Guest, Sign inJoin
Morley indoor market - Hope Street entrancePhoto: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0
DSafety Grade
Safety in Morley · police.uk, 2023–2026

Morley has more crime per resident than 92% of UK towns

A Safety Grade of D follows from crimes police recorded inside Morley’s built-up area over the years September 2023 to August 2026: #67 of 91 in West Yorkshire. On top of that, more crime per resident is recorded in 14% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. In a usual year, 46.9 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.

Violent crime
46.9
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
20.3
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
20.8
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
9.8
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded

Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Morley

More crime than many places its size

Of 196 UK towns of 23,000 to 44,000 people, Morley has the 165th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Brierley Hill, Ilkeston and Fleetwood, higher than Northfleet, Pontypool and Hatfield. Towns its size ↓

Neighbourhood ranks

29% of Morley’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.

Safety Grade

What sits behind Morley’s D

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 14% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: more crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (46.9 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 9% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (20.3 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 8% of UK towns
DD

A firm grade. Built on 6,556 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Morley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

By type

What police recorded in the last 12 months

Violence & sexual offences44.9
Shoplifting13.7
Anti-social behaviour10.6
Criminal damage & arson8.7
Public order8.1
Burglary8
Other theft6.1
Vehicle crime4.3
Other crime3.3
Robbery2
Drugs1.9
Possession of weapons1.1
Theft from the person0.6
Bicycle theft0.3
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Against the typical town its size, Morley runs highest on robbery (2 per 1,000 against 0.5), burglary (8 per 1,000 against 2.4) and shoplifting (13.7 per 1,000 against 6.1). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent1,46244.930.4
Shopliftingnot graded44513.76.1
Anti-social behaviournot graded34610.612.4
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle2848.76.2
Public ordernot graded2658.15.4
BurglaryHome & vehicle26182.4
Other theftnot graded2006.14.4
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle1394.32.8
Other crimenot graded1083.31.8
RobberyViolent6420.5
Drugsnot graded611.91.9
Possession of weaponsViolent371.10.7
Theft from the personnot graded210.60.3
Bicycle theftnot graded100.30.3

“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.

Towns its size

Of 196 towns its size, Morley is 165th from the least graded crime

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Heswall Merseyside29,08214.35.53.8A−
…
133Pudsey West Yorkshire34,85334.820.321.2C−
…
154Brighouse West Yorkshire33,15946.316.214.9D
…
162Northfleet Kent29,8924520.615.5D
163Pontypool Gwent29,0704718.710.5D
164Hatfield Hertfordshire41,56147.219.420.7D
165Morley West Yorkshire32,56246.920.320.8D
166Darwen Lancashire27,8974819.310.3D
167Jarrow Tyne and Wear29,46746.821.728.4D
168Chichester West Sussex31,70950.119.336.7D
…
180Pontefract West Yorkshire32,98257.217.819.4D
…
185Shipley West Yorkshire29,2285723.918.5D−
…
196Great Yarmouth Norfolk28,97910532.933.7D−

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 Morley, and others in West Yorkshire.

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Morley per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
1,563
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
684
homes & vehicles
676
shoplifting & theft
90
of the three, per 1,000

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 21 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

29% of Morley residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods

19%1
10%2
16%3
10%4
20%5
10%6
7%7
8%8
0%9
0%10
Higher crimeLower crime

8% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 29% 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.

Morley’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 happened next

Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns

Violent crime
Morley
All UK towns
Homes & vehicles
Morley
All UK towns
Went to courtSuspect identified, unable to prosecuteNo suspect identifiedCaution, local resolution, otherStill open

No suspect was identified for 72% of Morley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 20% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 5% 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. 2,183 crimes.

Trend · monthly

Violent crime held steady over the year

“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 +2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +15% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +8% (towns its size -4%).

Where in Morley

Where in Morley police recorded crime

Public places police.uk named crimes and ASB, 3 years
At or nearReportsMostly
Supermarkets85158% shoplifting & theft
Nightclubs40172% shoplifting & theft
Car parks34846% shoplifting & theft
Petrol stations20561% shoplifting & theft
Parks and open spaces7355% violent
Shopping areas5357% violent

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 Morley. We show only these, never streets or homes.

Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.

On the roads

No one died in a collision on Morley’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 174 collisions with injuries inside Morley in five years. 57 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 5 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 Morley’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Morley’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, Morley had 35.2 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). 26% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.

0
people killed, 2021–2025
57
killed or seriously injured
15
of them on foot
5
of them on a bicycle

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 Morley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Morley

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Morley32,56246.920.3D
Gildersome6,27829.416.7C
East Ardsley15,2383814.6C−
Drighlington5,28035.217.6C−
Batley44,49448.319.3D
Thorpe on the Hill1,23229.811.4C
Heckmondwike13,36854.821.4D
Gomersal and Birkenshaw13,9482617.2C

Morley records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Batley and Heckmondwike record more. Gildersome, 1.5 miles away, records 29.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Morley’s 46.9.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 Morley 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 Morley

Is Morley safe?

Police recorded 46.9 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Morley’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 8% of UK towns. Among 196 UK towns of 23,000 to 44,000 people, Morley is 165th from the least crime.

Is crime going up in Morley?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 15%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 8%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.

Is Morley town centre safe at night?

police.uk placed 401 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 14% of them violent. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in January.

What is the most common crime in Morley?

Violence & sexual offences: 1,462 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (445) and criminal damage & arson (284), with 346 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Morley compare with Leeds?

Leeds records 65.4 violent and sexual offences and 29.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Morley’s 46.9 and 20.3, 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.