Photo: John M · CC BY-SA 2.0Willenhall records more crime per resident than 94% of UK towns
Vehicle crime: police recorded 622 in Willenhall in the 12 months to August 2026, 12.5 per 1,000 residents against 2.8 in a typical town its size. On the record of crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D for safety: #23 of 35 in West Midlands. What’s more, recorded violence rose 15% in a year. The local count comes to 44.1 violent and sexual offences and 28.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Willenhall
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 15% more violent crime per resident in Willenhall 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 rose 21% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 125 UK towns of 35,000 to 67,000 people, Willenhall has the 106th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Scarborough, Bloxwich and Mansfield, higher than Ilkeston, Oldbury and Blyth. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
38% of Willenhall’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 8% 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.
What sits behind Willenhall’s D
A firm grade. Built on 10,849 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Willenhall 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, Willenhall runs highest on vehicle crime (12.5 per 1,000 against 2.8), robbery (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.5) and possession of weapons (1.8 per 1,000 against 0.7). 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 | 2,149 | 43.3 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 630 | 12.7 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 622 | 12.5 | 2.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 621 | 12.5 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 261 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 256 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 251 | 5.1 | 12.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 228 | 4.6 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 119 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 89 | 1.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 78 | 1.6 | 0.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 76 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 19 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 16 | 0.3 | 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.
38% of Willenhall residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
8% 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.
Willenhall’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: Willenhall comes 106th of 125
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 24.8 | 14.3 | 12.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 26 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 46 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Rowley Regis West Midlands | 39,052 | 36.6 | 14.4 | 7.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 103 | Ilkeston Derbyshire | 38,723 | 55 | 17.2 | 17.6 | D |
| 104 | Oldbury West Midlands | 45,188 | 49.6 | 22.7 | 17.9 | D |
| 105 | Blyth Northumberland | 39,731 | 49.3 | 23.2 | 28.1 | D |
| 106 | Willenhall West Midlands | 49,582 | 44.1 | 28.8 | 21.6 | D |
| 107 | Redcar North Yorkshire | 37,666 | 48.8 | 24.6 | 19.2 | D |
| 108 | Margate Kent | 63,315 | 56.1 | 17.5 | 17.1 | D |
| 109 | Havant Hampshire | 46,964 | 59.2 | 16.8 | 18.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 125 | 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 Willenhall, and others in West Midlands.
How crime in Willenhall 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 +15% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +21% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -16% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -55% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Willenhall 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 30 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Willenhall North, Short Heath and Bentley and Darlaston North; highest in Willenhall South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willenhall North | 12,713 | 27.9 | 15.3 | |
| Short Heath | 11,660 | 39 | 19.8 | |
| Bentley and Darlaston North | 7,968 | 44.8 | 35.5 | |
| Willenhall South | 17,241 | 58.5 | 41 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 818 | 81% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 747 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 608 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 271 | 69% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 218 | 65% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Willenhall South records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Willenhall. 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 Willenhall. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Willenhall’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 67% of Willenhall’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 3% 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. 3,824 crimes.
One person died in collisions on Willenhall’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 278 collisions with injuries inside Willenhall in five years, in which one person died. 51 people were killed or seriously injured: 21 on foot and 4 on a bicycle. One person was killed on a motorway.
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 Willenhall’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Willenhall’s own rate (0.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Willenhall had 20.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 41% 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 Willenhall’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Willenhall
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willenhall | 49,582 | 44.1 | 28.8 | D |
| Darlaston | 21,541 | 53.7 | 25.5 | D− |
| Bloxwich | 51,891 | 52.3 | 25.8 | D− |
| Essington | 3,471 | 32.8 | 15.9 | C− |
| Bilston | 34,631 | 58.9 | 29.4 | D− |
| Walsall | 70,777 | 62.9 | 26.3 | D− |
| Wednesbury | 20,321 | 51.6 | 30.8 | D− |
| Wolverhampton | 234,029 | 50.6 | 21.7 | D |
Willenhall records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Essington, 2.3 miles away, records 32.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Willenhall’s 44.1.
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 Willenhall 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 Willenhall
Is Willenhall safe?
Police recorded 44.1 violent and sexual offences and 28.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Willenhall’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among 125 UK towns of 35,000 to 67,000 people, Willenhall is 106th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Willenhall?
By council ward, Willenhall North, Short Heath and Bentley and Darlaston North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 27.9, 39 and 44.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 58.5 in Willenhall South.
Is crime going up in Willenhall?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 15%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 21%, shoplifting and theft fell 16% and anti-social behaviour fell 55%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Willenhall?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,149 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (630) and vehicle crime (622), with 251 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Willenhall 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 Willenhall’s 44.1 and 28.8, 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.