Photo: Brian Clift · CC BY-SA 2.0Cradley Heath records more crime per resident than 94% of UK towns
On crimes police recorded inside Cradley Heath’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D for safety: #23 of 35 in West Midlands. The typical town its size sees 0.7 cases of possession of weapons per 1,000 residents; Cradley Heath sees 2.8, or 53 in the 12 months to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 10% in a year. Each year brought 52.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.2 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 Cradley Heath
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% more violent crime per resident in Cradley Heath 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 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 grade: D for Cradley Heath
A firm grade. Built on 4,092 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Cradley Heath 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, Cradley Heath runs highest on possession of weapons (2.8 per 1,000 against 0.7), robbery (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.5) and vehicle crime (6.7 per 1,000 against 2.8). Shoplifting and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 918 | 48.8 | 30.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 160 | 8.5 | 6.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 127 | 6.7 | 2.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 113 | 6 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 91 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 82 | 4.4 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 73 | 3.9 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 70 | 3.7 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 53 | 2.8 | 0.7 |
| Drugs | not graded | 49 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 37 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 32 | 1.7 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 7 | 0.4 | 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 Cradley Heath compares with UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Streetly West Midlands | 16,790 | 11.2 | 9 | 5.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Knowle and Dorridge West Midlands | 19,323 | 15.1 | 12 | 7.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 149 | Aldridge West Midlands | 15,827 | 24 | 18.4 | 15.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 274 | Brownhills West Midlands | 21,238 | 44.3 | 24.7 | 20.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 279 | Bacup Lancashire | 13,559 | 48.4 | 23 | 14.9 | D |
| 280 | Penzance Cornwall | 14,957 | 53 | 18.7 | 19.3 | D |
| 281 | Truro Cornwall | 23,060 | 56.3 | 16.3 | 22.4 | D |
| 282 | Cradley Heath West Midlands | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | 11.8 | D |
| 283 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock Essex | 23,589 | 39.9 | 33.1 | 44.4 | D |
| 284 | Rawmarsh South Yorkshire | 18,892 | 50 | 23.6 | 30.6 | D |
| 285 | Aberystwyth Dyfed | 14,646 | 57.8 | 16.6 | 16.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Cradley Heath, and others in West Midlands.
Crime in Cradley Heath 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 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Cradley Heath identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 59% of Cradley Heath’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” (74% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 1,439 crimes.
How crime in Cradley Heath 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 +10% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -6% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -33% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -49% (towns its size -4%).
How Cradley Heath’s neighbourhoods rank in England
4% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 25% 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.
Cradley Heath’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Rowley, Blackheath and Cradley Heath and Old Hill
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowley | 1,876 | 35 | 16.3 | |
| Blackheath | 2,565 | 42.2 | 15.6 | |
| Cradley Heath and Old Hill | 14,378 | 56.1 | 21.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 486 | 46% violent |
| Shopping areas | 212 | 32% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 110 | 39% violent |
| Petrol stations | 75 | 81% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 37 | 62% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Cradley Heath. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Cradley Heath’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Cradley Heath’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 144 collisions with injuries inside Cradley Heath in five years, in which one person died. 34 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 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 Cradley Heath’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Cradley Heath’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Cradley Heath had 36.1 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). 44% 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 Cradley Heath’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Cradley Heath
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | D |
| Halesowen | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | C |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 63.9 | 22.1 | D− |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | C− |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 47.5 | 22.6 | D |
| Dudley | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | D− |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | D |
| Stourbridge | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | C− |
Cradley Heath records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Blackheath and Dudley record more. Halesowen, 1.3 miles away, records 27.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Cradley Heath’s 52.5.
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 Cradley Heath 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 Cradley Heath
Is Cradley Heath safe?
Police recorded 52.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Cradley Heath’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Cradley Heath has less crime per resident than 10%.
What are the safest areas of Cradley Heath?
By council ward, Rowley, Blackheath and Cradley Heath and Old Hill record the least violent and household crime per resident: 35, 42.2 and 56.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 56.1 in Cradley Heath and Old Hill.
Is crime going up in Cradley Heath?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 6%, shoplifting and theft fell 33% and anti-social behaviour fell 49%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Cradley Heath?
Violence & sexual offences: 918 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (160) and vehicle crime (127), with 82 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Cradley Heath compare with West Bromwich?
West Bromwich records 54.4 violent and sexual offences and 24.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Cradley Heath’s 52.5 and 20.2, 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 · 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.