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Buildings in Buckingham Town CentrePhoto: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0
C+Safety Grade
Safety in Buckingham · police.uk, 2023–2026

Set against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Buckingham records less crime than 70%

Taking everything together, Buckingham scores C+ (#31 of 39 in Buckinghamshire): close to the middle of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. The yearly rates were 27.4 violent and sexual offences and 9.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Recorded violence held steady in a year.

Violent crime
27.4
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
9.2
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
11.5
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
7.1
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded

Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Buckingham

Less crime than many places its size

Of 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Buckingham has the 125th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Tavistock, Great Dunmow and Westbury, higher than Peacehaven, Beaconsfield and Blaby and Whetstone. Towns its size ↓

Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally

The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 22% of Buckingham’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Buckingham’s grade

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 70% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: less crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (27.4 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 38% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (9.2 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 52% of UK towns
C+C+

A firm grade. Built on 1,569 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Buckingham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

1 in 4 Buckingham residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods

0%1
0%2
10%3
0%4
0%5
18%6
40%7
0%8
10%9
22%10
Higher crimeLower crime

32% 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.

Buckingham’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.

By type

What police recorded in the last 12 months

Violence & sexual offences26.2
Anti-social behaviour8
Public order5.3
Other theft4.9
Shoplifting4.1
Criminal damage & arson3.9
Drugs2.2
Burglary1.8
Other crime1.5
Vehicle crime1.2
Robbery0.4
Possession of weapons0.3
Bicycle theft0.2
Theft from the person0.1
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Criminal damage & arson and vehicle crime sit below it.

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent37426.230.4
Anti-social behaviournot graded114812.4
Public ordernot graded765.35.4
Other theftnot graded704.94.4
Shopliftingnot graded584.16.1
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle563.96.2
Drugsnot graded312.21.9
BurglaryHome & vehicle261.82.4
Other crimenot graded221.51.8
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle171.22.8
RobberyViolent60.40.5
Possession of weaponsViolent50.30.7
Bicycle theftnot graded30.20.3
Theft from the personnot graded20.10.3

“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.

Towns its size

Set against 350 towns its size, Buckingham is 125th

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Kesgrave Suffolk14,947133.32.7A
…
38Chalfont St Peter Buckinghamshire13,65415.611.95.8B
…
46Amersham Buckinghamshire17,37718.69.79.5B
…
79Flackwell Heath and Wooburn Green Buckinghamshire12,43820.511.17.8B−
…
83Marlow Buckinghamshire14,64122.19.713.2B−
…
122Peacehaven East Sussex15,70526.89.48.8C+
123Beaconsfield Buckinghamshire14,1422115.412.8C+
124Blaby and Whetstone Leicestershire14,07224.711.88.3C+
125Buckingham Buckinghamshire14,29627.49.211.5C+
126Desborough Northamptonshire11,89925.6118C+
127Humberston and New Waltham Lincolnshire14,86125.9116.4C+
128Otley West Yorkshire14,54925.611.39.3C+
…
350Haverfordwest Dyfed12,08891.428.632.3D−

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 Buckingham, and others in Buckinghamshire.

What happened next

Police in Buckingham identify a suspect more often than across UK towns

Violent crime
Buckingham
All UK towns
Homes & vehicles
Buckingham
All UK towns
Went to courtSuspect identified, unable to prosecuteNo suspect identifiedCaution, local resolution, otherStill open

No suspect was identified for 64% of Buckingham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 5% of household crimes reached court.

The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 585 crimes.

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Buckingham per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
385
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
99
homes & vehicles
133
shoplifting & theft
43
of the three, per 1,000

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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

Trend · monthly

How crime in Buckingham has moved

“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).

Rolling six-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 +2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -20% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -16% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +43% (towns its size -4%).

Where in Buckingham

Where in Buckingham police recorded crime

Public places police.uk named crimes and ASB, 3 years
At or nearReportsMostly
Car parks16364% shoplifting & theft
Supermarkets12539% shoplifting & theft
Petrol stations8731% shoplifting & theft
Police stations5431% drugs, public order & other

police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Buckingham. We show only these, never streets or homes.

Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.

On the roads

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

Police recorded 34 collisions with injuries inside Buckingham in five years. 6 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 Buckingham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Buckingham’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, a town of Buckingham’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 17 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Buckingham had 6.

0
people killed, 2021–2025
6
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. 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 Buckingham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Buckingham

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Buckingham14,29627.49.2C+
Steeple Claydon2,53021.36.9B
Great Horwood1,10275.1A+
Deanshanger4,12814.77.2A−
Winslow5,23824.610.4C+
Calvert1,43416.77B+
Silverstone2,5422710.1C+
Old Stratford2,42711.57.4A

Buckingham records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Silverstone records more. Steeple Claydon, 4.2 miles away, records 21.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Buckingham’s 27.4.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 Buckingham 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 Buckingham

Is Buckingham safe?

Police recorded 27.4 violent and sexual offences and 9.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Buckingham’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 42% of UK towns. Among 350 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, Buckingham is 125th from the least crime. 22% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.

Is crime going up in Buckingham?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 20%, shoplifting and theft fell 16% and anti-social behaviour rose 43%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.

What is the most common crime in Buckingham?

Violence & sexual offences: 374 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (76) and other theft (70), with 114 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Buckingham compare with Milton Keynes?

Milton Keynes records 46.3 violent and sexual offences and 19.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Buckingham’s 27.4 and 9.2, 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.