Photo: Brian Clift · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Dudley records more crime than 98% of UK towns
For every 1,000 residents, 61.2 violent and sexual offences and 27.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year. Violent crime barely moved in a year. Measured on crimes police recorded inside Dudley’s built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026, it earns a Safety Grade of D−: #32 of 35 in West Midlands. Possession of weapons stands out: 3.2 per 1,000 residents here, against 1.1 in a typical town its size, with 208 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Dudley
Neighbourhood ranks
41% of Dudley’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 2% 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.
The D− for Dudley, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 17,011 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dudley 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, Dudley runs highest on possession of weapons (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.1), vehicle crime (9.3 per 1,000 against 4.9) and burglary (5.4 per 1,000 against 3.4). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,667 | 57 | 38.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 720 | 11.2 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 713 | 11.1 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 595 | 9.3 | 4.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 534 | 8.3 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 444 | 6.9 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 345 | 5.4 | 3.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 256 | 4 | 17.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 219 | 3.4 | 3.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 208 | 3.2 | 1.1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 174 | 2.7 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 137 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 56 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 19 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
41% of Dudley residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
2% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 41% 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.
Dudley’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.
How Dudley compares with UK towns of 45,000 to 87,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | 12.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 31 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 83 | Tipton West Midlands | 47,202 | 49.1 | 21.6 | 12 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 103 | Canterbury Kent | 55,107 | 61.9 | 23.2 | 37.8 | D− |
| 104 | Dewsbury West Yorkshire | 63,730 | 63.4 | 22 | 15.7 | D− |
| 105 | Rotherham South Yorkshire | 71,535 | 61.7 | 25.5 | 25.7 | D− |
| 106 | Dudley West Midlands | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | 17.6 | D− |
| 107 | Castleford West Yorkshire | 45,363 | 61.7 | 27.1 | 30.3 | D− |
| 108 | Walsall West Midlands | 70,777 | 62.9 | 26.3 | 27.8 | D− |
| 109 | Barnsley South Yorkshire | 71,394 | 61 | 30.5 | 27.8 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 113 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | 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 Dudley, and others in West Midlands.
Crime in Dudley 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 26 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 19 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 Dudley identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Dudley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% 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 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. 5,790 crimes.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +3% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +0% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +10% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -58% (towns its size -2%).
Lowest recorded crime in Brockmoor and Pensnett, Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood and Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews; highest in St James's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brockmoor and Pensnett | 816 | 31.9 | 12.3 | |
| Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood | 6,815 | 40.5 | 16 | |
| Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews | 14,297 | 51.3 | 21.5 | |
| St Thomas's | 15,483 | 65.7 | 28.5 | |
| Castle and Priory | 12,625 | 64.4 | 33.7 | |
| St James's | 14,241 | 72.2 | 29.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals | 954 | 64% violent |
| Petrol stations | 707 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 655 | 44% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 601 | 45% violent |
| Supermarkets | 586 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 150 | 49% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 80 | 55% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 46 | 35% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 24 | 38% homes & vehicles |
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 Dudley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dudley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Six people died in collisions on Dudley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 618 collisions with injuries inside Dudley in five years, in which six people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 144 people were killed or seriously injured: 40 on foot and 9 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Dudley’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dudley’s own rate (1.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dudley had 44.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 28% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Dudley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dudley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudley | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | D− |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | C− |
| Sedgley | 31,976 | 32 | 19 | C− |
| Coseley | 25,206 | 35.8 | 19.6 | C− |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | D |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 47.5 | 22.6 | D |
| Tipton | 47,202 | 49.1 | 21.6 | D |
| Kingswinford | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | C+ |
Dudley records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Rowley Regis, 2 miles away, records 36.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dudley’s 61.2.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 954 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Dudley’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Dudley 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 Dudley
Is Dudley safe?
Police recorded 61.2 violent and sexual offences and 27 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dudley’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 2% of UK towns. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Dudley has less crime per resident than 7%.
What are the safest areas of Dudley?
By council ward, Brockmoor and Pensnett, Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood and Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews record the least violent and household crime per resident: 31.9, 40.5 and 51.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 72.2 in St James's.
Is crime going up in Dudley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 10% and anti-social behaviour fell 58%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dudley?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,667 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (720) and shoplifting (713), with 256 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Dudley compare with Wolverhampton?
Wolverhampton records 50.6 violent and sexual offences and 21.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Dudley’s 61.2 and 27, 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.