Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Pencoed records public order at 2.4 times the rate of a typical town its size
Pencoed’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#7 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. More crime per resident is recorded in 40% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Police counts work out at 28.3 violent and sexual offences and 8.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Pencoed
About the middle for a town its size
Of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Pencoed has the 235th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Ledbury, Barrow upon Soar and Whitwick, higher than Grove, Shelf and Northowram and Shifnal. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Wales
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 ranks every neighbourhood in Wales on community safety. 42% of Pencoed’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Pencoed’s C+
A firm grade. Built on 1,004 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pencoed against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A third of Pencoed residents live in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
68% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Pencoed’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, Pencoed runs highest on public order (8.4 per 1,000 against 3.6), shoplifting (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.8) and other crime (1.9 per 1,000 against 1.5). Criminal damage & arson and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 250 | 27.4 | 22.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 77 | 8.4 | 3.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 68 | 7.5 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 29 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 28 | 3.1 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 23 | 2.5 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 19 | 2.1 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 17 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 10 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 5 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -45% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +15% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -17% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Pencoed 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 6 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.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Pencoed’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 0% 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. 348 crimes.
235th of 487: Pencoed among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 198 | Llanharan and Brynna Mid Glamorgan | 8,106 | 27.2 | 6.7 | 3.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 232 | Grove Oxfordshire | 7,942 | 29.6 | 7.1 | 7.6 | C+ |
| 233 | Shelf and Northowram West Yorkshire | 9,191 | 21.4 | 15.3 | 7.5 | C+ |
| 234 | Shifnal Shropshire | 8,973 | 27.9 | 9 | 9.9 | C+ |
| 235 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | 5.9 | C+ |
| 236 | Great Dunmow Essex | 10,395 | 24 | 13 | 6.8 | C+ |
| 237 | Penkridge Staffordshire | 8,364 | 27.5 | 9.8 | 6.9 | C+ |
| 238 | Richmond North Yorkshire | 8,076 | 29 | 8.4 | 5.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 273 | Beddau Mid Glamorgan | 7,356 | 31.2 | 8.7 | 6.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Treorchy Mid Glamorgan | 7,645 | 33.6 | 9.1 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 334 | Sarn Mid Glamorgan | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 487 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Pencoed, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Where in Pencoed police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and recreation grounds | 114 | 39% violent |
| Supermarkets | 109 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 62 | 48% violent |
| Petrol stations | 27 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
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 Pencoed. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Pencoed’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 12 collisions with injuries inside Pencoed in five years. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Pencoed is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Pencoed’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 8 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Pencoed had 3.
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 Pencoed’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pencoed
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pencoed | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 27.2 | 6.7 | B− |
| Bridgend | 51,751 | 38.1 | 10.4 | C− |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 23.7 | 5.4 | B |
| Sarn | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | C |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 10.3 | 5.1 | A |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 22 | 8.5 | B− |
| Hendreforgan | 2,445 | 43.6 | 8.5 | C− |
Pencoed records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Llanharan and Brynna, 2.3 miles away, records 27.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pencoed’s 28.3.
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 Pencoed 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 Pencoed
Is Pencoed safe?
Police recorded 28.3 violent and sexual offences and 8.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Pencoed’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 41% of UK towns. Among 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Pencoed is 235th from the least crime. 42% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Pencoed?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 45%, shoplifting and theft rose 15% and anti-social behaviour fell 17%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Pencoed?
Violence & sexual offences: 250 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (77) and shoplifting (29), with 68 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Pencoed compare with Bridgend?
Bridgend records 38.1 violent and sexual offences and 10.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Pencoed’s 28.3 and 8.7, 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.