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Royal British Legion, Market Square, StonehavenPhoto: Bill Harrison · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
Safety in Stonehaven · Scottish Government, SIMD

Recorded crime in the Aberdeenshire council area is 48% below Scotland’s rate

Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Stonehaven 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 Aberdeenshire council area (294 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Stonehaven’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.

Crimes, Aberdeenshire
294
per 10,000 people, 2025-26
Scotland 569
Violence
86
non-sexual violent crimes per 10,000
Scotland 136
Cleared up
64%
of recorded crimes, 2025-26
Scotland 57%
SIMD crimes in Stonehaven
162
per 10,000 residents, 2017/18
Scotland 276
What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Stonehaven

Crime down over ten years

Recorded crime across the Aberdeenshire council area went from 314 to 294 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓

Few crime-deprived neighbourhoods

7% of Stonehaven’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 30% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 162 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is 41% below Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

Written from the Scottish Government’s recorded crime and SIMD figures on this page.

By type

What police recorded in the Aberdeenshire council area in 2025-26

Common assault68
Vandalism33
Shoplifting27
Fraud18
Drug supply7
Domestic abuse6
Housebreaking5
Car theft3
Serious assault3
Robbery1
Violent & sexualHomes, cars & damageOtherScotland

Robbery and shoplifting sit below Scotland’s rate.

Show every crime group as a table
GroupRecordedPer 10,000Scotland
Non-sexual crimes of violence2,26786136
Sexual crimes6592530
Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud)2,07678213
Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising)1,0093869
Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice)1,77667121
Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour)9013493

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.

Neighbourhoods · Scotland-wide rank

1 in 4 Stonehaven residents lives in one of Scotland’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods

7%1
0%2
0%3
8%4
7%5
25%6
3%7
21%8
6%9
24%10
Higher crimeLower crime

50% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 7% in the highest-crime 20%. Stonehaven counted 162 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, 41% below Scotland’s 276; three years before, 175 (-7%, 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.

Stonehaven’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.

Towns its size

Stonehaven is 36th of 129 Scottish towns of 5,591 to 22,229

#TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000In the most crime-deprived fifth
1Westhill Aberdeenshire11,778520%
2Auchterarder Perth and Kinross6,058660%
…
33South Queensferry City of Edinburgh10,21415214%
34Elderslie Renfrewshire5,6321553%
35Troon South Ayrshire15,2711565%
36Stonehaven Aberdeenshire11,1641627%
37Duntocher and Hardgate West Dunbartonshire6,5731640%
38Haddington East Lothian11,3641708%
39Kelty Fife6,8981740%
…
128Methil Fife10,71250957%
129Stranraer Dumfries and Galloway9,72956545%

SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, counting from the fewest: the towns either side of Stonehaven, and the ends of the list. Described, not graded.

Cleared up

64% of crimes in the Aberdeenshire council area were cleared up, more than Scotland’s 57%

All crimes64%
Violence75%
Sexual crimes62%
Dishonesty42%
Damage35%
Against society94%
Violent & sexualHomes, cars & damageOtherScotland

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.

Ten years · yearly

Recorded crime down 6% 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 Aberdeenshire council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes -6% (Scotland +3%), violence +9%.

1,000 people · one year

For every 1,000 people in the Aberdeenshire council area, about 11 violent or sexual crimes in 2025-26

Violent & sexualHousebreaking, car theft & damageOther theft & fraud
2,926
violent and sexual crimes, Aberdeenshire, 2025-26
1,214
housebreaking, car theft & damage
1,871
other theft & fraud
23
of the three, per 1,000

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 5 housebreakings, car thefts or acts of vandalism and fire-raising, plus 7 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 Aberdeenshire council area shares them.

Where in Stonehaven

Fewest SIMD crimes in Fetteresso, Netherley and Catter

AreaResidentsPer 10,000
Fetteresso, Netherley and Catter634107
Stonehaven South5,088163
Stonehaven North5,442167
Below Scotland’s rateAt or above it

0 of Stonehaven’s 3 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.

On the roads

No one died in a collision on Stonehaven’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 11 collisions with injuries inside Stonehaven in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.

That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Stonehaven’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Stonehaven’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, a town of Stonehaven’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 13 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Stonehaven had 5.

0
people killed, 2021–2025
5
killed or seriously injured
3
of them on foot
0
of them on a bicycle

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 Stonehaven’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Stonehaven

Fewest quarterSecondThirdMost SIMD crime
TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000Most crime-deprived fifth
Stonehaven11,1641627%
Newtonhill3,182920%
Portlethen8,9651010%
Peterculter4,3591050%
Milltimber3,049450%
Cove Bay7,926950%
Banchory7,58213713%

Stonehaven counted more SIMD crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Newtonhill, 5.3 miles away, counted 92 per 10,000, against Stonehaven’s 162.

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.

How to read these numbers

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 Aberdeenshire 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 Stonehaven

Is Stonehaven safe?

Police Scotland recorded 294 crimes per 10,000 people across the Aberdeenshire council area in 2025-26, 48% below Scotland’s 569. Within Stonehaven, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 162 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 7% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Stonehaven has no Safety Grade.

How many crimes are solved in the Aberdeenshire council area?

64% 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 Stonehaven 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.