Crime rates by town: England and Wales, measured
Heswall records 34.2 offences per 1,000 residents, the lowest of any town over 20,000 people. Great Yarmouth records 233.8. Every figure is police-recorded crime, August 2025 to July 2026, on true town boundaries.
Two things this page refuses to do, because doing them is how crime rankings mislead. It does not combine categories into a safety score, since weighting a robbery against an anti-social-behaviour call is an opinion rather than a measurement. And it does not pretend the resident denominator is neutral: seaside and city-centre towns run high per resident because most people in them on a Saturday are not residents. The category columns and each town's own page carry the detail.
Lowest recorded rates, towns over 20,000 residents
| # | Town | All offences /1,000 | Violence & sexual | Burglary | Residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall | 34.2 | 15.8 | 1.4 | 29,075 |
| 2 | Harpenden | 36.3 | 9.7 | 2.2 | 30,965 |
| 3 | Sandhurst | 36.7 | 14.1 | 0.7 | 20,215 |
| 4 | Wokingham | 41.7 | 17.3 | 2.0 | 50,325 |
| 5 | Crowborough | 42.3 | 16.7 | 1.0 | 21,990 |
| 6 | Ascot | 43.5 | 19.1 | 1.8 | 23,995 |
| 7 | Great Bookham | 44.2 | 15.7 | 2.4 | 21,655 |
| 8 | Dronfield | 44.4 | 14.9 | 2.1 | 21,160 |
| 9 | Lee-on-the-Solent | 46.8 | 19.8 | 1.4 | 24,315 |
| 10 | Chippenham | 47.5 | 20.5 | 1.1 | 36,090 |
| 11 | South Benfleet | 47.6 | 20.2 | 2.3 | 49,885 |
| 12 | Fleet | 47.6 | 22.1 | 0.9 | 37,790 |
| 13 | Billericay | 47.8 | 18.0 | 2.1 | 34,075 |
| 14 | Seaford | 47.9 | 18.5 | 0.8 | 23,865 |
| 15 | Maghull | 48.0 | 23.3 | 1.5 | 20,370 |
| 16 | Wilmslow | 49.8 | 20.7 | 2.3 | 25,725 |
| 17 | Formby | 50.5 | 19.6 | 1.4 | 22,890 |
| 18 | West Molesey | 50.8 | 19.3 | 2.1 | 47,150 |
| 19 | Ormskirk | 53.9 | 21.3 | 1.7 | 27,715 |
| 20 | Oadby | 54.2 | 21.5 | 3.0 | 24,030 |
| 21 | Kingswinford | 54.5 | 22.8 | 3.3 | 51,910 |
| 22 | Bebington | 54.5 | 22.9 | 1.5 | 57,600 |
| 23 | Haywards Heath | 55.5 | 18.5 | 2.0 | 40,185 |
| 24 | Rayleigh | 55.9 | 24.2 | 2.0 | 32,380 |
| 25 | Christchurch | 56.2 | 17.6 | 2.4 | 48,985 |
| 26 | Felixstowe | 57.3 | 25.9 | 1.5 | 24,220 |
| 27 | Hedge End | 57.4 | 21.6 | 1.6 | 23,190 |
| 28 | Clevedon | 57.8 | 21.2 | 2.2 | 21,085 |
| 29 | Rustington | 58.4 | 16.9 | 1.1 | 33,885 |
| 30 | Penarth | 58.5 | 20.8 | 2.1 | 28,395 |
Highest recorded rates
| # | Town | All offences /1,000 | Violence & sexual | Burglary | Residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Yarmouth | 233.8 | 98.3 | 5.5 | 28,985 |
| 2 | Eston | 221.2 | 62.8 | 14.6 | 29,635 |
| 3 | Skegness | 218.6 | 76.6 | 5.3 | 20,700 |
| 4 | Rhyl | 207.0 | 87.7 | 4.8 | 26,990 |
| 5 | Middlesbrough | 204.7 | 66.1 | 7.2 | 148,215 |
| 6 | Doncaster | 203.9 | 65.7 | 7.8 | 87,455 |
| 7 | Blackpool | 186.4 | 76.7 | 4.9 | 149,070 |
| 8 | Bishop Auckland | 186.0 | 52.2 | 6.1 | 23,355 |
| 9 | Bridgwater | 185.8 | 76.5 | 4.6 | 47,860 |
| 10 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 185.7 | 48.7 | 5.0 | 23,350 |
| 11 | Hartlepool | 178.7 | 59.3 | 6.8 | 87,995 |
| 12 | Stockton-on-Tees | 177.0 | 58.3 | 7.9 | 84,815 |
| 13 | Canterbury | 175.8 | 55.9 | 3.2 | 55,090 |
| 14 | Chichester | 170.4 | 46.1 | 3.7 | 31,710 |
| 15 | Grimsby | 168.5 | 62.6 | 7.5 | 85,925 |
| 16 | Rotherham | 165.1 | 58.2 | 7.1 | 71,535 |
| 17 | Nottingham | 162.0 | 52.1 | 4.9 | 299,790 |
| 18 | Wrexham | 159.3 | 56.6 | 3.9 | 44,785 |
| 19 | Newport | 158.7 | 54.2 | 5.5 | 130,890 |
| 20 | Bradford | 158.4 | 67.1 | 7.2 | 333,950 |
| 21 | Halifax | 158.3 | 67.2 | 5.7 | 88,115 |
| 22 | Accrington | 158.1 | 58.0 | 4.7 | 34,895 |
| 23 | Barnsley | 157.5 | 55.4 | 6.3 | 71,405 |
| 24 | Bristol | 157.5 | 54.1 | 6.2 | 425,215 |
| 25 | Burnley | 157.5 | 53.8 | 8.3 | 78,255 |
| 26 | Lincoln | 157.2 | 51.4 | 3.5 | 104,555 |
| 27 | Cleethorpes | 156.6 | 56.9 | 6.8 | 29,670 |
| 28 | Leeds | 154.0 | 58.7 | 8.3 | 536,280 |
| 29 | Scarborough | 152.3 | 53.9 | 2.3 | 59,505 |
| 30 | Dover | 152.2 | 56.7 | 2.4 | 36,360 |
Several towns at the top of this table are visitor economies, and their position is partly the resident denominator at work rather than danger. The per-category tables on each town's page separate acquisitive crime from violence from nuisance, which is where any real comparison has to happen. To weigh these rates against house prices, the best-places page joins the two on the same boundaries. If the question is where to move rather than how a town compares, the safest-places page ranks on violence and on burglary separately, and the lists differ from this one more than you would expect.
Source: police-recorded street-level crime, August 2025 to July 2026, located to ONS built-up areas by LSOA and divided by 2021 census populations on the same boundary. Recorded crime is not crime experienced; reporting rates vary by category and place. Greater Manchester and Gloucestershire constabularies do not publish, and their towns are absent rather than approximated. Scotland and Northern Ireland use different systems and geographies.