Photo: My another account · CC BY-SA 3.0Violent crime per resident is higher in Melksham than in 67% of UK towns
Recorded violence rose 9% in a year. From September 2023 to August 2026, crimes police recorded inside Melksham’s built-up area put it at C for safety: #22 of 30 in Wiltshire. It has less crime per resident than 59% of the UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 645 in all. Each year brought 29.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Melksham
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Melksham 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 ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Melksham has the 138th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Haslingden, Stone and Conwy, higher than Quedgeley and Hardwicke, Brixham and Armagh. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C for Melksham, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,231 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Melksham 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, Melksham runs highest on anti-social behaviour (19 per 1,000 against 12.4). Vehicle crime and drugs sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 541 | 29.6 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 348 | 19 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 118 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 111 | 6.1 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 90 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 58 | 3.2 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 34 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 34 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 33 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 22 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.2 | 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 Melksham’s neighbourhoods rank in England
27% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 18% 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.
Melksham’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 crime in Melksham 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 +9% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +28% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Melksham 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 65% of Melksham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 9% 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. 781 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Melksham Without North & Shurnhold, Melksham East and Melksham South; highest in Melksham Forest
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melksham Without North & Shurnhold | 3,178 | 18.7 | 6 | |
| Melksham East | 5,232 | 22.1 | 7.1 | |
| Melksham South | 4,579 | 30.1 | 11.5 | |
| Melksham Forest | 5,288 | 37.9 | 16.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 465 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 329 | 37% violent |
| Petrol stations | 116 | 35% violent |
| Shopping areas | 79 | 27% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 50 | 34% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Melksham Forest records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Melksham. 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 Melksham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Melksham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
138th of 308: Melksham among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 60 | Royal Wootton Bassett Wiltshire | 13,002 | 22.6 | 8.5 | 4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Calne Wiltshire | 19,725 | 25.9 | 6.5 | 5.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 108 | Westbury Wiltshire | 16,394 | 26.2 | 11 | 6.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 134 | Warminster Wiltshire | 18,018 | 26.7 | 13.4 | 15.6 | C+ |
| 135 | Quedgeley and Hardwicke Gloucestershire | 21,125 | 32.8 | 7.4 | 7.4 | C+ |
| 136 | Brixham Devon | 17,839 | 30.1 | 10.1 | 7.2 | C+ |
| 137 | Armagh Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 16,310 | 27.6 | 12.7 | 13.4 | C |
| 138 | Melksham Wiltshire | 18,277 | 29.7 | 11.1 | 10.2 | C |
| 139 | Alton Hampshire | 17,883 | 31.7 | 9.4 | 9.4 | C |
| 140 | Stratton St Margaret Wiltshire | 20,689 | 29.5 | 11.8 | 12.7 | C |
| 141 | Syston Leicestershire | 13,628 | 27.4 | 13.9 | 12.3 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Melksham, and others in Wiltshire.
Two people died in collisions on Melksham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 103 collisions with injuries inside Melksham in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 23 people were killed or seriously injured: 9 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 Melksham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Melksham’s own rate (2.2) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Melksham had 25.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Melksham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Melksham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melksham | 18,277 | 29.7 | 11.1 | C |
| Berryfield | 1,094 | 53.6 | 18.6 | D |
| Bowerhill | 3,976 | 19.1 | 7.6 | B+ |
| Holt | 1,704 | 7.8 | 3.3 | A+ |
| Atworth | 1,293 | 17 | 7.2 | B+ |
| Bromham | 1,066 | 10.3 | 6.9 | A |
| Corsham | 10,887 | 19.6 | 7 | B+ |
| Trowbridge | 43,753 | 33.5 | 12 | C |
Melksham records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Berryfield and Trowbridge record more. Bowerhill, 1.2 miles away, records 19.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Melksham’s 29.7.
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 Melksham 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 Melksham
Is Melksham safe?
Police recorded 29.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Melksham’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 34% of UK towns. Among 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Melksham is 138th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Melksham?
By council ward, Melksham Without North & Shurnhold, Melksham East and Melksham South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 18.7, 22.1 and 30.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 37.9 in Melksham Forest.
Is crime going up in Melksham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 28%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Melksham?
Violence & sexual offences: 541 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (118) and shoplifting (111), with 348 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Melksham compare with Trowbridge?
Trowbridge records 33.5 violent and sexual offences and 12 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Melksham’s 29.7 and 11.1, 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.