Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Huddersfield runs higher than in 95% of UK towns
Violent crime was down 10% in a year. Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 17% of them record more crime per resident. Counting crimes police recorded inside Huddersfield’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D for safety: #70 of 91 in West Yorkshire. In a usual year, 57.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Huddersfield
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% less violent crime per resident in Huddersfield 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 9% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 42 UK towns and cities of 99,000 to 191,000 people, Huddersfield has the 37th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Newport, Blackpool and Middlesbrough, higher than Lincoln, Peterborough and Gloucester. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
43% of Huddersfield’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 5% 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 Huddersfield, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 32,080 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Huddersfield against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
43% of Huddersfield residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
5% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 43% 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.
Huddersfield’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.
Huddersfield places 37th of 42 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 24.7 | 14 | 20.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Lincoln Lincolnshire | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 33.3 | D |
| 35 | Peterborough Cambridgeshire | 190,592 | 54.2 | 21.1 | 21.6 | D |
| 36 | Gloucester Gloucestershire | 118,562 | 58.3 | 17.1 | 26.2 | D |
| 37 | Huddersfield West Yorkshire | 141,683 | 57.1 | 18.5 | 18.2 | D |
| 38 | Basildon Essex | 115,935 | 54.2 | 24.2 | 19.8 | D− |
| 39 | West Bromwich West Midlands | 103,099 | 54.4 | 24.7 | 17.4 | D− |
| 40 | Newport Gwent | 130,882 | 55.8 | 25.6 | 26.1 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Middlesbrough North Yorkshire | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 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 Huddersfield, and others in West Yorkshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Huddersfield runs highest on other crime (4 per 1,000 against 2.1), burglary (5.1 per 1,000 against 3.4) and public order (10.9 per 1,000 against 7.4). 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 | 7,241 | 51.1 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,573 | 11.1 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,551 | 10.9 | 7.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,255 | 8.9 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,208 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,174 | 8.3 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 783 | 5.5 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 776 | 5.5 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 724 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 561 | 4 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 189 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 178 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 119 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 50 | 0.4 | 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 Huddersfield 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 18 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 Huddersfield 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 +9% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +9% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +14% (towns its size -2%).
Lowest recorded crime in Colne Valley, Lindley and Golcar; highest in Dalton
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colne Valley | 713 | 25.7 | 10.8 | |
| Lindley | 20,426 | 27 | 11.6 | |
| Golcar | 18,404 | 43.3 | 15.9 | |
| Almondbury | 12,543 | 42.5 | 18.8 | |
| Crosland Moor and Netherton | 15,955 | 51.1 | 13.9 | |
| Greenhead | 21,421 | 48.3 | 17.5 | |
| Ashbrow | 20,036 | 57.5 | 18.2 | |
| Newsome | 18,062 | 91.7 | 27 | |
| Dalton | 13,757 | 107.8 | 27.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 2,576 | 42% violent |
| Supermarkets | 2,287 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,322 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 1,076 | 55% drugs, public order & other |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 789 | 50% violent |
| Shopping areas | 760 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 454 | 54% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 130 | 50% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 96 | 40% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 69 | 32% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Dalton records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Huddersfield. 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 Huddersfield. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Huddersfield’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 65% of Huddersfield’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” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% 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. 10,862 crimes.
Six people died in collisions on Huddersfield’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,058 collisions with injuries inside Huddersfield in five years, in which six people died (4 were pedestrians). 306 people were killed or seriously injured: 98 on foot and 30 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 Huddersfield’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Huddersfield’s own rate (0.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Huddersfield had 43.2 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). 32% 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 Huddersfield’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Huddersfield
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huddersfield | 141,683 | 57.1 | 18.5 | D |
| Netherton (Kirklees) | 3,151 | 26.3 | 9.9 | C+ |
| Kirkheaton | 3,492 | 31.4 | 9.3 | C |
| Elland | 15,788 | 45 | 18 | D |
| Outlane | 1,172 | 19.3 | 12.5 | B− |
| Lepton | 4,950 | 22.4 | 11 | B− |
| Linthwaite and Slaithwaite | 9,242 | 36.3 | 14.7 | C− |
| Holywell Green and Stainland | 2,799 | 32 | 10.6 | C |
Huddersfield records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Netherton (Kirklees), 2.5 miles away, records 26.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Huddersfield’s 57.1.
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 Huddersfield 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 Huddersfield
Is Huddersfield safe?
Police recorded 57.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Huddersfield’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 5% of UK towns. Among 42 UK towns of 99,000 to 191,000 people, Huddersfield is 37th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Huddersfield?
By council ward, Colne Valley, Lindley and Golcar record the least violent and household crime per resident: 25.7, 27 and 43.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 107.8 in Dalton.
Is crime going up in Huddersfield?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 9%, shoplifting and theft rose 9% and anti-social behaviour rose 14%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Huddersfield city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 454 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 54% of them violent, and Dalton ward records 107.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in June and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Huddersfield?
Violence & sexual offences: 7,241 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (1,551) and shoplifting (1,255), with 1,573 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.