Photo: Oliver Mills · CC BY-SA 2.0Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Halesowen records less crime per resident than 90%
It has more violent crime than 62% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 80%. On top of that, violent crime was up 7% in a year. Behind the grade sit 27.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Halesowen
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% more violent crime per resident in Halesowen than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 9% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 119 UK towns and cities of 42,000 to 81,000 people, Halesowen has the 19th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Craigavon, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Brentwood, higher than Kingswinford, St Albans and Maidenhead. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Halesowen grades C for safety
A firm grade. Built on 7,573 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Halesowen 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, Halesowen runs highest on vehicle crime (5.7 per 1,000 against 4.9). Drugs and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,554 | 25.9 | 38.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 343 | 5.7 | 4.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 323 | 5.4 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 297 | 4.9 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 215 | 3.6 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 209 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 205 | 3.4 | 7.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 157 | 2.6 | 17.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 80 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 78 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 67 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 50 | 0.8 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 13 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 5 | 0.1 | 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.
How Halesowen’s neighbourhoods rank in England
39% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 3% 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.
Halesowen’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.
Towns its size: Halesowen comes 19th of 119
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | 12.3 | C+ |
| 17 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 25.3 | 15.2 | 21 | C |
| 18 | Maidenhead Berkshire | 67,391 | 27.5 | 13.8 | 11.3 | C |
| 19 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| 20 | Crosby Merseyside | 50,218 | 31.2 | 11.4 | 8.9 | C |
| 21 | Cheshunt Hertfordshire | 43,694 | 29.7 | 13.1 | 21.9 | C |
| 22 | Woking Surrey | 75,655 | 31.9 | 11 | 14.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 90 | Tipton West Midlands | 47,202 | 49.1 | 21.6 | 12 | D |
| 91 | Smethwick West Midlands | 56,343 | 51.1 | 20.1 | 10.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 95 | Oldbury West Midlands | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | 17.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 119 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Halesowen, and others in West Midlands.
How crime in Halesowen has moved
“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 +7% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -9% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -16% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -50% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Halesowen 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 14 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Cradley Heath and Old Hill, Halesowen South and Hayley Green and Cradley South; highest in Belle Vale
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cradley Heath and Old Hill | 586 | 11.4 | 5.1 | |
| Halesowen South | 12,242 | 20.1 | 13.4 | |
| Hayley Green and Cradley South | 11,980 | 21.4 | 13.2 | |
| Halesowen North | 13,360 | 27.8 | 14.8 | |
| Cradley and Wollescote | 7,645 | 28.1 | 15.6 | |
| Belle Vale | 14,290 | 36.3 | 17.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 697 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 472 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 336 | 31% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 202 | 57% violent |
| Petrol stations | 125 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Belle Vale records 1.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Halesowen. 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 Halesowen. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Halesowen’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Halesowen’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% 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 5% 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. 2,554 crimes.
Three people died in collisions on Halesowen’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 287 collisions with injuries inside Halesowen in five years, in which three people died. 61 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 5 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 Halesowen’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Halesowen’s own rate (1.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Halesowen had 20.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 25% 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 Halesowen’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Halesowen
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halesowen | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | C |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | D |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 63.9 | 22.1 | D− |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | D |
| Romsley | 1,153 | 21.7 | 16.5 | C+ |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | C− |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 47.5 | 22.6 | D |
| Stourbridge | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | C− |
Halesowen records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Romsley, 2.8 miles away, records 21.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Halesowen’s 27.2.
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
- 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 Halesowen 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 Halesowen
Is Halesowen safe?
Police recorded 27.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Halesowen’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 31% of UK towns. Among 119 UK towns of 42,000 to 81,000 people, Halesowen is 19th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Halesowen?
By council ward, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, Halesowen South and Hayley Green and Cradley South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.4, 20.1 and 21.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 36.3 in Belle Vale.
Is crime going up in Halesowen?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 9%, shoplifting and theft fell 16% and anti-social behaviour fell 50%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Halesowen?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,554 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (343) and shoplifting (323), with 157 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Halesowen compare with Birmingham?
Birmingham records 62.8 violent and sexual offences and 28.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Halesowen’s 27.2 and 14.9, 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 · 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.