Sardis Independent Chapel and attached schoolroom · Photo: Geni · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Ystradgynlais records more crime than nine in ten UK towns
Drugs: police recorded 22 in Ystradgynlais in the 12 months to August 2026, 5.5 per 1,000 residents against 1 in a typical town its size. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Its letter for safety is D, worked out from crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #4 of 7 in Powys. Year on year, 50.7 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 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 Ystradgynlais
Neighbourhood ranks
28% of Ystradgynlais’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 0% 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.
Ystradgynlais: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 736 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ystradgynlais 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, Ystradgynlais runs highest on drugs (5.5 per 1,000 against 1), criminal damage & arson (14.1 per 1,000 against 4.5) and violence & sexual offences (54.6 per 1,000 against 22.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 220 | 54.6 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 64 | 15.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 57 | 14.1 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 33 | 8.2 | 3.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 22 | 5.5 | 1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 16 | 4 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 14 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 2 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 1 | 0.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3 | 0.7 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.5 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
“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.
Police in Ystradgynlais identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 37% of Ystradgynlais’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 0% 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. 151 crimes.
How Ystradgynlais compares with UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 510 | Blaina Gwent | 4,553 | 43.6 | 23.5 | 7.9 | D |
| 511 | Fishguard Dyfed | 3,422 | 53 | 14.1 | 8.9 | D |
| 512 | Ruabon Clwyd | 3,414 | 48 | 19.3 | 28 | D |
| 513 | Ystradgynlais Powys | 4,032 | 50.7 | 17.2 | 5.4 | D |
| 514 | Pwllheli Gwynedd | 3,622 | 52.7 | 15.2 | 21.5 | D |
| 515 | Easington Lane Tyne and Wear | 4,170 | 40.7 | 27.3 | 10.1 | D |
| 516 | Grassmoor Derbyshire | 3,528 | 55.3 | 14.3 | 4.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 539 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Ystradgynlais, and others in Powys.
Crime in Ystradgynlais 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 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
28% of Ystradgynlais residents live in one of Wales’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 28% 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.
Ystradgynlais’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
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 +5% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +7% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -5% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +19% (towns its size +0%).
No one died in a collision on Ystradgynlais’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 9 collisions with injuries inside Ystradgynlais in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 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 Ystradgynlais is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Ystradgynlais’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Ystradgynlais had 6.
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 Ystradgynlais’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ystradgynlais
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ystradgynlais | 4,032 | 50.7 | 17.2 | D |
| Ystalyfera | 7,831 | 36 | 8.6 | C |
| Seven Sisters | 1,343 | 54.5 | 10.2 | D |
| Cwmllynfell and Ystradowen | 1,354 | 19.5 | 3.9 | B+ |
| Creunant | 1,664 | 25.9 | 5.2 | B− |
| Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen | 2,744 | 33.2 | 7.2 | C |
| Brynamman | 2,636 | 37 | 9.4 | C |
| Resolven | 2,162 | 23.5 | 8.3 | B− |
Ystradgynlais records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Ystalyfera, 1.9 miles away, records 36 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ystradgynlais’s 50.7.
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
- 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 Ystradgynlais 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 Ystradgynlais
Is Ystradgynlais safe?
Police recorded 50.7 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ystradgynlais’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 8% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Ystradgynlais has less crime per resident than 6%.
Is crime going up in Ystradgynlais?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 7%, shoplifting and theft fell 5% and anti-social behaviour rose 19%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ystradgynlais?
Violence & sexual offences: 220 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (57) and public order (33), with 64 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ystradgynlais compare with Neath?
Neath records 39.5 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ystradgynlais’s 50.7 and 17.2, 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.