Crime and Safety in Neath
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Neath is the second most dangerous small town in the preserved county of West Glamorgan, and is the third most dangerous overall out of West Glamorgan's 67 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Neath in 2026 is 94 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to West Glamorgan's overall crime rate, coming in 45% higher than the West Glamorgan rate of 65 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Neath is the 65th most dangerous small town, and the 549th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2023, Neath had the worst crime rate in West Glamorgan for robbery, with 3 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.15 per 1,000 daytime population. And in July 2025, Neath was the worst small town in West Glamorgan for anti-social behaviour, with 57 crimes reported and a crime rate of 2.8 per 1,000 daytime population. April 2024 was also a bad month for Neath residents, when it was West Glamorgan's most dangerous small town for burglary, recording 6 crimes at a rate of 0.30 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Neath are violence and sexual offences, with 984 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 49. This is 0.71% lower than 2025's figure of 991 offences and a difference of 0.39 from 2025's crime rate of 49. Neath's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 4 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 100% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Neath 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Most Dangerous
Small Towns, West Glamorgan
53% higher, regional crime rate
Wales
31% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Neath is 53% higher than Wales and 31% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Neath Crime Rate Over Time
| Neath | |
| Wales | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Neath Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Neath represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How Neath Compares
You can compare Neath's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Neath's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Neath up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Neath's 513 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Neath? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Neath • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Neath has a crime risk score of 690. This is based on analysis of 513 nearby areas within Neath, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Neath's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Neath, crime risk scores are typically around 690, while in West Glamorgan they are average 501.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 727 (563 for West Glamorgan), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 763 (West Glamorgan 613).
Trends in Crime Risk
Neath
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates an increase of 3.6% in Neath's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Neath's crime risk score is up by 13%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Neath's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 2.2%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Neath
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Neath • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Public Order offences have a crime rate of 15 reports per 1,000 people in Neath, which is 2.53 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 297 crime reports logged by South Wales Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, South Wales Police recorded 984 reports of Violence and Sexual Offences in Neath, resulting in a crime rate of 49 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.60.
The crime rate for Possession of Weapons is 1.43 times the national average at 0.80 reports per 1,000. This is from 16 crime reports reported to South Wales Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Neath
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.98 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 2.19 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 36% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.43 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 1.76 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 19% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Neath
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.77 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Neath • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Neath | West Glamorgan | Wales | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 390 | 19.24 | 1.36 | 4,330 | 9.76 | 0.69 | 37,683 | 10.96 | 0.78 |
| Bicycle Theft | 4 | 0.20 | 1.05 | 164 | 0.37 | 0.51 | 1,599 | 0.46 | 0.63 |
| Burglary | 30 | 1.50 | 0.52 | 662 | 1.49 | 0.48 | 6,704 | 1.94 | 0.62 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 151 | 7.43 | 1.18 | 2,575 | 5.80 | 0.92 | 21,045 | 6.12 | 0.97 |
| Drugs | 81 | 4.00 | 1.29 | 1,191 | 2.68 | 0.87 | 7,344 | 2.14 | 0.69 |
| Other Crime | 58 | 2.86 | 1.55 | 916 | 2.07 | 1.12 | 6,008 | 1.76 | 0.95 |
| Other Theft | 109 | 5.37 | 0.94 | 1,662 | 3.75 | 0.66 | 13,307 | 3.88 | 0.68 |
