Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Neath sees more violent crime per resident than four in five UK towns
At 11.8 per 1,000 residents, public order in Neath runs well past the 5.4 of a typical town its size (481 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Each year brought 39.5 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Its Safety Grade, C− (#17 of 19 in West Glamorgan), rests on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: more crime per resident than 78% of UK towns.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Neath
One ward carries much of the rate
Neath North ward, where 43% of Neath’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 1,139 of Neath’s 4,809 violent and sexual offences in three years: 99.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Neath the figure is 33. Where in Neath ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 12% more violent crime per resident in Neath 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 161 UK towns of 29,000 to 55,000 people, Neath has the 70th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Macclesfield, Royal Leamington Spa and Sedgley, higher than Eastleigh, Hucknall and Lichfield. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Wales
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 ranks every neighbourhood in Wales on community safety. 13% of Neath’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 17% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Neath’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 6,013 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Neath 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, Neath runs highest on public order (11.8 per 1,000 against 5.4), other crime (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.8) and violence & sexual offences (40.6 per 1,000 against 30.4). Vehicle crime and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,653 | 40.6 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 481 | 11.8 | 5.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 462 | 11.3 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 236 | 5.8 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 199 | 4.9 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 190 | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 104 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 100 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 70 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 51 | 1.3 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 33 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 17 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 11 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.2 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Bryn-coch North, Briton Ferry East and Coedffranc West; highest in Neath North
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryn-coch North | 1,901 | 10.5 | 1.4 | |
| Briton Ferry East | 648 | 13.9 | 3.1 | |
| Coedffranc West | 2,014 | 18.9 | 5.1 | |
| Cimla and Pelenna | 3,695 | 21.4 | 3.7 | |
| Bryn-coch South | 5,409 | 21 | 5.4 | |
| Cadoxton | 1,584 | 23.4 | 4 | |
| Coedffranc North | 2,294 | 27.6 | 10.5 | |
| Neath South | 4,807 | 39.8 | 7.1 | |
| Coedffranc Central | 5,168 | 35.7 | 12 | |
| Dyffryn | 3,292 | 39.9 | 8.8 | |
| Neath East | 6,123 | 57.3 | 15.5 | |
| Neath North | 3,803 | 99.8 | 24.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 338 | 28% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 183 | 43% violent |
| Supermarkets | 168 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 102 | 66% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 30 | 33% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Neath North records 3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Neath. 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 Neath. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Neath’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Neath identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 59% of Neath’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” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 8% 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. 2,058 crimes.
Violent crime up 12% in a year, while towns its size held steady
“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 +12% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -5% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +36% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -33% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Neath 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 9 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.
Among 161 towns its size, Neath ranks 70th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 67 | Eastleigh Hampshire | 48,355 | 37.8 | 10.7 | 12.2 | C− |
| 68 | Hucknall Nottinghamshire | 35,848 | 34.4 | 14.3 | 23.4 | C− |
| 69 | Lichfield Staffordshire | 32,586 | 34.1 | 14.7 | 15.1 | C− |
| 70 | Neath West Glamorgan | 40,738 | 39.5 | 9.9 | 9.1 | C− |
| 71 | Salisbury Wiltshire | 47,690 | 34.3 | 15.1 | 16.4 | C− |
| 72 | Long Eaton Derbyshire | 37,815 | 37.6 | 12.1 | 20.3 | C− |
| 73 | Windsor Berkshire | 31,569 | 34 | 16.3 | 21.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 115 | Port Talbot West Glamorgan | 31,557 | 48.8 | 14.2 | 19.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 161 | Eston North Yorkshire | 29,625 | 62.1 | 42.7 | 27.4 | 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 Neath, and others in West Glamorgan.
1 in 8 Neath residents lives in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
36% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Neath’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.
Two people died in collisions on Neath’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 67 collisions with injuries inside Neath in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 21 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 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 Neath’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Neath’s own rate (1.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Neath had 10.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below 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 Neath’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Neath
Neath records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Tonna, 1.6 miles away, records 22.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Neath’s 39.5.
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 Neath 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 Neath
Is Neath safe?
Police recorded 39.5 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Neath’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 22% of UK towns. Among 161 UK towns of 29,000 to 55,000 people, Neath is 70th from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Neath?
By council ward, Bryn-coch North, Briton Ferry East and Coedffranc West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 10.5, 13.9 and 18.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 99.8 in Neath North.
Is crime going up in Neath?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 12%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 36% and anti-social behaviour fell 33%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Neath?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,653 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (481) and criminal damage & arson (236), with 462 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Neath compare with Swansea?
Swansea records 42.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Neath’s 39.5 and 9.9, 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.