Photo: Mr Barndoor · CC BY 3.0Per resident, Halifax records more crime than almost every UK town
Violent crime was down 7% in a year. With 1,226 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, public order reaches 13.9 per 1,000 residents in Halifax, well above the typical 7.4. The grade is D−, built on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #87 of 91 in West Yorkshire. Violence and property crime split as 74.5 violent and sexual offences and 25.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Halifax
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% less violent crime per resident in Halifax 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 12% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
55% of Halifax’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 3% 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.
Inside Halifax’s D− for safety
A firm grade. Built on 26,530 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Halifax against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
55% of Halifax residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
3% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 55% 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.
Halifax’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 Halifax compares with UK towns of 62,000 to 119,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 70 | Dewsbury West Yorkshire | 63,730 | 63.4 | 22 | 15.7 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 76 | Hartlepool County Durham | 88,001 | 63.1 | 28.5 | 34.9 | D− |
| 77 | Wakefield West Yorkshire | 97,871 | 69.2 | 22.9 | 28 | D− |
| 78 | Stockton-on-Tees County Durham | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | 26.9 | D− |
| 79 | Halifax West Yorkshire | 88,111 | 74.5 | 25.9 | 22.7 | D− |
| 80 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | D− |
| 81 | 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 Halifax, and others in West Yorkshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Halifax runs highest on other crime (5.7 per 1,000 against 2.1), public order (13.9 per 1,000 against 7.4) and drugs (7 per 1,000 against 3.8).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,933 | 67.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,468 | 16.7 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,226 | 13.9 | 7.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,045 | 11.9 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,014 | 11.5 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 820 | 9.3 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 621 | 7 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 514 | 5.8 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 502 | 5.7 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 492 | 5.6 | 3.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 171 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 105 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 85 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 40 | 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.
Crime in Halifax 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 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 23 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 Luddendenfoot, Sowerby Bridge and Northowram and Shelf; highest in Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luddendenfoot | 623 | 30 | 9.6 | |
| Sowerby Bridge | 10,349 | 38 | 13.1 | |
| Northowram and Shelf | 1,569 | 40.8 | 24.9 | |
| Warley | 11,553 | 58.4 | 18.4 | |
| Illingworth and Mixenden | 11,612 | 60.8 | 28.6 | |
| Skircoat | 12,884 | 67.4 | 24 | |
| Park | 15,697 | 76.5 | 23 | |
| Ovenden | 11,772 | 83.6 | 29.1 | |
| Town | 12,052 | 136.9 | 45.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 1,648 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 903 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 849 | 35% violent |
| Police stations | 828 | 56% drugs, public order & other |
| Hospitals | 796 | 61% violent |
| Supermarkets | 527 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 350 | 62% violent |
| College and university buildings | 155 | 59% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 140 | 50% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 27 | 67% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Town records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Halifax. 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 Halifax. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Halifax’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Halifax identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Halifax’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” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 8% 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. 9,327 crimes.
How crime in Halifax 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 -12% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +7% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +9% (towns its size -2%).
10 people died in collisions on Halifax’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 733 collisions with injuries inside Halifax in five years, in which 10 people died (4 were pedestrians). 252 people were killed or seriously injured: 67 on foot and 19 on a bicycle.
That is 2.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Halifax had 57.1 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). 27% 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 Halifax’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Halifax
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halifax | 88,111 | 74.5 | 25.9 | D− |
| Sowerby Bridge | 4,483 | 61 | 25.7 | D− |
| Luddenden Foot | 2,148 | 43.5 | 14.7 | D |
| Shelf and Northowram | 9,191 | 21.4 | 15.3 | C+ |
| Queensbury | 9,707 | 39.8 | 14.8 | C− |
| Elland | 15,788 | 45 | 18 | D |
| Holywell Green and Stainland | 2,799 | 32 | 10.6 | C |
| Brighouse | 33,159 | 46.3 | 16.2 | D |
Halifax records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Sowerby Bridge, 2.2 miles away, records 61 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Halifax’s 74.5.
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 796 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Halifax’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 Halifax 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 Halifax
Is Halifax safe?
Police recorded 74.5 violent and sexual offences and 25.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Halifax’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Halifax has less crime per resident than 3%.
What are the safest areas of Halifax?
By council ward, Luddendenfoot, Sowerby Bridge and Northowram and Shelf record the least violent and household crime per resident: 30, 38 and 40.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 136.9 in Town.
Is crime going up in Halifax?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft rose 7% and anti-social behaviour rose 9%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Halifax town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 350 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 62% of them violent, and Town ward records 136.9 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 Halifax?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,933 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (1,226) and shoplifting (1,045), with 1,468 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Halifax compare with Bradford?
Bradford records 72.2 violent and sexual offences and 28.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Halifax’s 74.5 and 25.9, 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.