Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Wath upon Dearne sees more crime per resident than nine in ten UK towns
Violence recorded locally climbed 22% in a year. Scored on crimes police recorded inside Wath upon Dearne’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D for safety: #42 of 63 in South Yorkshire. At 8.9 per 1,000 residents, vehicle crime locally runs well past the 2.8 of a typical town its size (151 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Each year brought 45.6 violent and sexual offences and 19.6 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 Wath upon Dearne
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 22% more violent crime per resident in Wath upon Dearne 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 rose 19% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Wath upon Dearne has the 275th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Abergavenny, Chertsey and Blaydon, higher than Morpeth, Thorne and Goole. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Wath upon Dearne’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 3,315 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wath upon Dearne 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, Wath upon Dearne runs highest on vehicle crime (8.9 per 1,000 against 2.8), burglary (5.5 per 1,000 against 2.4) and other crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 1.8). Drugs and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 847 | 49.9 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 327 | 19.3 | 12.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 151 | 8.9 | 2.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 144 | 8.5 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 136 | 8 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 108 | 6.4 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 93 | 5.5 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 61 | 3.6 | 1.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 54 | 3.2 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 27 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 14 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 12 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 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.
How crime in Wath upon Dearne 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 +22% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +19% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +43% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +24% (towns its size -4%).
Wath upon Dearne is 275th of 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 111 | Chapeltown and High Green South Yorkshire | 22,187 | 24.5 | 12.7 | 12.8 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 114 | Darton South Yorkshire | 15,016 | 25.6 | 12.2 | 5.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 163 | Kirk Sandall and Edenthorpe South Yorkshire | 13,090 | 24.2 | 19.1 | 7.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 185 | Swallownest and Aston South Yorkshire | 14,912 | 31.1 | 15.3 | 7.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 272 | Morpeth Northumberland | 14,419 | 45.3 | 18.4 | 16.8 | D |
| 273 | Thorne South Yorkshire | 12,303 | 44.3 | 19.5 | 13.6 | D |
| 274 | Goole East Riding of Yorkshire | 20,173 | 46.9 | 17.7 | 21.8 | D |
| 275 | Wath upon Dearne South Yorkshire | 16,962 | 45.6 | 19.6 | 9.1 | D |
| 276 | Ripley Derbyshire | 20,191 | 52.3 | 13.8 | 14.1 | D |
| 277 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| 278 | Camborne Cornwall | 20,445 | 50 | 17.1 | 11.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 317 | 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 Wath upon Dearne, and others in South Yorkshire.
Crime in Wath upon Dearne 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 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Wath upon Dearne’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 19% 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.
Wath upon Dearne’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.
Police in Wath upon Dearne identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 77% of Wath upon Dearne’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% 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 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. 1,012 crimes.
Where in Wath upon Dearne police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 243 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 141 | 55% violent |
| Car parks | 141 | 33% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 110 | 33% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 20 | 45% anti-social behaviour |
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 Wath upon Dearne. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on Wath upon Dearne’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 116 collisions with injuries inside Wath upon Dearne in five years, in which two people died. 46 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 2 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 Wath upon Dearne’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wath upon Dearne’s own rate (2.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Wath upon Dearne had 54.2 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 17% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Wath upon Dearne’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wath upon Dearne
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wath upon Dearne | 16,962 | 45.6 | 19.6 | D |
| Brampton | 4,620 | 37.5 | 25.5 | D |
| Bolton upon Dearne | 7,440 | 36.1 | 19.9 | C− |
| Swinton | 15,911 | 41.2 | 16.4 | D |
| Hemingfield | 1,815 | 13.4 | 11.9 | B+ |
| Wombwell | 16,758 | 40.6 | 20.4 | D |
| Rawmarsh | 18,892 | 50 | 23.6 | D |
| Darfield | 7,209 | 38 | 24.4 | D |
Wath upon Dearne records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Rawmarsh records more. Brampton, 1.2 miles away, records 37.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wath upon Dearne’s 45.6.
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 Wath upon Dearne 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 Wath upon Dearne
Is Wath upon Dearne safe?
Police recorded 45.6 violent and sexual offences and 19.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wath upon Dearne’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Wath upon Dearne is 275th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wath upon Dearne?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 22%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 19%, shoplifting and theft rose 43% and anti-social behaviour rose 24%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wath upon Dearne?
Violence & sexual offences: 847 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (151) and criminal damage & arson (144), with 327 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wath upon Dearne compare with Rotherham?
Rotherham records 61.7 violent and sexual offences and 25.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wath upon Dearne’s 45.6 and 19.6, 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.