Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0Rothwell sees more burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident than 88% of UK towns
Burglary stands out: 4.8 per 1,000 residents in Rothwell, against 2.4 in a typical town its size, with 100 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime was down 17% in a year. Taking everything together, Rothwell scores C− (#52 of 91 in West Yorkshire): more crime per resident than 82% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Violence and property crime split as 35.4 violent and sexual offences and 17.9 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 Rothwell
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 17% less violent crime per resident in Rothwell 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 252 UK towns of 15,000 to 28,000 people, Rothwell has the 174th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Faversham, Newton-le-Willows and Somercotes and Swanwick, higher than Leek, Frome and Lewes. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Rothwell: C− for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 3,346 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Rothwell 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 crime in Rothwell 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 -17% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +4% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -11% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Rothwell runs highest on burglary (4.8 per 1,000 against 2.4), vehicle crime (4.6 per 1,000 against 2.8) and criminal damage & arson (7.5 per 1,000 against 6.2). Other theft and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 654 | 31.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 229 | 10.9 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 158 | 7.5 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 133 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 100 | 4.8 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 96 | 4.6 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 96 | 4.6 | 2.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 72 | 3.4 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 45 | 2.1 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 32 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 15 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.3 | 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.
Police in Rothwell identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 80% of Rothwell’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” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 3% 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. 1,127 crimes.
How Rothwell’s neighbourhoods rank in England
9% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 23% 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.
Rothwell’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 Rothwell 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 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Of 252 towns its size, Rothwell is 174th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Streetly West Midlands | 16,790 | 11.2 | 9 | 5.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 58 | Garforth West Yorkshire | 15,148 | 23 | 10.9 | 7.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 137 | Mirfield West Yorkshire | 19,614 | 33.3 | 13.8 | 10 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 140 | Ossett West Yorkshire | 21,854 | 33.8 | 13.6 | 9.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 162 | Bingley West Yorkshire | 21,334 | 37 | 14.6 | 10.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 171 | Leek Staffordshire | 19,388 | 41.7 | 10.9 | 15.6 | C− |
| 172 | Frome Somerset | 27,904 | 39.8 | 12.8 | 19.3 | C− |
| 173 | Lewes East Sussex | 16,066 | 37.5 | 15.6 | 19.4 | C− |
| 174 | Rothwell West Yorkshire | 20,964 | 35.4 | 17.9 | 10.2 | C− |
| 175 | South Ockendon Essex | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | 10.1 | C− |
| 176 | Gorleston-on-Sea Norfolk | 24,474 | 39.2 | 14.2 | 12.5 | C− |
| 177 | Prestatyn Clwyd | 16,678 | 41.3 | 12.2 | 18.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 252 | Rhyl Clwyd | 26,982 | 89.1 | 22.9 | 29 | 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 Rothwell, and others in West Yorkshire.
Where in Rothwell police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 173 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 166 | 35% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 157 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 51 | 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 Rothwell. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Three people died in collisions on Rothwell’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 70 collisions with injuries inside Rothwell in five years, in which three people died (2 were pedestrians). 29 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 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 Rothwell’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rothwell’s own rate (2.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Rothwell had 27.8 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).
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 Rothwell’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Rothwell
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rothwell | 20,964 | 35.4 | 17.9 | C− |
| Lofthouse and Robin Hood | 4,187 | 30 | 12.7 | C |
| Bottom Boat | 1,191 | 38.3 | 13.7 | C− |
| Swillington | 3,077 | 33.3 | 12.5 | C |
| Thorpe on the Hill | 1,232 | 29.8 | 11.4 | C |
| Mickletown | 3,362 | 23 | 10.6 | B− |
| Methley | 1,196 | 20.4 | 8.9 | B |
| Allerton Bywater | 6,958 | 34.2 | 18 | C− |
Rothwell records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Lofthouse and Robin Hood, 1.7 miles away, records 30 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Rothwell’s 35.4.
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 Rothwell 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 Rothwell
Is Rothwell safe?
Police recorded 35.4 violent and sexual offences and 17.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Rothwell’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 18% of UK towns. Among 252 UK towns of 15,000 to 28,000 people, Rothwell is 174th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Rothwell?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 17%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady 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 Rothwell?
Violence & sexual offences: 654 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (158) and public order (133), with 229 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Rothwell 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 Rothwell’s 35.4 and 17.9, 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.