Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Bangor sees less crime than 99% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more
On violence it beats 63% of UK towns, and on burglary, vehicle crime and damage 76%. Violent crime barely moved in a year. Typical years here bring 18.9 violent and sexual offences plus 6.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bangor
Less crime than most places its size
Of 113 UK towns and cities of 45,000 to 87,000 people, Bangor has the 2nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Metropolitan Newtownabbey, Thundersley and South Benfleet and Lisburn, higher than Metropolitan Castlereagh. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
How Bangor comes out at B+
A firm grade. Built on 4,905 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bangor against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Other theft and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,245 | 19.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,208 | 18.7 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 306 | 4.7 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 151 | 2.3 | 6.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 140 | 2.2 | 10.3 |
| Drugs | not graded | 120 | 1.9 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 86 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 41 | 0.6 | 3.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 24 | 0.4 | 7.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 19 | 0.3 | 4.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 16 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 6 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.7 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Bangor is 2nd of 113 UK towns of 45,000 to 87,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| 2 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| 3 | Wokingham Berkshire | 50,320 | 18.3 | 8.6 | 12.5 | B |
| 4 | Christchurch Dorset | 48,973 | 18.1 | 10.4 | 10.1 | B |
| 5 | West Molesey Surrey | 47,144 | 19.1 | 10.5 | 6.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 113 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Bangor, and others in Ards and North Down.
Lowest recorded crime in Groomsport, Helen's Bay and Ballycrochan; highest in Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groomsport | 1,888 | 2.6 | 0.7 | |
| Helen's Bay | 1,149 | 5.8 | 2.6 | |
| Ballycrochan | 3,032 | 7.5 | 1.8 | |
| Ballymagee | 3,995 | 7.8 | 1.5 | |
| Bryansburn | 3,643 | 7.6 | 2.3 | |
| Silverbirch | 3,866 | 8.8 | 2 | |
| Broadway | 3,464 | 9.7 | 2.3 | |
| Ballyholme | 3,836 | 10.9 | 3.4 | |
| Clandeboye | 3,866 | 12 | 3 | |
| Rathmore | 3,335 | 12.7 | 3.9 | |
| Silverstream | 4,188 | 16.9 | 3.6 | |
| Kilcooley | 4,398 | 25.4 | 7.8 | |
| Ballygrainey | 5,652 | 25.9 | 8.9 | |
| Bloomfield | 3,739 | 29.9 | 12.9 | |
| Harbour | 4,727 | 39.8 | 13 | |
| Rathgael | 3,747 | 36 | 18.3 | |
| Castle | 3,819 | 43.6 | 15.4 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Castle records 2.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Bangor.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bangor’s settlement), September 2023 to August 2026.
Crime in Bangor per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 6 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Bangor’s neighbourhoods rank in Northern Ireland
37% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods, and 15% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime and disorder domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and deliberate fires where people live, on 2014–15 figures (NISRA’s latest edition), so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Bangor’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (Super Output Area, about 2,000 people) in the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 (crime and disorder domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data; England and Wales towns only).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -11% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -18% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +2% (towns its size -2%).
Four people died in collisions on Bangor’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 453 collisions with injuries inside Bangor in five years, in which four people died (1 was a pedestrian). 60 people were killed or seriously injured: 23 on foot and 3 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 Bangor’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bangor’s own rate (1.2) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bangor had 18.6 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 is as the Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded it: the Department for Transport’s adjustment, which evens out different ways of recording injuries, covers Great Britain’s forces only, and the towns its size are Great Britain’s. There’s no national rate here: more than three quarters of Northern Ireland’s road deaths (77%) happen outside every town’s settlement boundary. Source: PSNI police recorded injury road traffic collisions, 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Bangor’s settlement, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bangor
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangor | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | B+ |
| Newtownards | 29,677 | 28.7 | 9.1 | C+ |
| Donaghadee | 7,325 | 14 | 5.7 | A− |
| Holywood | 10,757 | 16.2 | 7.9 | B+ |
| Whitehead | 3,537 | 18.3 | 5.1 | B+ |
| Comber | 9,529 | 15.6 | 6.4 | A− |
| Carrickfergus | 28,141 | 18.7 | 6.3 | B+ |
| Greenisland | 5,383 | 16 | 5 | A− |
Bangor records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Newtownards records more. Donaghadee, 5 miles away, records 14 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bangor’s 18.9.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Bangor sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the settlement can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Bangor
Is Bangor safe?
Police recorded 18.9 violent and sexual offences and 6.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bangor’s settlement). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 69% of UK towns. Among 113 UK towns of 45,000 to 87,000 people, Bangor is 2nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Bangor?
By council ward, Groomsport, Helen's Bay and Ballycrochan record the least violent and household crime per resident: 2.6, 5.8 and 7.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 43.6 in Castle.
Is crime going up in Bangor?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft fell 18% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bangor?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,245 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (306) and other theft (151), with 1,208 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bangor compare with Belfast?
Belfast records 45.1 violent and sexual offences and 19 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bangor’s 18.9 and 6.4, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime (Police Service of Northern Ireland), 36 months to August 2026, points inside the settlement boundary · NISRA Census 2021, data zones best-fitted to the NISRA Settlement Development Limits 2015 (settlement totals from NISRA where it publishes them) · OSNI ward boundaries (the 2014 wards), residents from NISRA Census 2021 data zones by area · NISRA Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017, crime and disorder domain by Super Output Area (residents from NISRA Census 2021 data zones by area) · PSNI police recorded injury road traffic collisions 2021–2025 (Open Data NI), points inside the settlement 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.