Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Smethwick runs higher than in 93% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. It grades D for safety on crimes police recorded inside Smethwick’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #18 of 35 in West Midlands. Possession of weapons stands out: 2.6 per 1,000 residents in the town, against 1.1 in a typical town its size, with 148 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Behind the grade sit 51.1 violent and sexual offences and 20.1 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 Smethwick
More crime than many places its size
Of 124 UK towns and cities of 39,000 to 76,000 people, Smethwick has the 99th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Blyth, Willenhall and Margate, higher than Barrow-in-Furness, Cwmbrân and Tipton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Smethwick
A firm grade. Built on 12,030 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Smethwick 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, Smethwick runs highest on possession of weapons (2.6 per 1,000 against 1.1), vehicle crime (8.1 per 1,000 against 4.9) and drugs (5 per 1,000 against 3.8). 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 | 2,711 | 48.1 | 38.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 457 | 8.1 | 4.9 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 410 | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 378 | 6.7 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 372 | 6.6 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 284 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 263 | 4.7 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 203 | 3.6 | 17.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 179 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 148 | 2.6 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 94 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 93 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 46 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 13 | 0.2 | 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.
Smethwick places 99th of 124 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | 12.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Rowley Regis West Midlands | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | 7.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 96 | Barrow-in-Furness Cumbria | 55,260 | 54.1 | 15.9 | 13.3 | D |
| 97 | Cwmbrân Gwent | 47,075 | 50.5 | 19.9 | 21.4 | D |
| 98 | Tipton West Midlands | 47,202 | 49.1 | 21.6 | 12 | D |
| 99 | Smethwick West Midlands | 56,343 | 51.1 | 20.1 | 10.7 | D |
| 100 | Taunton Somerset | 61,667 | 56.2 | 15.1 | 24.5 | D |
| 101 | South Shields Tyne and Wear | 73,326 | 49.1 | 22.9 | 26.4 | D |
| 102 | Oldbury West Midlands | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | 17.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 124 | 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 Smethwick, and others in West Midlands.
Crime in Smethwick 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 12 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 Smethwick identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Smethwick’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (72% 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. 4,054 crimes.
How Smethwick’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.
Smethwick’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.
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 +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -7% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +33% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -56% (towns its size -2%).
Lowest recorded crime in Abbey, Bristnall and Smethwick; highest in Soho and Victoria
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey | 9,495 | 30.2 | 20.4 | |
| Bristnall | 1,838 | 40.3 | 14.1 | |
| Smethwick | 14,475 | 42.2 | 17.4 | |
| St Pauls | 10,974 | 57.6 | 17.3 | |
| Soho and Victoria | 19,210 | 63.8 | 23.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 837 | 49% violent |
| Shopping areas | 510 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 119 | 50% violent |
| Petrol stations | 102 | 37% violent |
| Police stations | 86 | 45% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 51 | 35% violent |
| College and university buildings | 21 | 67% 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 Smethwick. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Smethwick’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Four people died in collisions on Smethwick’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 510 collisions with injuries inside Smethwick in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians). 96 people were killed or seriously injured: 45 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 Smethwick’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Smethwick’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Smethwick had 34.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 47% 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 Smethwick’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Smethwick
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smethwick | 56,343 | 51.1 | 20.1 | D |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | D |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 63.9 | 22.1 | D− |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | C− |
| West Bromwich | 103,099 | 54.4 | 24.7 | D− |
| Birmingham | 1,121,367 | 62.8 | 28.5 | D− |
| Halesowen | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | C |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | D |
Smethwick records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Rowley Regis, 3.2 miles away, records 36.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Smethwick’s 51.1.
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 Smethwick 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 Smethwick
Is Smethwick safe?
Police recorded 51.1 violent and sexual offences and 20.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Smethwick’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 7% of UK towns. Among 124 UK towns of 39,000 to 76,000 people, Smethwick is 99th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Smethwick?
By council ward, Abbey, Bristnall and Smethwick record the least violent and household crime per resident: 30.2, 40.3 and 42.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 63.8 in Soho and Victoria.
Is crime going up in Smethwick?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 7%, shoplifting and theft rose 33% and anti-social behaviour fell 56%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Smethwick?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,711 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (457) and criminal damage & arson (410), with 203 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Smethwick 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 Smethwick’s 51.1 and 20.1, 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.