Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Brecon records more crime than 90% of UK towns
That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside Brecon’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #3 of 7 in Powys. Per 1,000 residents a year, 47.9 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. With 41 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, drugs reaches 5 per 1,000 residents here, well above the typical 1. Violent crime barely moved 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 Brecon
More crime than many places its size
Of 430 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000 people, Brecon has the 384th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Filton, North Wingfield and Holmewood and Pembroke, higher than Darfield, Brandon and Horbury. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
35% of Brecon’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 21% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Brecon’s D for safety
A firm grade. Built on 1,404 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Brecon 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, Brecon runs highest on drugs (5 per 1,000 against 1), possession of weapons (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.4) and criminal damage & arson (11.3 per 1,000 against 4.5).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 369 | 44.7 | 22.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 93 | 11.3 | 4.5 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 88 | 10.7 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 69 | 8.4 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 42 | 5.1 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 41 | 5 | 1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 32 | 3.9 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 27 | 3.3 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 21 | 2.5 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 18 | 2.2 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 10 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.4 | 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.
Brecon places 384th of 430 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 381 | Darfield South Yorkshire | 7,209 | 38 | 24.4 | 7.4 | D |
| 382 | Brandon County Durham | 9,508 | 43.5 | 19 | 9.6 | D |
| 383 | Horbury West Yorkshire | 9,868 | 47.3 | 15.3 | 9.2 | D |
| 384 | Brecon Powys | 8,257 | 47.9 | 14.9 | 10.2 | D |
| 385 | Rishton Lancashire | 6,653 | 43.9 | 19.5 | 6.2 | D |
| 386 | Chadwell St Mary Essex | 10,680 | 39.5 | 24.1 | 7.3 | D |
| 387 | Abersychan Gwent | 7,495 | 45 | 19.5 | 6.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 427 | Newtown Powys | 10,882 | 83.1 | 22.6 | 17.3 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 430 | 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 Brecon, and others in Powys.
35% of Brecon residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
21% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 35% 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.
Brecon’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.
Police in Brecon identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Brecon’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” (57% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 17% of violent and 4% 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. 361 crimes.
Crime in Brecon 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 18 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
Dyfed Powys Police published four months short or not at all (Jan 2024, Feb 2024, Mar 2024 and Apr 2024), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +25% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -16% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +57% (towns its size +0%).
Where in Brecon police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 157 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 50 | 44% violent |
| Shopping areas | 21 | 38% homes & vehicles |
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 Brecon. 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 Brecon’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 22 collisions with injuries inside Brecon in five years. 9 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 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 Brecon is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Brecon’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 7 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Brecon had 9.
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 Brecon’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Brecon
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brecon | 8,257 | 47.9 | 14.9 | D |
| Talgarth | 1,252 | 26.7 | 10.5 | C+ |
| Llangynidr | 1,038 | 15.2 | 5.8 | A− |
Brecon records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Talgarth, 7.4 miles away, records 26.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Brecon’s 47.9.
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
- Some months are short. Dyfed Powys Police published January 2024, February 2024, March 2024 and April 2024 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Brecon 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 Brecon
Is Brecon safe?
Police recorded 47.9 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Brecon’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 430 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000 people, Brecon is 384th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Brecon?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 25%, shoplifting and theft fell 16% and anti-social behaviour rose 57%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Brecon?
Violence & sexual offences: 369 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (93) and public order (69), with 88 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Brecon compare with Merthyr Tydfil?
Merthyr Tydfil records 45.6 violent and sexual offences and 19.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Brecon’s 47.9 and 14.9, 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.