Photo: Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0Sarn sees more violent crime per resident than four in five UK towns
Its letter overall is C (#14 of 32 in Mid Glamorgan): more crime per resident than 74% of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Measured against the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 47% of them record more crime per resident. Out of every 1,000 residents, 37.0 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Sarn
More crime than many places its size
Of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Sarn has the 270th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Pontllanfraith, Ludlow and Stoke Gifford, higher than Strabane, Lydney and Killingworth. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Sarn: C for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,645 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Sarn against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Sarn’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
16% 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.
Sarn’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, Sarn runs highest on public order (10.8 per 1,000 against 5.4), other crime (2.7 per 1,000 against 1.8) and drugs (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.9). Shoplifting and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 451 | 38 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 128 | 10.8 | 5.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 115 | 9.7 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 61 | 5.1 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 42 | 3.5 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 39 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 32 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 30 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 22 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 14 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 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 Sarn identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Sarn’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 12% of violent and 5% 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. 533 crimes.
Crime in Sarn 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 8 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.
Sarn is 270th of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Church Village Mid Glamorgan | 14,162 | 16.7 | 5.9 | 6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 137 | Llanharan and Brynna Mid Glamorgan | 8,106 | 27.2 | 6.7 | 3.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 170 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | 5.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 229 | Porthcawl Mid Glamorgan | 15,797 | 32.1 | 10.3 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 267 | Strabane Derry City and Strabane | 13,507 | 35.1 | 10.7 | 9.2 | C |
| 268 | Lydney Gloucestershire | 9,655 | 36.4 | 9.6 | 9 | C |
| 269 | Killingworth Tyne and Wear | 12,180 | 30.2 | 16.1 | 20.9 | C |
| 270 | Sarn Mid Glamorgan | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | 9.2 | C |
| 271 | Sileby Leicestershire | 8,954 | 32.3 | 14.1 | 7.7 | C |
| 272 | Swallownest and Aston South Yorkshire | 14,912 | 31.1 | 15.3 | 7.8 | C |
| 273 | Kidsgrove Staffordshire | 15,598 | 36 | 10.5 | 8.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 428 | 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 Sarn, and others in Mid Glamorgan.
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 +1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -15% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -27% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Sarn police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and recreation grounds | 239 | 58% violent |
| Supermarkets | 113 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 93 | 52% 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 Sarn. 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 Sarn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 15 collisions with injuries inside Sarn in five years. 4 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 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 Sarn’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sarn’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Sarn’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 14 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Sarn had 4.
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 Sarn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Sarn
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarn | 11,867 | 37 | 9.4 | C |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 10.3 | 5.1 | A |
| Bettws | 2,237 | 44 | 6.4 | C− |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 22 | 8.5 | B− |
| Bridgend | 51,751 | 38.1 | 10.4 | C− |
| Cefn Cribwr | 1,379 | 19.6 | 4.1 | B+ |
| Pont Rhyd-y-cyff | 1,481 | 20.3 | 9.9 | B |
| Pencoed | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | C+ |
Sarn records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Bettws and Bridgend record more. Pen-y-fai, 1.2 miles away, records 10.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Sarn’s 37.
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 Sarn 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 Sarn
Is Sarn safe?
Police recorded 37 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Sarn’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 26% of UK towns. Among 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Sarn is 270th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Sarn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 15% and anti-social behaviour fell 27%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Sarn?
Violence & sexual offences: 451 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (128) and criminal damage & arson (61), with 115 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Sarn 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 Sarn’s 37 and 9.4, 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.