Photo: Bill Harrison · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime in the Aberdeen City council area is 17% above Scotland’s rate
Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Aberdeen has no Safety Grade and no overall grade until the 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation brings neighbourhood crime figures. What Scotland does publish: crime for the whole Aberdeen City council area (667 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Aberdeen’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.
What stands out about safety in Aberdeen
Crime down over ten years
Recorded crime across the Aberdeen City council area went from 764 to 667 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓
A mix of neighbourhoods
28% of Aberdeen’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 16% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 382 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is 38% above Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the Scottish Government’s recorded crime and SIMD figures on this page.
Fewest SIMD crimes in Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber West; most in City Centre East
| Area | Residents | Per 10,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber West | 730 | 39 | |
| Braeside, Mannofield, Broomhill and Seafield South | 3,800 | 42 | |
| Denmore | 3,912 | 44 | |
| Oldmachar East | 4,659 | 54 | |
| Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber East | 6,161 | 55 | |
| Kingswells | 487 | 58 | |
| Oldmachar West | 4,738 | 60 | |
| George Street | 7,007 | 601 | |
| Torry West | 4,902 | 624 | |
| Torry East | 4,122 | 898 | |
| Cove North | 970 | 1,165 | |
| Ashgrove | 3,706 | 1,400 | |
| City Centre West | 4,375 | 1,792 | |
| City Centre East | 2,583 | 2,385 |
24 of Aberdeen’s 46 areas are at or above Scotland’s rate of 276 (orange bars). SIMD counts crimes where they were recorded, so an area with a town centre, a station or a hospital records more than its own residents suffer.
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, by small area (2011 data zones, grouped by the names the Scottish Government gives them), fewest first. The seven lowest and seven highest of 46.
What police recorded in the Aberdeen City council area in 2025-26
Against Scotland, the Aberdeen City council area runs highest on robbery (7 per 10,000 against 3), drug supply (17 per 10,000 against 9) and domestic abuse (9 per 10,000 against 6). Housebreaking sits below Scotland’s rate.
Show every crime group as a table
| Group | Recorded | Per 10,000 | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-sexual crimes of violence | 3,984 | 172 | 136 |
| Sexual crimes | 761 | 33 | 30 |
| Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud) | 5,727 | 247 | 213 |
| Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising) | 1,695 | 73 | 69 |
| Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice) | 3,294 | 142 | 121 |
| Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour) | 1,816 | 78 | 93 |
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crimes and offences by council area. Groups 1 to 5 are crimes; group 6, antisocial offences, is offences.
Per 10,000 people. The tick on each bar is Scotland’s rate. Every town in the council area shares these figures.
Aberdeen is 12th of 15 Scottish towns of 42,256 to 192,968
| # | Town | People | SIMD crimes per 10,000 | In the most crime-deprived fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Kilbride South Lanarkshire | 76,626 | 214 | 11% |
| 2 | Dunfermline Fife | 56,053 | 247 | 18% |
| … | ||||
| 9 | Coatbridge North Lanarkshire | 42,256 | 344 | 30% |
| 10 | Greenock Inverclyde | 42,870 | 355 | 27% |
| 11 | Dundee Dundee City | 147,365 | 372 | 34% |
| 12 | Aberdeen Aberdeen City | 192,968 | 382 | 28% |
| 13 | Kirkcaldy and Dysart Fife | 51,135 | 383 | 41% |
| 14 | Paisley Renfrewshire | 79,351 | 395 | 35% |
| 15 | Inverness Highland | 48,257 | 450 | 30% |
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, counting from the fewest: the towns either side of Aberdeen, and the ends of the list. Described, not graded.
Recorded crime down 13% since 2016-17
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2016-17 to the newest year. Since April 2019 violence includes the new crime of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Per 10,000 people each year, the Aberdeen City council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes -13% (Scotland +3%), violence +6%.
