Photo: Victor J Davies · CC BY-SA 1.0Per resident, Pontypridd records more crime than 89% of UK towns
Typical years here bring 46.7 violent and sexual offences plus 14.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here is higher than in 91% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 78%. Add to that, from September 2023 to August 2026, crimes police recorded inside Pontypridd’s built-up area put it at D for safety: #26 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan. Recorded violence rose 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 Pontypridd
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Pontypridd 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 201 UK towns of 22,000 to 43,000 people, Pontypridd has the 154th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Brighouse, Barnstaple and Billingham, higher than Caerphilly, Newquay and Huntingdon. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Pontypridd: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 5,818 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pontypridd 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, Pontypridd runs highest on public order (13.8 per 1,000 against 5.4), shoplifting (11.6 per 1,000 against 6.1) and drugs (3.3 per 1,000 against 1.9).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,452 | 45.5 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 441 | 13.8 | 5.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 370 | 11.6 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 356 | 11.2 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 230 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 170 | 5.3 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 115 | 3.6 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 115 | 3.6 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 104 | 3.3 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 90 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 31 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 28 | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 18 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 7 | 0.2 | 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.
Of 201 towns its size, Pontypridd is 154th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 148 | Aberdare Mid Glamorgan | 37,675 | 46.4 | 13.4 | 9.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 151 | Caerphilly Gwent | 33,104 | 42.1 | 18.6 | 12.5 | D |
| 152 | Newquay Cornwall | 24,543 | 45.9 | 14.8 | 18 | D |
| 153 | Huntingdon Cambridgeshire | 25,603 | 44.6 | 16.4 | 19.9 | D |
| 154 | Pontypridd Mid Glamorgan | 31,895 | 46.7 | 14.4 | 16.5 | D |
| 155 | Heanor Derbyshire | 24,264 | 45.3 | 16 | 14.2 | D |
| 156 | Clifton Nottinghamshire | 22,936 | 43.7 | 18.5 | 21 | D |
| 157 | Ryde Isle of Wight | 24,094 | 50.9 | 11.4 | 13.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 164 | Merthyr Tydfil Mid Glamorgan | 39,542 | 45.6 | 19.1 | 25.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 201 | 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 Pontypridd, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Crime in Pontypridd 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 18 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Pontypridd 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 +11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +0% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +22% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -19% (towns its size -4%).
Police in Pontypridd identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 60% of Pontypridd’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% 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. 2,023 crimes.
How Pontypridd’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
16% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 22% 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.
Pontypridd’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Trallwng, Cilfynydd and Hawthorn and Lower Rhydfelen; highest in Pontypridd Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trallwng | 3,653 | 31.6 | 14.8 | |
| Cilfynydd | 2,653 | 42.3 | 12.9 | |
| Hawthorn and Lower Rhydfelen | 2,306 | 41.6 | 13.7 | |
| Glyn-coch | 2,913 | 43.6 | 12 | |
| Graig and Pontypridd West | 6,177 | 47.3 | 11.5 | |
| Treforest | 4,941 | 44.4 | 18.3 | |
| Upper Rhydfelen and Glyn-taf | 3,614 | 53.7 | 12.4 | |
| Rhydfelen Central | 2,728 | 54 | 14.3 | |
| Pontypridd Town | 2,910 | 60.4 | 17.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 757 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 434 | 35% violent |
| Nightclubs | 345 | 54% violent |
| Car parks | 257 | 40% violent |
| Petrol stations | 204 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 196 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Parks and open spaces | 97 | 33% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 52 | 31% 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 Pontypridd. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Pontypridd’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Pontypridd’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 88 collisions with injuries inside Pontypridd in five years. 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 3 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 Pontypridd’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Pontypridd’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Pontypridd had 11.1 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 Pontypridd’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pontypridd
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontypridd | 31,895 | 46.7 | 14.4 | D |
| Church Village | 14,162 | 16.7 | 5.9 | A− |
| Abertridwr and Senghenydd | 5,639 | 45.1 | 18 | D |
| Ynysybwl | 4,580 | 28.1 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Beddau | 7,356 | 31.2 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Porth | 13,352 | 47.1 | 12.2 | D |
| Abercynon | 6,376 | 39.9 | 13.5 | C− |
| Nelson | 4,235 | 28 | 16.3 | C |
Pontypridd records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Abertridwr and Senghenydd records more. Church Village, 2.4 miles away, records 16.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pontypridd’s 46.7.
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 Pontypridd 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 Pontypridd
Is Pontypridd safe?
Police recorded 46.7 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Pontypridd’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 11% of UK towns. Among 201 UK towns of 22,000 to 43,000 people, Pontypridd is 154th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Pontypridd?
By council ward, Trallwng, Cilfynydd and Hawthorn and Lower Rhydfelen record the least violent and household crime per resident: 31.6, 42.3 and 41.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 60.4 in Pontypridd Town.
Is crime going up in Pontypridd?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 22% and anti-social behaviour fell 19%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Pontypridd town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 345 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 54% of them violent, and Pontypridd Town ward records 60.4 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 September.
What is the most common crime in Pontypridd?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,452 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (441) and shoplifting (370), with 356 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Pontypridd compare with Caerphilly?
Caerphilly records 42.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Pontypridd’s 46.7 and 14.4, 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.