Crime and Safety in Meltham
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Meltham is among the top 10 safest small towns in West Yorkshire, and is the 54th safest overall out of West Yorkshire's 118 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Meltham in 2026 is 52 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to West Yorkshire's overall crime rate, coming in 46% lower than the West Yorkshire rate of 96 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Meltham is the 395th most dangerous small town, and the 2,493rd most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In January 2016, Meltham had the worst crime rate in West Yorkshire for shoplifting, with 10 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.1 per 1,000 daytime population. And in May 2023, Meltham was the worst small town in West Yorkshire for other theft, with 11 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.2 per 1,000 daytime population. July 2023 was also a bad month for Meltham residents, when it was again West Yorkshire's most dangerous small town for other theft, recording 13 crimes at a rate of 1.4 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Meltham are violence and sexual offences, with 252 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 26. This is 4.5% lower than 2025's figure of 264 offences and a difference of 1.26 from 2025's crime rate of 27. Meltham's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 0 offences recorded in 2026.
Meltham 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 10 Safest
Small Towns, West Yorkshire
39% lower, regional crime rate
Yorkshire and The Humber
27% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Meltham is 39% lower than Yorkshire and The Humber and 27% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Meltham Crime Rate Over Time
| Meltham | |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Meltham Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Meltham 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 Meltham Compares
You can compare Meltham'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 Meltham's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Meltham up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Meltham's 255 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 Meltham? 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
Meltham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Meltham has a crime risk score of 516. This is based on analysis of 255 nearby areas within Meltham, 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 Meltham's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Meltham, crime risk scores are typically around 516, while in West Yorkshire they are average 638.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 487 (666 for West Yorkshire), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 528 (West Yorkshire 702).
Trends in Crime Risk
Meltham
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 19% in Meltham'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.
The five-year trend may be static; no significant trend was identified in Meltham's crime risk scores during this timeframe.
Over the last year, Meltham's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 10%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Meltham
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
Meltham • 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.
Burglary offences have a crime rate of 3.03 reports per 1,000 people in Meltham, which is 1.65 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 29 crime reports logged by West Yorkshire Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, West Yorkshire Police recorded 1 report of Possession of Weapons in Meltham, resulting in a crime rate of 0.10 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.43.
The crime rate for Public Order is 1.05 times the national average at 5.62 reports per 1,000. This is from 54 crime reports reported to West Yorkshire Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Meltham
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.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.15 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.20 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 25% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Meltham
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.88 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 1.30 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 32% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Meltham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Meltham | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 88 | 9.15 | 0.65 | 28,357 | 10.30 | 0.73 | 77,875 | 12.35 | 0.87 |
| Bicycle Theft | - | - | - | 1,587 | 0.59 | 0.81 | 4,306 | 0.68 | 0.93 |
| Burglary | 29 | 3.03 | 1.65 | 14,188 | 5.18 | 1.65 | 27,843 | 4.41 | 1.41 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 52 | 5.40 | 0.94 | 20,740 | 7.54 | 1.20 | 47,570 | 7.55 | 1.20 |
| Drugs | 11 | 1.14 | 0.74 | 10,751 | 3.90 | 1.26 | 19,757 | 3.14 | 1.02 |
| Other Crime | 12 | 1.24 | 1.01 | 9,197 | 3.34 | 1.81 | 18,290 | 2.91 | 1.57 |
| Other Theft | 29 | 3.03 | 0.58 | 18,533 | 6.75 | 1.19 | 36,443 | 5.78 | 1.02 |
