 204 | 11.1 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 159 | 8.7 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 70 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 49 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 44 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 40 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 16 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 15 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 12 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 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.
Police in Maesteg identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 55% of Maesteg’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% 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 7% 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. 948 crimes.
28% of Maesteg residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
6% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 28% 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.
Maesteg’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 Maesteg 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Maesteg places 208th of 308 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Church Village Mid Glamorgan | 14,162 | 16.7 | 5.9 | 6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 148 | Porthcawl Mid Glamorgan | 15,797 | 32.1 | 10.3 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 199 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | 17,209 | 40.1 | 10.7 | 8.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 204 | Pyle Mid Glamorgan | 14,075 | 40.1 | 11.6 | 8.6 | C− |
| 205 | Wick West Sussex | 13,231 | 37.6 | 14.2 | 18.3 | C− |
| 206 | Sleaford Lincolnshire | 18,028 | 41.4 | 10.6 | 17.5 | C− |
| 207 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire | 21,262 | 35.7 | 16.4 | 19 | C− |
| 208 | Maesteg Mid Glamorgan | 18,342 | 36.7 | 15.5 | 17.3 | C− |
| 209 | Heysham Lancashire | 16,593 | 36.7 | 15.6 | 7.3 | C− |
| 210 | Baildon West Yorkshire | 17,056 | 35.8 | 16.5 | 8.2 | C− |
| 211 | Swanley Kent | 17,209 | 35.7 | 16.8 | 16 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Maesteg, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Lowest recorded crime in Llangynwyd, Maesteg West and Maesteg East; highest in Caerau
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llangynwyd | 1,290 | 9.3 | 3.9 | |
| Maesteg West | 5,691 | 36.4 | 14.2 | |
| Maesteg East | 4,696 | 39 | 16.3 | |
| Caerau | 6,665 | 40.3 | 18.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 399 | 73% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 345 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 86 | 45% violent |
| Shopping areas | 82 | 48% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 27 | 44% violent |
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 Maesteg. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Maesteg’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Maesteg’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 38 collisions with injuries inside Maesteg in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 0 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 Maesteg’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Maesteg’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Maesteg’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 22 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Maesteg 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 Maesteg’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Maesteg
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maesteg | 18,342 | 36.7 | 15.5 | C− |
| Pont Rhyd-y-cyff | 1,481 | 20.3 | 9.9 | B |
| Croeserw | 1,294 | 61.8 | 19.3 | D− |
| Blaengarw | 1,779 | 29.4 | 7.3 | C+ |
| Pontycymer | 2,421 | 33 | 7.2 | C+ |
| Bettws | 2,237 | 44 | 6.4 | C− |
| Cwmavon | 4,524 | 30.7 | 6.9 | C+ |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 22 | 8.5 | B− |
Maesteg records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Croeserw records more. Pont Rhyd-y-cyff, 1.9 miles away, records 20.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Maesteg’s 36.7.
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
- 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 Maesteg 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 Maesteg
Is Maesteg safe?
Police recorded 36.7 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Maesteg’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 19% of UK towns. Among 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Maesteg is 208th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Maesteg?
By council ward, Llangynwyd, Maesteg West and Maesteg East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.3, 36.4 and 39 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 40.3 in Caerau.
Is crime going up in Maesteg?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 20%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 15%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 32%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Maesteg?
Violence & sexual offences: 717 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (241) and public order (204), with 246 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Maesteg compare with Port Talbot?
Port Talbot records 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Maesteg’s 36.7 and 15.5, 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.