Photo: Elcap · CC0Clifton records vehicle crime at 9.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violence recorded locally dropped 23% in a year. Taking everything together, Clifton scores C+ (#23 of 33 in Bedfordshire): close to the middle of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Of all the kinds of crime, vehicle crime is where Clifton departs most from towns its size: 19.1 per 1,000 against 2.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Clifton
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 23% less violent crime per resident in Clifton than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Clifton has the 585th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Weedon Bec, Newlyn and Bardney, higher than Middlestown and Overton, Netherton (Kirklees) and Kingskerswell. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C+ for Clifton
A fairly firm grade. Built on 302 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Clifton 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
Against the typical town its size, Clifton runs highest on vehicle crime (19.1 per 1,000 against 2). Criminal damage & arson and violence & sexual offences sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 53 | 19.1 | 2 |
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 44 | 15.9 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 23 | 8.3 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 11 | 4 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 10 | 3.6 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 9 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 5 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 5 | 1.8 | 1 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 3 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
How crime in Clifton has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -23% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +113% (towns its size -1%), anti-social behaviour +0% (towns its size +0%).
How Clifton’s neighbourhoods rank in England
45% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Clifton’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Clifton is 585th of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 72 | Oakley Bedfordshire | 2,507 | 11.7 | 4.4 | 0.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 123 | Silsoe Bedfordshire | 3,419 | 11.8 | 6.5 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 139 | Westoning Bedfordshire | 2,097 | 12.2 | 6.7 | 2.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 230 | Henlow Bedfordshire | 2,446 | 14.7 | 7.8 | 2.6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 582 | Middlestown and Overton West Yorkshire | 2,409 | 27.1 | 9.1 | 3.2 | C+ |
| 583 | Netherton (Kirklees) West Yorkshire | 3,151 | 26.3 | 9.9 | 6.6 | C+ |
| 584 | Kingskerswell Devon | 3,761 | 25 | 11.3 | 4.6 | C+ |
| 585 | Clifton Bedfordshire | 2,769 | 20.2 | 16.1 | 4.2 | C+ |
| 586 | Drybrook Gloucestershire | 2,572 | 29 | 7.4 | 3.2 | C+ |
| 587 | Fowey Cornwall | 2,027 | 27.5 | 9 | 5.4 | C+ |
| 588 | Berkeley Gloucestershire | 2,250 | 25.8 | 10.7 | 5.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 856 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Clifton, and others in Bedfordshire.
For every 1,000 residents, about 17 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
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 25 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.
No one died in a collision on Clifton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 7 collisions with injuries inside Clifton in five years. 1 person was killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Clifton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Clifton’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Clifton had 1.
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. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Clifton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Clifton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clifton | 2,769 | 20.2 | 16.1 | C+ |
| Henlow | 2,446 | 14.7 | 7.8 | A− |
| Shefford | 7,317 | 27 | 14.9 | C |
| Langford | 3,712 | 22.2 | 6.6 | B |
| Meppershall | 2,044 | 16 | 10.6 | B+ |
| Lower Stondon | 3,966 | 19.5 | 8.1 | B |
| Arlesey | 6,027 | 21.3 | 12.7 | B− |
| Stotfold | 12,313 | 18.8 | 6.3 | B+ |
Clifton records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Shefford records more. Henlow, 0.8 miles away, records 14.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Clifton’s 20.2.
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 Clifton 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 built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Clifton
Is Clifton safe?
Police recorded 20.2 violent and sexual offences and 16.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Clifton’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 42% of UK towns. Among 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Clifton is 585th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Clifton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 23%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 113%, shoplifting and theft fell 28% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Clifton?
Vehicle crime: 53 in the 12 months to August 2026. Next came violence & sexual offences (44) and public order (11), with 23 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Clifton compare with Hitchin?
Hitchin records 24.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Clifton’s 20.2 and 16.1, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area 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.