Crime in Carmarthenshire: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (7,517), anti-social behaviour (2,047) and criminal damage and arson (1,630) made up 68% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 152nd of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lower half.

Recorded crime in Carmarthenshire peaked in the year to August 2022 (17,811 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2024 (10,896). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 4%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Carmarthenshire recorded notably more criminal damage and arson (27% above the national rate), and notably less robbery (85% below) and theft from the person (81% below). On the year before, anti-social behaviour rose from 1,597 to 2,047 and shoplifting rose from 757 to 902, while theft from the person fell from 75 to 60 and drugs fell from 677 to 548.

What each category covers: crime categories.

12,589 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Carmarthenshire in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 66.0 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 4% on the year ending March 2025 (13,167), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Carmarthenshire had the 102nd lowest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Dyfed-Powys Police area in the year ending March 2026, 7.6% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Carmarthenshire is an undercount.

No longer series is shown for Carmarthenshire: comparable figures start in the year ending March 2025, because too many of the force's crimes in the year ending March 2024 were not assigned to a district.

Offences recorded in Carmarthenshire, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,335 offences (19% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.11 times), robbery of personal property (0.20 times) and vehicle offences (0.30 times).

The largest rises on the year were in arson (+34%) and bicycle theft (+31%). The largest falls were in robbery of personal property (−26%) and non-residential burglary (−22%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Districts in the Dyfed-Powys Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 4 districts in the Dyfed-Powys Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Carmarthenshire had the 2nd highest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

5 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Carmarthenshire; the highest is Blaenau Gwent (148.5 per 1,000) and the lowest Neath Port Talbot (82.5).

Of the 77 areas within Carmarthenshire, Tyisha had the highest crime rate (266.8 per 1,000) and Cynwyl Elfed the lowest (20.8), 13 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 19% of the crime recorded in Carmarthenshire over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (866).

Of the 14,436 crimes in Carmarthenshire with a recorded outcome, 23% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.3% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,047 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Carmarthenshire has an estimated population of 190,800 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (15%, against 23%), an older population (25%, against 19%) and more retired residents (28%, against 22%). On the Wales WIMD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Carmarthenshire average decile 5.2 (1 = most deprived), close to the middle.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.