Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Mountain Ash than in 89% of UK towns
Public order stands out: 12.4 per 1,000 residents in Mountain Ash, against 5.4 in a typical town its size, with 161 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Measured on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026, it earns a Safety Grade of D: #26 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Violence and property crime split as 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.9 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 Mountain Ash
More crime than many places its size
Of 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Mountain Ash has the 335th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Brandon, Horbury and Minehead, higher than Wombwell, Dunscroft and Hatfield and Houghton-le-Spring. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Mountain Ash’s D for safety
A firm grade. Built on 2,401 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Mountain Ash 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, Mountain Ash runs highest on public order (12.4 per 1,000 against 5.4), violence & sexual offences (48.2 per 1,000 against 30.4) and drugs (2.8 per 1,000 against 1.9). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 627 | 48.2 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 161 | 12.4 | 5.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 144 | 11.1 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 105 | 8.1 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 55 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 36 | 2.8 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 34 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 30 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 25 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 16 | 1.2 | 6.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 9 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 6 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 5 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.4 | 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 Mountain Ash identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 55% of Mountain Ash’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 7% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (74% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 775 crimes.
Among 397 towns its size, Mountain Ash ranks 335th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Church Village Mid Glamorgan | 14,162 | 16.7 | 5.9 | 6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 151 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | 5.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 208 | Porthcawl Mid Glamorgan | 15,797 | 32.1 | 10.3 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 250 | Sarn Mid Glamorgan | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 332 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | 16,758 | 40.6 | 20.4 | 6 | D |
| 333 | Dunscroft and Hatfield South Yorkshire | 14,000 | 37.4 | 24.1 | 10.1 | D |
| 334 | Houghton-le-Spring Tyne and Wear | 12,552 | 37 | 24.7 | 18.7 | D |
| 335 | Mountain Ash Mid Glamorgan | 13,002 | 48.8 | 12.9 | 6.5 | D |
| 336 | Ystrad Mynach Gwent | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | 6.2 | D |
| 337 | Bolsover Derbyshire | 11,228 | 42.8 | 19.5 | 13.2 | D |
| 338 | Sandown Isle of Wight | 11,652 | 47.7 | 14.8 | 22.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 397 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Mountain Ash, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Crime in Mountain Ash 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Mountain Ash’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 21% 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.
Mountain Ash’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.
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 +0% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -9% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -7% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -10% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Mountain Ash police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals | 201 | 68% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 58 | 43% violent |
| Car parks | 56 | 41% violent |
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 Mountain Ash. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Mountain Ash’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 32 collisions with injuries inside Mountain Ash in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 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 Mountain Ash’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Mountain Ash’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Mountain Ash’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 15 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Mountain Ash 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 Mountain Ash’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Mountain Ash
Mountain Ash records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Troedyrhiw and Pentrebach records more. Aberfan, 1.7 miles away, records 42.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Mountain Ash’s 48.8.
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 201 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Mountain Ash’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 Mountain Ash 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 Mountain Ash
Is Mountain Ash safe?
Police recorded 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Mountain Ash’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 11% of UK towns. Among 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Mountain Ash is 335th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Mountain Ash?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 9%, shoplifting and theft fell 7% and anti-social behaviour fell 10%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Mountain Ash?
Violence & sexual offences: 627 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (161) and criminal damage & arson (105), with 144 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Mountain Ash 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 Mountain Ash’s 48.8 and 12.9, 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.