Cardiff’s crime rate is currently recorded to be higher than the Welsh national average, with 2025 reporting an average of 83 crimes per 1,000 people. The “most dangerous” areas in 2025, according to CrimeRate’s statistics, are Adamsdown, Riverside, Butetown, and specifically St Mary’s Street. It is interesting to see where Cathays lies in all of this and why there is a intensification of crime in the area in comparison to other suburbs in Cardiff.
The city is home to three universities—Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, and the University of Wales—so it’s granted that the area will be home to many students, especially during term times. In 2013, university students made up around a fifth of Cardiff’s population, according to WalesOnline, and this number has only grown since. With Cathays being the largest home to non-halls housing for students, it is interesting to see how crime rates vary in the area, and the effect this has on students.
Wales Online reported in September that “most” of the students they spoke to said that “they’d always felt safe” in Cathays, due to the sense of “community” they felt from the area being full of students, especially when discussing walking back later at night. According to a new study of police crime data and estimated data for UK student suburbs, Cathays is the “most dangerous” university suburb. The popular Facebook group “Overheard at Cardiff University” has yearly reports of crime from students, from car burglaries to noise complaints, antisocial behaviour, and theft.
Students still feel safe living in the area
But is this being recorded within crime statistics? According to Overheard there seems to be a large number of unreported “minor crimes” in the area which are not presented in the statistics. A recent graduate and resident of the Cathays area since 2023 revealed that throughout their time in Cathays, there had been multiple incidents where their car had faced damage via hit-and-runs, and shared their view that “it is not worth reporting” and that “nothing changes”.
Another recent graduate told me of having their car vandalised by someone who carved words into the bonnet with a rock, and how “she didn’t feel comfortable reporting it” at risk of “not being taken seriously”. When discussing the ever-present issue of vehicle crime in Cathays, another resident brought up being witness to multiple wing mirrors being smashed on Column Road by drunk students during their first years. They also reported being too uncomfortable to say anything.
Further discussions with friends and fellow students raised the topic of sexual violence and harassment in Cardiff, which whilst it seems to be a lot more common in the city centre, is still an issue in nightlife venues in Cathays, as well as popular streets such as City Road. Regardless of the presence of students there, the number of reported crimes has seemingly remained at a similar average for the past three years. Crimes such as violence, sexual assault, and shoplifting are continually higher than others.
There has been a recent call for Cardiff University Students’ Union to do more regarding sexual violence both on and off campus. Nevertheless, it remains true that despite the high rate of both reported and unreported crimes in Cathays, students still feel very safe in this local community.