Photo: Stephen Armstrong · CC BY-SA 2.0Pudsey stands out for burglary: 3.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Out of every 1,000 residents, 34.8 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually. It has more violent crime than 77% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 92%. Pudsey grades C− for safety overall (#55 of 91 in West Yorkshire): more crime per resident than 84% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime was down 16% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Pudsey
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% less violent crime per resident in Pudsey 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 19% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 191 UK towns of 24,000 to 47,000 people, Pudsey has the 122nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Stratford-upon-Avon, Borehamwood and Grays, higher than Redhill, Newton-le-Willows and Herne Bay. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Pudsey’s C−
A firm grade. Built on 5,751 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Pudsey 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, Pudsey runs highest on burglary (7.9 per 1,000 against 2.4), other crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 1.8) and vehicle crime (4.6 per 1,000 against 2.8). Anti-social behaviour and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,073 | 30.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 372 | 10.7 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 329 | 9.4 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 275 | 7.9 | 2.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 230 | 6.6 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 228 | 6.5 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 162 | 4.6 | 2.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 155 | 4.4 | 6.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 126 | 3.6 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 82 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 28 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 27 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 27 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 14 | 0.4 | 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.
How crime in Pudsey 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 -16% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -19% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -28% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -11% (towns its size -4%).
How Pudsey’s neighbourhoods rank in England
6% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 7% 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.
Pudsey’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.
Crime in Pudsey 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Pudsey identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 77% of Pudsey’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 21% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 4% 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. 1,962 crimes.
Pudsey is 122nd of 191 UK towns of 24,000 to 47,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 119 | Redhill Surrey | 32,516 | 40.6 | 13.4 | 15.9 | C− |
| 120 | Newton-le-Willows Merseyside | 24,651 | 40.6 | 13.5 | 12.4 | C− |
| 121 | Herne Bay Kent | 24,873 | 40.1 | 15 | 19.8 | C− |
| 122 | Pudsey West Yorkshire | 34,853 | 34.8 | 20.3 | 21.2 | C− |
| 123 | Grantham Lincolnshire | 44,906 | 39.6 | 15.7 | 20.5 | C− |
| 124 | Coseley West Midlands | 25,206 | 35.8 | 19.6 | 9.8 | C− |
| 125 | Newry Newry, Mourne and Down | 28,530 | 35.7 | 19.9 | 19.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 145 | Brighouse West Yorkshire | 33,159 | 46.3 | 16.2 | 14.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 157 | Morley West Yorkshire | 32,562 | 46.9 | 20.3 | 20.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 159 | Batley West Yorkshire | 44,494 | 48.3 | 19.3 | 15.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 174 | Pontefract West Yorkshire | 32,982 | 57.2 | 17.8 | 19.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 191 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Pudsey, and others in West Yorkshire.
Where in Pudsey police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 1,071 | 78% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 302 | 71% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 223 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 116 | 74% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 66 | 59% drugs, public order & other |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 33 | 55% 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 Pudsey. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Three people died in collisions on Pudsey’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 192 collisions with injuries inside Pudsey in five years, in which three people died (2 were pedestrians). 66 people were killed or seriously injured: 23 on foot and 6 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 Pudsey’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Pudsey’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Pudsey had 37.9 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). 35% 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 Pudsey’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Pudsey
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pudsey | 34,853 | 34.8 | 20.3 | C− |
| Calverley | 3,988 | 19.6 | 18.7 | C+ |
| Drighlington | 5,280 | 35.2 | 17.6 | C− |
| Gildersome | 6,278 | 29.4 | 16.7 | C |
| Rawdon | 6,738 | 21.7 | 13.6 | C+ |
| Bradford | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | D− |
| Gomersal and Birkenshaw | 13,948 | 26 | 17.2 | C |
| Oakenshaw | 1,571 | 34.2 | 25.5 | D |
Pudsey records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Bradford and Oakenshaw record more. Calverley, 2 miles away, records 19.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Pudsey’s 34.8.
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 Pudsey 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 Pudsey
Is Pudsey safe?
Police recorded 34.8 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 Pudsey’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 191 UK towns of 24,000 to 47,000 people, Pudsey is 122nd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Pudsey?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 19%, shoplifting and theft fell 28% and anti-social behaviour fell 11%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Pudsey?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,073 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (329) and burglary (275), with 372 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Pudsey 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 Pudsey’s 34.8 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.