| Possession of Weapons | 1 | 0.10 | 1.43 | 2,561 | 0.93 | 1.09 | 5,827 | 0.93 | 1.09 |
| Public Order | 54 | 5.62 | 1.05 | 23,622 | 8.57 | 1.48 | 47,514 | 7.55 | 1.30 |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.40 | 1.03 | 3,718 | 1.35 | 1.14 | 7,156 | 1.13 | 0.96 |
| Shoplifting | 34 | 3.54 | 0.76 | 20,448 | 7.41 | 1.04 | 48,695 | 7.71 | 1.08 |
| Theft From the Person | 1 | 0.10 | 0.71 | 2,229 | 0.81 | 0.52 | 3,568 | 0.57 | 0.37 |
| Vehicle Crime | 24 | 2.49 | 0.63 | 15,694 | 5.69 | 1.32 | 30,637 | 4.87 | 1.13 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 252 | 26.22 | 0.86 | 122,302 | 44.42 | 1.46 | 239,898 | 38.04 | 1.25 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
Meltham | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 503 | 52.31 | 0.86 | 265,570 | 96.48 | 1.34 | 537,504 | 85.27 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 568 | 59.05 | 0.93 | 277,491 | 101.23 | 1.37 | 553,826 | 88.44 | 1.19 |
| 2024 | 592 | 61.63 | 0.93 | 287,194 | 105.62 | 1.40 | 576,330 | 93.00 | 1.23 |
| 2023 | 626 | 65.85 | 0.93 | 312,915 | 116.19 | 1.47 | 611,034 | 99.55 | 1.26 |
| 2022 | 564 | 60.41 | 0.90 | 294,530 | 110.60 | 1.44 | 574,808 | 94.84 | 1.23 |
| 2021 | 528 | 57.48 | 0.94 | 250,751 | 94.53 | 1.38 | 501,180 | 83.02 | 1.21 |
| 2020 | 545 | 59.67 | 0.90 | 275,554 | 104.15 | 1.40 | 549,148 | 91.15 | 1.23 |
| 2019 | 563 | 62.30 | 0.89 | 287,851 | 109.31 | 1.43 | 568,297 | 94.66 | 1.24 |
| 2018 | 421 | 47.03 | 0.76 | 256,214 | 97.73 | 1.37 | 514,090 | 85.73 | 1.21 |
| 2017 | 595 | 66.23 | 1.11 | 226,333 | 86.57 | 1.35 | 456,998 | 76.46 | 1.20 |
| 2016 | 181 | 20.07 | 1.18 | 67,845 | 26.03 | 1.36 | 133,274 | 22.31 | 1.17 |
Download | |||||||||
Meltham Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horbury | 804 | 77.83 | 49% more dangerous |
| Guiseley | 947 | 72.09 | 38% more dangerous |
| Liversedge | 1,250 | 73.96 | 41% more dangerous |
| Normanton | 1,763 | 71.61 | 37% more dangerous |
| East Ardsley | 1,020 | 69.43 | 33% more dangerous |
| Mirfield | 1,466 | 69.74 | 33% more dangerous |
| Baildon | 1,210 | 65.54 | 25% more dangerous |
| Ossett | 1,435 | 63.05 | 21% more dangerous |
| Bingley | 1,728 | 63.21 | 21% more dangerous |
| Silsden | 554 | 57.16 | 9% more dangerous |
| Kippax | 543 | 53.61 | 2.5% more dangerous |
| Meltham | 503 | 52.31 | - |
| Wetherby | 812 | 57.32 | 10% more dangerous |
| Ripponden | 402 | 50.69 | 3.1% safer |
| Otley | 866 | 55.77 | 7% more dangerous |
| Ackworth | 428 | 50.77 | 2.9% safer |
| Crigglestone | 660 | 49.15 | 6% safer |
| Horsforth | 1,389 | 54.91 | 5.0% more dangerous |
| Garforth | 775 | 48.16 | 8% safer |
Comparing Meltham to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Meltham | 52.31 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 52% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 58% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 61% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 87% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 100% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 101% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 104% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 105% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 106% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 139% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Meltham's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Meltham 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodhead Fold Gardens | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | 5 | 8 |
| Meltham Hall Park | 1 | - | - | - | 4 | 2 |
Recent Crimes in Meltham
The 20 most recent crime reports in Meltham.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Thomas Wroe Way | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Cranmer Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Highfield Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Pavilion Way | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near B6108 | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Slaithwaite Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Victoria Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Highfield Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Other crime | On or near The Cobbles | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Acorn Drive | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Pick Hill Road | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Bent Ley Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Pick Hill Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Darnley Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near B6108 | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Copley Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Copley Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Pick Hill Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Highfield Road |
Methodology & Data Sources
Meltham 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 Meltham 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.
Meltham Data Points
For Meltham, 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 E04012087.
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 Meltham's daytime - or "workday" - population of 7,100 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 Meltham