Photo: Velella · CC BY-SA 3.0Honley beats 74% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people on crime per resident
The yearly rates were 26.4 violent and sexual offences and 8.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Violence recorded locally dropped 8% in a year. Overall, it grades B− for safety (#17 of 91 in West Yorkshire). On burglary, vehicle crime and damage it beats 57% of UK towns; on violent crime, only 40%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Honley
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% less violent crime per resident in Honley 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 fell 8% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Honley has the 112th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than St Ives, Lymington and Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay, higher than Catshill, Lutterworth and Chatteris. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Honley’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,511 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Honley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Honley’s neighbourhoods rank in England
29% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Honley’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Honley runs highest on other crime (2.8 per 1,000 against 1.8) and burglary (3 per 1,000 against 2.4). Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 348 | 24.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 80 | 5.6 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 61 | 4.2 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 48 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 43 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 43 | 3 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 40 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 36 | 2.5 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 29 | 2 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 20 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 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.
Among 350 towns its size, Honley ranks 112th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 68 | Ilkley West Yorkshire | 14,852 | 18.1 | 12.7 | 13 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 105 | Garforth West Yorkshire | 15,148 | 23 | 10.9 | 7.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 109 | Catshill Worcestershire | 10,173 | 25.1 | 9.6 | 6.3 | B− |
| 110 | Lutterworth Leicestershire | 10,519 | 22.8 | 11.9 | 12.6 | B− |
| 111 | Chatteris Cambridgeshire | 11,022 | 26.5 | 8.3 | 6.1 | B− |
| 112 | Honley West Yorkshire | 14,399 | 26.4 | 8.6 | 5.3 | B− |
| 113 | Newport Pagnell Buckinghamshire | 15,250 | 24 | 11 | 9.8 | B− |
| 114 | Watton Norfolk | 11,549 | 28.1 | 7.1 | 5.2 | C+ |
| 115 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley Hertfordshire | 18,203 | 21.8 | 13.5 | 6.4 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 128 | Otley West Yorkshire | 14,549 | 25.6 | 11.3 | 9.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 158 | Kippax West Yorkshire | 10,299 | 27.4 | 12.7 | 6.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 350 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Honley, and others in West Yorkshire.
How crime in Honley 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 -8% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -8% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +34% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -32% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Honley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 7% 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. 534 crimes.
Crime in Honley 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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Where in Honley police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 111 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 66 | 26% violent |
| Supermarkets | 51 | 45% violent |
| Police stations | 33 | 36% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 30 | 37% drugs, public order & other |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 22 | 41% anti-social behaviour |
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 Honley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Honley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 78 collisions with injuries inside Honley in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 32 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 4 on a bicycle.
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 Honley’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Honley’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Honley had 44.5 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 25% 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 Honley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Honley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honley | 14,399 | 26.4 | 8.6 | B− |
| Netherton (Kirklees) | 3,151 | 26.3 | 9.9 | C+ |
| Holmfirth | 4,982 | 33.6 | 9.3 | C |
| Upperthong | 1,094 | 10.7 | 3.4 | A+ |
| Scholes (near Hade Edge) | 1,888 | 31.8 | 9.4 | C |
| Shepley | 2,515 | 11.7 | 7.3 | A |
| Holmbridge | 1,219 | 24.1 | 9.3 | B− |
| Shelley | 2,696 | 12.7 | 5.7 | A |
Honley records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Upperthong, 2.2 miles away, records 10.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Honley’s 26.4.
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 Honley 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 Honley
Is Honley safe?
Police recorded 26.4 violent and sexual offences and 8.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Honley’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 45% of UK towns. Among 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Honley is 112th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Honley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 8%, shoplifting and theft rose 34% and anti-social behaviour fell 32%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Honley?
Violence & sexual offences: 348 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (61) and other theft (48), with 80 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Honley compare with Huddersfield?
Huddersfield records 57.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Honley’s 26.4 and 8.6, 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.