Photo: Chemical Engineer · Public domainFor burglary, vehicle crime and damage, Royston trails 90% of UK towns per resident
Of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 27% record more crime per resident. Measured on crimes police recorded inside Royston’s built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026, it earns a Safety Grade of C−: #31 of 63 in South Yorkshire. Recorded violence fell 9% in a year. Typical years here bring 37.5 violent and sexual offences plus 18.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage 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 Royston
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% less violent crime per resident in Royston than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 29% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Royston has the 306th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Cudworth and Shafton, Leominster and Rochford, higher than Rhondda, Radstock and Yeadon. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
67% of Royston’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), 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.
Inside Royston’s C− for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,816 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Royston against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
67% of Royston residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 67% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Royston’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Royston runs highest on other crime (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.8), robbery (1 per 1,000 against 0.5) and anti-social behaviour (23.4 per 1,000 against 12.4). Drugs and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 371 | 34.5 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 252 | 23.4 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 96 | 8.9 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 74 | 6.9 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 46 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 45 | 4.2 | 6.1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 44 | 4.1 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 37 | 3.4 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 23 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 16 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Royston against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 97 | Penistone South Yorkshire | 8,541 | 21.4 | 10.5 | 7.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 101 | Brinsworth South Yorkshire | 8,764 | 18.3 | 13.7 | 7.2 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 186 | Ecclesfield and Grenoside South Yorkshire | 8,187 | 21 | 18.5 | 20.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 220 | Kirk Sandall and Edenthorpe South Yorkshire | 13,090 | 24.2 | 19.1 | 7.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 303 | Rhondda Mid Glamorgan | 13,271 | 42.3 | 13 | 7.4 | C− |
| 304 | Radstock Somerset | 9,983 | 42.2 | 13.9 | 12.9 | C− |
| 305 | Yeadon West Yorkshire | 14,273 | 38.2 | 18 | 22.8 | C− |
| 306 | Royston South Yorkshire | 10,755 | 37.5 | 18.8 | 14.1 | C− |
| 307 | Cinderford Gloucestershire | 8,778 | 44.7 | 11.6 | 10.5 | C− |
| 308 | Runwell Essex | 8,086 | 36.4 | 20 | 10.5 | C− |
| 309 | Great Harwood Lancashire | 11,022 | 39.8 | 17.1 | 11.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 393 | 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 Royston, and others in South Yorkshire.
Crime in Royston 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 15 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.
How crime in Royston has moved
“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 -9% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -29% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -30% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +46% (towns its size -4%).
Police in Royston identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 75% of Royston’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (73% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 7% 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. 629 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Royston’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 38 collisions with injuries inside Royston in five years. 12 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 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 Royston’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Royston’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Royston had 22.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Royston’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Royston
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royston | 10,755 | 37.5 | 18.8 | C− |
| Carlton | 2,125 | 45.3 | 27.9 | D |
| Cudworth and Shafton | 12,472 | 38.4 | 18.8 | D |
| Havercroft and Ryhill | 5,204 | 43.8 | 14.4 | D |
| South Hiendley | 1,750 | 26.9 | 11.8 | C+ |
| Darton | 15,016 | 25.6 | 12.2 | C+ |
| Brierley | 2,714 | 22.1 | 15.6 | C+ |
| Barnsley | 71,394 | 61 | 30.5 | D− |
Royston records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. South Hiendley, 2.6 miles away, records 26.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Royston’s 37.5.
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
- 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 Royston 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 Royston
Is Royston safe?
Police recorded 37.5 violent and sexual offences and 18.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Royston’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 15% of UK towns. Among 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Royston is 306th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Royston?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 29%, shoplifting and theft fell 30% and anti-social behaviour rose 46%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Royston?
Violence & sexual offences: 371 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (96) and public order (74), with 252 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Royston compare with Barnsley?
Barnsley records 61 violent and sexual offences and 30.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Royston’s 37.5 and 18.8, 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 · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · 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.