28% of Aberdeen residents live in one of Scotland’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
22% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 28% in the highest-crime 20%. Aberdeen counted 382 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, 38% above Scotland’s 276; three years before, 432 (-12%, Scotland -9%).
Scottish Government, SIMD 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (crimes of violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault, 2014/15 and 2017/18). Residents from Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
Aberdeen’s residents by the crime decile of their small area (2011 data zone, about 800 people) in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Scotland’s 6,976 data zones and 10 the lowest.
Police in the Aberdeen City council area clear up crime about as often as across Scotland
Violence and drugs crimes are cleared up most often, because they are usually recorded with a suspect in view; housebreaking, theft and vandalism least.
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crime clear-up rates by council area.
Share of crimes recorded in 2025-26 that were cleared up: a suspect identified and enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal. The tick is Scotland.
For every 1,000 people in the Aberdeen City council area, about 21 violent or sexual crimes in 2025-26
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can suffer several, and crimes in a city centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 9 housebreakings, car thefts or acts of vandalism and fire-raising, plus 23 other thefts and frauds. Each dot is one person; each coloured dot is one recorded crime. These are council-wide figures: every town in the Aberdeen City council area shares them.
Nine people died in collisions on Aberdeen’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 297 collisions with injuries inside Aberdeen in five years, in which nine people died (4 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 162 people were killed or seriously injured: 62 on foot and 24 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Aberdeen’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Aberdeen’s own rate (0.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Aberdeen had 16.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 38% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries; the towns its size are England and Wales’s. There’s no national rate here: more than two thirds of Scotland’s road deaths (70%) happen outside every town’s locality boundary. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Aberdeen’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Aberdeen
| Town | People | SIMD crimes per 10,000 | Most crime-deprived fifth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | 192,968 | 382 | 28% |
| Kingswells | 4,776 | 56 | 0% |
| Cove Bay | 7,926 | 95 | 0% |
| Dyce | 6,998 | 178 | 7% |
| Milltimber | 3,049 | 45 | 0% |
| Portlethen | 8,965 | 101 | 0% |
| Westhill | 11,778 | 52 | 0% |
| Peterculter | 4,359 | 105 | 0% |
Aberdeen counted more SIMD crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Kingswells, 3.5 miles away, counted 56 per 10,000, against Aberdeen’s 382.
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18. The map colours each town by the quarter of Scotland’s towns it falls in; they are not grades. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Council areas, not towns. Recorded crime and clear-up rates are published for each of Scotland’s 32 council areas, so every town in the Aberdeen City council area shares them. A city centre and a quiet village in the same council show the same figures.
- SIMD crime is town-level, but old. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counts selected crimes (violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault) in each small area. SIMD 2020 uses crimes from 2017/18; SIMD 2026, due at the end of 2026, will bring newer figures; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
- Not a grade. Nothing on this page is graded. The towns-its-size ranking and the neighbours’ colours describe SIMD crime rates; they aren’t a Safety Grade and don’t feed one.
- Recorded, not experienced. Recorded crime is what the police record. It moves with reporting and policing as well as with crime; the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey asks people directly, for Scotland as a whole.
Questions about safety in Aberdeen
Is Aberdeen safe?
Police Scotland recorded 667 crimes per 10,000 people across the Aberdeen City council area in 2025-26, 17% above Scotland’s 569. Within Aberdeen, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 382 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 28% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Aberdeen has no Safety Grade.
How many crimes are solved in the Aberdeen City council area?
59% of crimes recorded in 2025-26 were cleared up (someone was identified and there was enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal), against 57% across Scotland.
Why doesn’t Aberdeen have a Safety Grade?
Our Safety Grade counts crimes inside each town’s boundary. Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes by location for reuse, so Scottish towns can’t be measured the same way. The 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation will bring newer neighbourhood crime figures.
Sources: Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland (crimes, offences and clear-up rates by council area, 2016-17 to 2025-26); Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (2014/15, 2017/18), 2011 data zones with Census 2022 residents · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.