Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Rhondda records more violent crime per head than 87% of UK towns
Each year brought 42.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. For its size, it sits below 29% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people on crime per resident. Rhondda grades C− for safety on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #21 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Rhondda
More crime than many places its size
Of 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Rhondda has the 306th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Yeadon, Royston and Maltby, higher than Queensbury, Aveley and Shanklin. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Rhondda, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,195 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Rhondda 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, Rhondda runs highest on public order (12.6 per 1,000 against 5.4), other crime (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.8) and possession of weapons (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.7). Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 539 | 40.6 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 167 | 12.6 | 5.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 128 | 9.6 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 96 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 59 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 42 | 3.2 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 42 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 28 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 25 | 1.9 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 20 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 14 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 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.
Police in Rhondda identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 50% of Rhondda’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 8% of violent and 10% 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. 728 crimes.
Rhondda against towns its size
| # | 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 |
| … | ||||||
| 303 | Queensbury West Yorkshire | 9,707 | 39.8 | 14.8 | 8.2 | C− |
| 304 | Aveley Essex | 9,364 | 34.6 | 20.4 | 10.7 | C− |
| 305 | Shanklin Isle of Wight | 9,112 | 43.6 | 11.7 | 10.6 | C− |
| 306 | Rhondda Mid Glamorgan | 13,271 | 42.3 | 13 | 7.4 | C− |
| 307 | Louth Lincolnshire | 17,415 | 41.3 | 14.7 | 14.6 | C− |
| 308 | Redruth Cornwall | 15,455 | 43.4 | 12.7 | 11.1 | C− |
| 309 | Radstock Somerset | 9,983 | 42.2 | 13.9 | 12.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 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 Rhondda, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
Crime in Rhondda 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 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Rhondda’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
10% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 11% 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.
Rhondda’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 +1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -15% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -23% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Pentre, Llwyn-y-pia and Ystrad
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentre | 5,301 | 35.3 | 12 | |
| Llwyn-y-pia | 2,895 | 44.6 | 10.5 | |
| Ystrad | 5,075 | 45 | 14.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 301 | 41% violent |
| Supermarkets | 83 | 39% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 42 | 36% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 24 | 71% 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 Rhondda. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Rhondda’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on Rhondda’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 45 collisions with injuries inside Rhondda in five years, in which two people died. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 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 Rhondda’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rhondda’s own rate (3.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Rhondda had 19.5 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 Rhondda’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Rhondda
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhondda | 13,271 | 42.3 | 13 | C− |
| Ferndale | 4,301 | 31.3 | 13.1 | C |
| Tylorstown and Pontygwaith | 3,551 | 46.9 | 13.1 | D |
| Treorchy | 7,645 | 33.6 | 9.1 | C |
| Maerdy | 2,843 | 62.4 | 15.6 | D− |
| Tonypandy | 17,209 | 40.1 | 10.7 | C− |
| Wattstown | 1,105 | 54.3 | 13.3 | D |
| Nant-y-moel | 2,378 | 24.8 | 6.6 | B− |
Rhondda records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Ferndale, 1.7 miles away, records 31.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Rhondda’s 42.3.
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 Rhondda 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 Rhondda
Is Rhondda safe?
Police recorded 42.3 violent and sexual offences and 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Rhondda’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Rhondda is 306th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Rhondda?
By council ward, Pentre, Llwyn-y-pia and Ystrad record the least violent and household crime per resident: 35.3, 44.6 and 45 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 45 in Ystrad.
Is crime going up in Rhondda?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 15%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 23%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Rhondda?
Violence & sexual offences: 539 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (167) and criminal damage & arson (96), with 128 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Rhondda compare with Aberdare?
Aberdare records 46.4 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Rhondda’s 42.3 and 13, 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.