Chapel House · Photo: FruitMonkey · CC BY-SA 4.0Set against UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Pontyclun records less crime than 77%
On violence it beats 70% of UK towns, and on burglary, vehicle crime and damage 66%. Violence and property crime split as 17.2 violent and sexual offences and 7.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Recorded violence fell 11% 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 Pontyclun
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% less violent crime per resident in Pontyclun than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 23% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 628 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people, Pontyclun has the 129th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Broadbridge Heath, Haddenham and Portstewart, higher than Wool, Rainford and West Mersea. 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. 50% of Pontyclun’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.
Pontyclun: B+ for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 428 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pontyclun against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Most Pontyclun residents live in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
100% 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.
Pontyclun’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, Pontyclun runs highest on vehicle crime (2.8 per 1,000 against 2) and public order (4.5 per 1,000 against 3.6). Violence & sexual offences and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 92 | 15.9 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 40 | 6.9 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 26 | 4.5 | 3.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 16 | 2.8 | 2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 15 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 13 | 2.2 | 4.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 7 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 7 | 1.2 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 7 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
“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.
Pontyclun places 129th of 628 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 126 | Wool Dorset | 5,044 | 19.3 | 5.4 | 4.2 | B+ |
| 127 | Rainford Merseyside | 5,573 | 18.7 | 6 | 3.5 | B+ |
| 128 | West Mersea Essex | 7,071 | 18.6 | 6.1 | 5.5 | B+ |
| 129 | Pontyclun Mid Glamorgan | 5,801 | 17.2 | 7.5 | 6.1 | B+ |
| 130 | Bramley Hampshire | 4,730 | 18.5 | 6.3 | 2.4 | B+ |
| 131 | Stokenchurch Buckinghamshire | 4,351 | 17.5 | 7.4 | 4.8 | B+ |
| 132 | Wroughton Wiltshire | 7,276 | 17 | 7.8 | 4.6 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 356 | Treharris Mid Glamorgan | 5,042 | 24.7 | 11.6 | 6.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 367 | Ynysybwl Mid Glamorgan | 4,580 | 28.1 | 8.7 | 3.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 407 | Beddau Mid Glamorgan | 7,356 | 31.2 | 8.7 | 6.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 442 | Treorchy Mid Glamorgan | 7,645 | 33.6 | 9.1 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 628 | 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 Pontyclun, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
How crime in Pontyclun has moved
“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 -11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -23% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -38% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +8% (towns its size +0%).
Police in Pontyclun identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 64% of Pontyclun’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 6% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% 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. 130 crimes.
Crime in Pontyclun 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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 4 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Pontyclun East, Pontyclun West and Pontyclun Central; highest in Pontyclun Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontyclun East | 2,153 | 9.1 | 4.2 | |
| Pontyclun West | 1,635 | 13.9 | 6.3 | |
| Pontyclun Central | 2,013 | 26.2 | 9.4 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Pontyclun Central records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Pontyclun.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Pontyclun’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.
No one died in a collision on Pontyclun’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 8 collisions with injuries inside Pontyclun in five years. 0 people were killed or seriously injured.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Pontyclun is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Pontyclun’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 5 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Pontyclun had 0.
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 Pontyclun’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pontyclun
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontyclun | 5,801 | 17.2 | 7.5 | B+ |
| Talbot Green | 3,291 | 46.9 | 19.7 | D |
| Llantrisant | 4,196 | 54.4 | 12.7 | D |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 23.7 | 5.4 | B |
| Beddau | 7,356 | 31.2 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Creigiau | 2,304 | 8.5 | 5.4 | A+ |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 27.2 | 6.7 | B− |
| Pentyrch | 2,374 | 15.9 | 5.8 | A− |
Pontyclun records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Creigiau, 2.5 miles away, records 8.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pontyclun’s 17.2.
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 Pontyclun 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 Pontyclun
Is Pontyclun safe?
Police recorded 17.2 violent and sexual offences and 7.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Pontyclun’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 70% of UK towns. Among 628 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people, Pontyclun is 129th from the least crime. 50% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Pontyclun?
By council ward, Pontyclun East, Pontyclun West and Pontyclun Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.1, 13.9 and 26.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 26.2 in Pontyclun Central.
Is crime going up in Pontyclun?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 23%, shoplifting and theft fell 38% and anti-social behaviour rose 8%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Pontyclun?
Violence & sexual offences: 92 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (26) and vehicle crime (16), with 40 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Pontyclun compare with Pontypridd?
Pontypridd records 46.7 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Pontyclun’s 17.2 and 7.5, 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.