| Possession of Weapons | 16 | 0.80 | 1.43 | 314 | 0.71 | 0.84 | 2,296 | 0.68 | 0.80 |
| Public Order | 297 | 14.65 | 2.53 | 3,711 | 8.39 | 1.45 | 23,747 | 6.91 | 1.19 |
| Robbery | 10 | 0.50 | 0.72 | 158 | 0.36 | 0.31 | 1,461 | 0.43 | 0.36 |
| Shoplifting | 131 | 6.47 | 0.91 | 2,575 | 5.80 | 0.81 | 19,180 | 5.58 | 0.78 |
| Theft From the Person | 8 | 0.40 | 0.61 | 167 | 0.36 | 0.23 | 1,019 | 0.28 | 0.18 |
| Vehicle Crime | 30 | 1.50 | 0.38 | 1,103 | 2.50 | 0.58 | 8,617 | 2.52 | 0.59 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 984 | 48.53 | 1.60 | 13,564 | 30.60 | 1.01 | 99,099 | 28.83 | 0.95 |
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Total Crime by Year
Neath | West Glamorgan | Wales | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,909 | 94.21 | 1.36 | 28,762 | 64.88 | 0.90 | 211,426 | 61.53 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 1,775 | 88.06 | 1.23 | 30,076 | 69.01 | 0.93 | 257,229 | 75.28 | 1.02 |
| 2024 | 1,913 | 95.48 | 1.30 | 30,326 | 70.62 | 0.94 | 238,672 | 70.43 | 0.93 |
| 2023 | 1,670 | 83.50 | 1.10 | 27,323 | 64.36 | 0.81 | 255,615 | 75.95 | 0.96 |
| 2022 | 2,056 | 102.80 | 1.37 | 28,118 | 67.28 | 0.88 | 245,565 | 73.85 | 0.96 |
| 2021 | 1,801 | 89.54 | 1.35 | 26,889 | 64.52 | 0.94 | 217,266 | 65.68 | 0.96 |
| 2020 | 1,857 | 91.96 | 1.28 | 29,534 | 71.10 | 0.96 | 237,502 | 72.15 | 0.97 |
| 2019 | 2,068 | 102.71 | 1.38 | 30,245 | 72.69 | 0.95 | 244,905 | 74.66 | 0.98 |
| 2018 | 1,742 | 86.46 | 1.25 | 27,917 | 67.07 | 0.94 | 218,341 | 66.57 | 0.94 |
| 2017 | 1,751 | 86.45 | 1.38 | 27,010 | 64.85 | 1.01 | 199,059 | 60.80 | 0.95 |
| 2016 | 551 | 27.16 | 1.44 | 8,105 | 19.47 | 1.02 | 61,849 | 18.94 | 0.99 |
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Neath Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle | 4,658 | 184.48 | 96% more dangerous |
| Penderry | 1,116 | 91.76 | 2.6% safer |
| Neath | 1,909 | 94.21 | - |
| Morriston | 1,432 | 81.38 | 14% safer |
| Cockett | 946 | 78.53 | 17% safer |
| Bonymaen | 577 | 65.51 | 30% safer |
| Clydach | 456 | 57.63 | 39% safer |
| Gorseinon | 580 | 58.24 | 38% safer |
| St. Thomas | 635 | 55.66 | 41% safer |
| Uplands | 1,068 | 59.29 | 37% safer |
| Birchgrove | 387 | 47.23 | 50% safer |
| Mynyddbach | 662 | 50.22 | 47% safer |
| Coedffranc | 662 | 41.90 | 56% safer |
| Sketty | 695 | 43.17 | 54% safer |
Comparing Neath to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 16% safer |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 12% safer |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 11% safer |
| Neath | 94.21 | - |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 3.9% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 11% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 12% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 13% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 14% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 14% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 33% more dangerous |
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Offences In and Around Neath's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Neath that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neath Wellness Centre | 8 | 1 | 10 | - | 3 | 52 |
| Parc Melin | 2 | - | 1 | - | 8 | 5 |
| Victoria Gardens | 20 | 5 | 19 | - | 30 | 22 |
| Brynhyfrhyd Private Bowls Club | 3 | - | 4 | - | 11 | 3 |
| Neath Cricket Club | 1 | - | 2 | - | 8 | 3 |
| Parc Mount Pleasant | 2 | 1 | 6 | - | 39 | 13 |
| Cefn Season Cricket Ground | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Cimla Common | 10 | - | 4 | 1 | 14 | 10 |
| Parc Gwledig Ystad y Gnoll | 6 | - | 7 | - | 20 | 9 |
Recent Crimes in Neath
The 20 most recent crime reports in Neath.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Cattle Street | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Green Street | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Neath Bus Station | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Green Street | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Mary Street | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Addison Road | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Wellfield Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Orchard Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Creswell Road | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Bryn Nedd | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Green Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Orchard Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Orchard Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Summerfield Place | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Creswell Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Willow Walk | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Summerfield Place |
Methodology & Data Sources
Neath Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Neath during June 2026 will typically become available in August 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Neath Data Points
For Neath, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value W04000618.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Neath's daytime - or "workday" - population of 19,134 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Neath