Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0Welshpool has more crime per resident than 97% of UK towns
For its size, it sits below 3% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people on crime per resident. Add to that, on crimes police recorded inside Welshpool’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D− for safety: #5 of 7 in Powys. Each year brought 66.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Welshpool
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% less violent crime per resident in Welshpool 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 rose 6% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D− for Welshpool, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 1,216 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Welshpool 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, Welshpool runs highest on shoplifting (9.2 per 1,000 against 1.8), public order (11.9 per 1,000 against 3.6) and drugs (3.5 per 1,000 against 1).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 337 | 61.7 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 72 | 13.2 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 65 | 11.9 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 52 | 9.5 | 4.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 50 | 9.2 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 34 | 6.2 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 24 | 4.4 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 22 | 4 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 19 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 13 | 2.4 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.5 | 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.
How Welshpool compares with UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 481 | Ystradgynlais Powys | 4,032 | 50.7 | 17.2 | 5.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 497 | Grimethorpe South Yorkshire | 5,065 | 47.8 | 31.7 | 10 | D− |
| 498 | Blaenavon Gwent | 5,637 | 58.2 | 23.5 | 5.3 | D− |
| 499 | Easington County Durham | 6,968 | 54.5 | 27.5 | 43.6 | D− |
| 500 | Welshpool Powys | 5,460 | 66.5 | 16.2 | 16.5 | D− |
| 501 | Stone Kent | 6,438 | 54.7 | 28.2 | 236.2 | D− |
| 502 | Brynmawr Gwent | 5,250 | 56 | 27.3 | 13.5 | D− |
| 503 | Chilton County Durham | 4,693 | 52.8 | 32.6 | 24.5 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 512 | Llandrindod Wells Powys | 5,429 | 78 | 20.7 | 15.9 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 Welshpool, and others in Powys.
Police in Welshpool identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 55% of Welshpool’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 323 crimes.
Crime in Welshpool 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 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Welshpool’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
17% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 23% 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.
Welshpool’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 down 7% in a year, while towns its size held steady
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 -7% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +6% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +11% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -22% (towns its size +0%).
Lowest recorded crime in Welshpool Gungrog, Welshpool Llanerchyddol and Welshpool Castle; highest in Welshpool Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welshpool Gungrog | 1,507 | 12.8 | 4.2 | |
| Welshpool Llanerchyddol | 1,651 | 52.3 | 13.5 | |
| Welshpool Castle | 2,302 | 95.7 | 22 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Nightclubs | 74 | 59% violent |
| Car parks | 65 | 38% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 42 | 57% violent |
| Petrol stations | 32 | 50% violent |
| Shopping areas | 29 | 72% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 23 | 35% violent |
| Supermarkets | 22 | 41% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Welshpool Castle records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Welshpool. 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 Welshpool. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Welshpool’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 Welshpool’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 39 collisions with injuries inside Welshpool in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 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 Welshpool is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Welshpool had 47.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Welshpool’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Welshpool
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welshpool | 5,460 | 66.5 | 16.2 | D− |
| Guilsfield | 1,160 | 14.2 | 3.9 | A |
| Four Crosses | 1,469 | 10.2 | 1.8 | A+ |
| Llanymynech | 1,040 | 20.9 | 6.1 | B |
| Llanfyllin | 1,118 | 46.3 | 10.1 | C− |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 27 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Pant | 1,173 | 13.2 | 4.4 | A |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 25.4 | 5.4 | B− |
Welshpool records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Guilsfield, 2.5 miles away, records 14.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Welshpool’s 66.5.
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 Welshpool 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 Welshpool
Is Welshpool safe?
Police recorded 66.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Welshpool’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 3% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Welshpool has less crime per resident than 3%.
What are the safest areas of Welshpool?
By council ward, Welshpool Gungrog, Welshpool Llanerchyddol and Welshpool Castle record the least violent and household crime per resident: 12.8, 52.3 and 95.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 95.7 in Welshpool Castle.
Is crime going up in Welshpool?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 6%, shoplifting and theft rose 11% and anti-social behaviour fell 22%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Welshpool town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 74 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 59% of them violent, and Welshpool Castle ward records 95.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in May and was lowest in November.
What is the most common crime in Welshpool?
Violence & sexual offences: 337 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (65) and criminal damage & arson (52), with 72 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Welshpool compare with Shrewsbury?
Shrewsbury records 37.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Welshpool’s 66.5 and 16.2, 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.