Pontefract
TownTown in Wakefield, Yorkshire and The Humber.
Pontefract is an ONS built-up area: the land built up as one town, whatever council it is in. Figures for Pontefract add up the census output areas (or, for claimants, the neighbourhoods) that sit mostly inside it, so they are close to, but not exactly, the town’s own.
Radon Affected Area by town
Worked out by Open Index · 2022
About 100% of people in Pontefract live in a 1 km square that the radon atlas marks as a radon Affected Area.
How Pontefract compares
Each dot is a town. The black line marks the middle one.
Is Pontefract safe? What police records show
In the 12 months to August 2026, police recorded crimes and anti-social behaviour in Pontefract at a rate of 120.2 per 1,000 people.
That compares with 108.4 per 1,000 people across Yorkshire and The Humber.
Across England as a whole, the recorded crime rate was 96.3 per 1,000 people.
In August 2026 alone, 385 cases of crime and anti-social behaviour were recorded in Pontefract.
In the 12 months to August 2026, the most common types were violence and sexual offences (1,744), other crime (675) and anti-social behaviour (542).
A year earlier, the recorded crime rate in Pontefract was 124.8 per 1,000 people.
Worked out by Open Index from police.uk crime records and ONS and NISRA population estimates.
Rates are per resident, so places that many people work in or visit, such as Westminster, the City of London and other city centres, have far higher rates than their residents alone would suggest.
Deprivation in Pontefract, neighbourhood by neighbourhood
- Deprivation is ranked by neighbourhood, so Pontefract has no single figure. Of its 19 neighbourhoods with a rank:
- Decile 1 (England’s most deprived 10%): 3 neighbourhoods
- Decile 2: 2 neighbourhoods
- Decile 3: 4 neighbourhoods
- Decile 4: 1 neighbourhood
- Decile 5: 2 neighbourhoods
- Decile 6: 2 neighbourhoods
- Decile 8: 1 neighbourhood
- Decile 9: 3 neighbourhoods
- Decile 10 (England’s least deprived 10%): 1 neighbourhood
English Indices of Deprivation 2025. Decile 1 is the most deprived tenth of neighbourhoods in England.
Neighbourhoods in Pontefract
| Name | People (census) | Recorded crime per 1,000 | Deprivation decile | Gigabit broadband |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wakefield 012A | 2,159 | 42.0 per 1,000 | 8 | 98.5% |
| Wakefield 012B | 1,456 | 187.0 per 1,000 | 5 | 95.7% |
| Wakefield 012C | 2,541 | 105.4 per 1,000 | 5 | 99.9% |
| Wakefield 012D | 1,713 | 94.2 per 1,000 | 3 | 100.0% |
| Wakefield 012E | 1,944 | 46.3 per 1,000 | 9 | 99.6% |
| Wakefield 015A | 2,007 | 71.9 per 1,000 | 4 | 96.5% |
| Wakefield 015B | 1,693 | 550.7 per 1,000 | 2 | 54.9% |
| Wakefield 015C | 1,941 | 144.0 per 1,000 | 1 | 47.5% |
| Wakefield 015D | 2,194 | 136.3 per 1,000 | 6 | 92.8% |
| Wakefield 015E | 1,369 | 142.1 per 1,000 | 1 | 71.8% |
| Wakefield 018A | 1,785 | 107.1 per 1,000 | 3 | 78.9% |
| Wakefield 018B | 1,606 | 106.5 per 1,000 | 1 | 98.6% |
| Wakefield 018C | 1,715 | 153.1 per 1,000 | 2 | 98.3% |
| Wakefield 018D | 1,379 | 109.9 per 1,000 | 3 | 100.0% |
| Wakefield 023A | 1,806 | 26.3 per 1,000 | 10 | 99.2% |
| Wakefield 023B | 1,349 | 62.2 per 1,000 | 6 | 98.6% |
| Wakefield 023C | 1,416 | 65.4 per 1,000 | 9 | 98.7% |
| Wakefield 023D | 1,431 | 50.3 per 1,000 | 9 | 81.9% |
| Wakefield 023E | 1,469 | 95.3 per 1,000 | 3 | 98.7% |
Your MP
- Yvette CooperLabourMP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
As of , from the UK Parliament Members API. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Source: UK Parliament, Members API.
Council1
Postcode districts covering Pontefract1
Middle areas in Pontefract4
Towns near Pontefract6
Pontefract in brief
Pontefract is a town in Wakefield, Yorkshire and The Humber.
About 34,171 people lived in Pontefract in mid-2024 (worked out by Open Index from ONS small-area estimates); the median price paid for a home was £212,250 in 2025 across 472 sales (HM Land Registry) and police recorded crimes and anti-social behaviour at a rate of 120.2 per 1,000 people in the 12 months to August 2026 (police.uk).
The median price paid for a home in Pontefract was £212,250 in 2025.
Pontefract had 32,982 usual residents at the census.
About 100% of people in Pontefract live in a 1 km square that the radon atlas marks as a radon Affected Area.
In Pontefract, 87.9% of homes and businesses could get gigabit-capable broadband in January 2026.