Photo: Martin Richard Phelan · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Walsall than in 98% of UK towns
Its letter for safety is D−, worked out from crimes police recorded inside Walsall’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #32 of 35 in West Midlands. Violent crime was up 10% in a year. Possession of weapons stands out: 3.2 per 1,000 residents locally, against 1.1 in a typical town its size, with 230 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Out of every 1,000 residents, 62.9 violent and sexual offences and 26.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Walsall
One ward carries much of the rate
Birchills Leamore ward, where 41% of Walsall’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 3,293 of Walsall’s 13,327 violent and sexual offences in three years: 197.6 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Walsall the figure is 51.3. Where in Walsall ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% more violent crime per resident in Walsall 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 rose 26% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
38% of Walsall’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 11% 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 Walsall, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 18,898 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Walsall 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, Walsall runs highest on possession of weapons (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.1), theft from the person (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.7) and vehicle crime (11.8 per 1,000 against 4.9). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,070 | 57.5 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,293 | 18.3 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 835 | 11.8 | 4.9 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 723 | 10.2 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 646 | 9.1 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 615 | 8.7 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 506 | 7.1 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 420 | 5.9 | 3.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 300 | 4.2 | 17.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 230 | 3.2 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 203 | 2.9 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 174 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 115 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 37 | 0.5 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Blakenall, Paddock and Pheasey Park Farm; highest in Birchills Leamore
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blakenall | 1,386 | 21.4 | 10.3 | |
| Paddock | 13,202 | 22.9 | 13 | |
| Pheasey Park Farm | 1,672 | 24.9 | 11.6 | |
| Palfrey | 16,406 | 39.1 | 17.3 | |
| St Matthew's | 16,391 | 71.6 | 29.7 | |
| Pleck | 16,164 | 71.5 | 31.4 | |
| Birchills Leamore | 5,556 | 197.6 | 67.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 2,300 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,650 | 43% violent |
| Shopping areas | 996 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 714 | 59% violent |
| Nightclubs | 541 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 530 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 309 | 49% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 162 | 54% violent |
| College and university buildings | 156 | 42% violent |
| Police stations | 70 | 53% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Birchills Leamore records 3.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Walsall. 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 Walsall. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Walsall’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Walsall compares with UK towns of 50,000 to 96,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | 12.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Royal Sutton Coldfield West Midlands | 93,392 | 26.6 | 17.5 | 17.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 99 | Rotherham South Yorkshire | 71,535 | 61.7 | 25.5 | 25.7 | D− |
| 100 | Preston Lancashire | 94,502 | 60.8 | 26.8 | 27.7 | D− |
| 101 | Dudley West Midlands | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | 17.6 | D− |
| 102 | Walsall West Midlands | 70,777 | 62.9 | 26.3 | 27.8 | D− |
| 103 | Barnsley South Yorkshire | 71,394 | 61 | 30.5 | 27.8 | D− |
| 104 | Hartlepool County Durham | 88,001 | 63.1 | 28.5 | 34.9 | D− |
| 105 | Stockton-on-Tees County Durham | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | 26.9 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 108 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Walsall, and others in West Midlands.
38% of Walsall residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
11% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 38% 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.
Walsall’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.
Crime in Walsall 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 28 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 29 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Walsall 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 +10% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +26% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -64% (towns its size -2%).
Police in Walsall identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Walsall’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 19% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% 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. 6,746 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Walsall’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 600 collisions with injuries inside Walsall in five years, in which four people died (1 was a pedestrian). 110 people were killed or seriously injured: 36 on foot and 8 on a bicycle. One person was killed on a motorway.
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 Walsall’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Walsall’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Walsall had 31.1 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). 33% 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 Walsall’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Walsall
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walsall | 70,777 | 62.9 | 26.3 | D− |
| Wednesbury | 20,321 | 51.6 | 30.8 | D− |
| Darlaston | 21,541 | 53.7 | 25.5 | D− |
| Rushall and Shelfield | 12,844 | 32.5 | 19.4 | C− |
| Bloxwich | 51,891 | 52.3 | 25.8 | D− |
| Willenhall | 49,582 | 44.1 | 28.8 | D |
| West Bromwich | 103,099 | 54.4 | 24.7 | D− |
| Aldridge | 15,827 | 24 | 18.4 | C |
Walsall records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Wednesbury, 2 miles away, records 51.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Walsall’s 62.9.
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 714 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Walsall’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 Walsall 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 Walsall
Is Walsall safe?
Police recorded 62.9 violent and sexual offences and 26.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Walsall’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, Walsall has less crime per resident than 6%.
What are the safest areas of Walsall?
By council ward, Blakenall, Paddock and Pheasey Park Farm record the least violent and household crime per resident: 21.4, 22.9 and 24.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 197.6 in Birchills Leamore.
Is crime going up in Walsall?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 26%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 64%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Walsall town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 541 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 33% of them violent, and Birchills Leamore ward records 197.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Walsall?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,070 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,293) and vehicle crime (835), with 300 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Walsall 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 Walsall’s 62.9 and 26.3, 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.