Crime in Cardiff

Police.uk reported crime in Cardiff, Cardiff. Category breakdown, 24-month trend, and postcode-district hot and cold spots within the town.

Incidents reported (12m)
62,642
+1.3% vs prior year
Window
Nov 2024 – Oct 2025
Police.uk reports ~2 months in arrears.
Refreshed
7 May 2026

Crime in Cardiff by category

Last 12 months, all 14 Police.uk categories. Bars are scaled to the largest category in Cardiff.

Category Incidents % of mix Volume
Violence and sexual offences 17,673 28.2%
Anti-social behaviour 9,136 14.6%
Public order 7,127 11.4%
Criminal damage and arson 5,882 9.4%
Other theft 5,064 8.1%
Vehicle crime 4,485 7.2%
Shoplifting 2,995 4.8%
Burglary 2,817 4.5%
Drugs 2,193 3.5%
Other crime 1,681 2.7%
Bicycle theft 1,360 2.2%
Robbery 972 1.6%
Possession of weapons 693 1.1%
Theft from the person 564 0.9%

Where Cardiff's crime mix differs from the UK

Top 5 categories where Cardiff's 12-month share differs most from the national average. Percentage-point delta. Positive means more concentrated in Cardiff than the UK as a whole.

Category Cardiff UK Delta
Public order 11.4% 7.9% +3.5 pp
Violence and sexual offences 28.2% 31.7% -3.5 pp
Anti-social behaviour 14.6% 16.3% -1.7 pp
Bicycle theft 2.2% 1.1% +1.1 pp
Shoplifting 4.8% 3.8% +1.0 pp

Monthly incident volume

Nov 2023 to Oct 2025. Police.uk publishes ~2 months in arrears.

6,112 3,056 0 Nov 2023 Oct 2024 Oct 2025
Monthly incident volume
MonthValue
2023-115522
2023-125225
2024-015306
2024-024915
2024-035490
2024-045527
2024-056089
2024-066112
2024-075991
2024-085952
2024-095528
2024-105679
2024-115326
2024-124978
2025-015178
2025-025081
2025-035673
2025-045378
2025-055734
2025-065522
2025-075721
2025-085514
2025-094071
2025-104466

Hottest postcode districts in Cardiff

  • CF10 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF11 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF14 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF15 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF23 62,642 incidents (12m)

Quietest postcode districts in Cardiff

  • CF2 26,776 incidents (12m)
  • CF1 34,092 incidents (12m)
  • CF10 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF11 62,642 incidents (12m)
  • CF14 62,642 incidents (12m)

Postcode-district counts use the bounding box of every address in the district, so they're approximate. Treat them as a relative ranking within Cardiff rather than an absolute count.

What Cardiff crime data isn't

  • Reported, not actual. Many crimes go unreported. The data reflects what reached Police.uk, not the underlying incidence rate.
  • Locations are obfuscated. Each incident is mapped to a snap point within roughly 250 metres of the true location to protect victim privacy.
  • Force-by-force inconsistency. Different police forces classify and record borderline incidents differently. Comparing two areas covered by different forces needs care.
  • Patrol-density bias. Areas with heavier patrol presence record more incidents, partly because more crime is observed and reported.

FAQ

All incidents come from Police.uk, the official open-data feed published by UK police forces. Data is updated monthly. The figures show what was reported and recorded, not necessarily what happened.
Police.uk obfuscates each incident location to a "snap point", typically the centre of the nearest street or a similar landmark within roughly 250 metres. This protects victim privacy. The category and month are accurate; the precise address is intentionally not.
Read them as one signal among many. Anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime are quality-of-life signals. Burglary trends matter for insurance and security. Raw counts reflect both the actual incident rate and how heavily an area is patrolled and reported, so busy commercial streets always look 'worse' than quiet residential ones.
Police.uk publishes about two months in arrears. So crime for January typically appears in March or April. The 12-month window on this page ends with the most recent month available.

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