Photo: Jon Farman · Public domainCrime per resident in Thornton runs higher than in 95% of UK towns
From September 2023 to August 2026, crimes police recorded inside Thornton’s built-up area put it at D for safety: #70 of 91 in West Yorkshire. Recorded violent and sexual offences ran at 51.5 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle crime and damage at 23.7. Vehicle crime stands out: 10 per 1,000 residents locally, against 2 in a typical town its size, with 54 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime was down 11% 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 Thornton
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% less violent crime per resident in Thornton than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 12% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
55% of Thornton’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 0% 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 Thornton, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,220 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Thornton 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, Thornton runs highest on vehicle crime (10 per 1,000 against 2), shoplifting (7.4 per 1,000 against 1.8) and drugs (3.9 per 1,000 against 1).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 243 | 44.9 | 22.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 56 | 10.4 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 54 | 10 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 52 | 9.6 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 45 | 8.3 | 4.5 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 44 | 8.1 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 40 | 7.4 | 1.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 29 | 5.4 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 24 | 4.4 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 21 | 3.9 | 1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 5 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
55% of Thornton residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 55% 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.
Thornton’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.
How Thornton compares with UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 96 | Burley in Wharfedale West Yorkshire | 6,806 | 15.1 | 8.6 | 3.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 129 | Boston Spa West Yorkshire | 6,358 | 20.1 | 6.4 | 2.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 192 | Menston West Yorkshire | 5,905 | 20.5 | 9.1 | 4.5 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 196 | Ripponden West Yorkshire | 4,775 | 20.3 | 9.6 | 4.5 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 490 | Wingate County Durham | 5,033 | 37.8 | 35.4 | 20.1 | D |
| 491 | Tenby Dyfed | 4,092 | 52.6 | 21.1 | 18 | D |
| 492 | Aberbargoed Gwent | 4,412 | 52.9 | 21.8 | 6.6 | D |
| 493 | Thornton West Yorkshire | 5,410 | 51.5 | 23.7 | 25.7 | D |
| 494 | Shotton Clwyd | 6,500 | 57.9 | 17.9 | 31.8 | D |
| 495 | Fitzwilliam and Kinsley West Yorkshire | 4,993 | 59.9 | 16.7 | 8.4 | D− |
| 496 | Burry Port Dyfed | 4,966 | 59.8 | 19.5 | 12 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 Thornton, and others in West Yorkshire.
Crime in Thornton 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 23 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 Thornton has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 -11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -12% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -12% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -25% (towns its size +0%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 70% of Thornton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 18% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (70% 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. 425 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Thornton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 44 collisions with injuries inside Thornton in five years. 12 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Thornton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Thornton had 44.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Thornton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Thornton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornton | 5,410 | 51.5 | 23.7 | D |
| Queensbury | 9,707 | 39.8 | 14.8 | C− |
| Wilsden | 3,749 | 22.4 | 11.4 | B− |
| Denholme | 2,960 | 68.5 | 25.8 | D− |
| Cullingworth | 3,096 | 37.6 | 12.3 | C− |
| Shelf and Northowram | 9,191 | 21.4 | 15.3 | C+ |
| Bradford | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | D− |
| Harden | 1,602 | 9.6 | 16.2 | B+ |
Thornton records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Denholme and Bradford record more. Queensbury, 1.8 miles away, records 39.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Thornton’s 51.5.
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 Thornton 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 Thornton
Is Thornton safe?
Police recorded 51.5 violent and sexual offences and 23.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Thornton’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 5% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Thornton has less crime per resident than 4%.
Is crime going up in Thornton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft fell 12% and anti-social behaviour fell 25%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Thornton?
Violence & sexual offences: 243 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came other theft (56) and vehicle crime (54), with 44 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Thornton compare with Bradford?
Bradford records 72.2 violent and sexual offences and 28.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Thornton’s 51.5 and 23.7, 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.