Photo: Steve Daniels · CC BY-SA 2.0Milton Keynes sees more crime per resident than 91% of UK towns
With 1,498 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, vehicle crime reaches 7.6 per 1,000 residents in Milton Keynes, well above the typical 4.9. Graded on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores D for safety. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Out of every 1,000 residents, 46.3 violent and sexual offences and 19.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Milton Keynes
One ward carries much of the rate
Central Milton Keynes ward, where 42% of Milton Keynes’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 5,684 of Milton Keynes’s 27,416 violent and sexual offences in three years: 115 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Milton Keynes the figure is 40. Where in Milton Keynes ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 42 UK towns and cities of 138,000 to 266,000 people, Milton Keynes has the 27th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Portsmouth, Kensington and Chelsea and Wolverhampton, higher than Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey and Slough. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Milton Keynes
A firm grade. Built on 38,832 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Milton Keynes against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Newport Pagnell South, Tattenhoe and Bletchley West; highest in Central Milton Keynes
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Pagnell South | 2,922 | 13.8 | 13.9 | |
| Tattenhoe | 12,955 | 20.6 | 7.4 | |
| Bletchley West | 3,933 | 30.8 | 10.3 | |
| Shenley Brook End | 13,469 | 30.9 | 10.5 | |
| Broughton | 19,743 | 28 | 16 | |
| Monkston | 13,118 | 29.9 | 15.8 | |
| Campbell Park & Old Woughton | 12,421 | 30.7 | 16 | |
| Stony Stratford | 15,802 | 32.8 | 14.8 | |
| Loughton & Shenley | 14,064 | 36.2 | 12 | |
| Stantonbury | 16,075 | 37.6 | 16 | |
| Bradwell | 13,001 | 38.2 | 19.1 | |
| Wolverton | 15,684 | 49.4 | 21.7 | |
| Danesborough & Walton | 8,470 | 61.6 | 23.2 | |
| Woughton & Fishermead | 18,134 | 86.8 | 23.6 | |
| Newport Pagnell North & Hanslope | 1,055 | 65.1 | 66 | |
| Central Milton Keynes | 16,482 | 115 | 49.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 5,956 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 3,213 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 2,341 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,577 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 1,486 | 50% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,228 | 65% violent |
| Nightclubs | 429 | 47% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 426 | 43% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 301 | 31% violent |
| College and university buildings | 283 | 61% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Central Milton Keynes records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Milton Keynes. 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 Milton Keynes. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Milton Keynes’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Milton Keynes 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 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 23 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Milton Keynes runs highest on vehicle crime (7.6 per 1,000 against 4.9), other theft (8.3 per 1,000 against 6.6) and shoplifting (12.6 per 1,000 against 10.3). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 8,594 | 43.6 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,488 | 12.6 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,208 | 11.2 | 17.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,640 | 8.3 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,627 | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,534 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1,498 | 7.6 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 735 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 695 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 425 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 263 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 201 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 179 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 138 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
“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.
How Milton Keynes’s neighbourhoods rank in England
20% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 16% 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.
Milton Keynes’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.
Milton Keynes places 27th of 42 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Hammersmith and Fulham London | 182,187 | 39.2 | 23.5 | 36.9 | D |
| 25 | Haringey London | 264,069 | 38.4 | 24.6 | 29 | D |
| 26 | Slough Berkshire | 166,868 | 43.4 | 20.7 | 18.3 | D |
| 27 | Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire | 197,328 | 46.3 | 19.3 | 23.3 | D |
| 28 | Southend-on-Sea Essex | 182,295 | 48.3 | 17.4 | 18.6 | D |
| 29 | Northampton Northamptonshire | 243,527 | 46.1 | 19.7 | 20.2 | D |
| 30 | Islington London | 216,309 | 44.1 | 24.3 | 54.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Westminster London | 203,571 | 81.4 | 42.3 | 254.6 | 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 Milton Keynes, and others in Buckinghamshire.
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).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -3% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -1% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -2% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +1% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Milton Keynes’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% 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. 12,945 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Milton Keynes’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 436 collisions with injuries inside Milton Keynes in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians). 90 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 8 on a bicycle.
That is fewer than 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 Milton Keynes’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Milton Keynes’s own rate (0.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Milton Keynes had 9.2 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). 17% 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. 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 Milton Keynes’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Milton Keynes
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes | 197,328 | 46.3 | 19.3 | D |
| Bletchley | 45,018 | 46.1 | 18.2 | D |
| Newport Pagnell | 15,250 | 24 | 11 | B− |
| Newton Longville | 1,877 | 14.4 | 7.5 | A− |
| Old Stratford | 2,427 | 11.5 | 7.4 | A |
| Woburn Sands | 4,315 | 15.4 | 10 | B+ |
| Castlethorpe | 1,112 | 17.4 | 8.4 | B+ |
| Aspley Guise | 2,114 | 8.4 | 15.9 | B+ |
Milton Keynes records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bletchley, 3.3 miles away, records 46.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Milton Keynes’s 46.3.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 1,228 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Milton Keynes’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Milton Keynes 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 Milton Keynes
Is Milton Keynes safe?
Police recorded 46.3 violent and sexual offences and 19.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Milton Keynes’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 42 UK towns of 138,000 to 266,000 people, Milton Keynes is 27th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Milton Keynes?
By council ward, Newport Pagnell South, Tattenhoe and Bletchley West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.8, 20.6 and 30.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 115 in Central Milton Keynes.
Is crime going up in Milton Keynes?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Milton Keynes city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 429 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 47% of them violent, and Central Milton Keynes ward records 115 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Milton Keynes?
Violence & sexual offences: 8,594 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (2,488) and other theft (1,640), with 2,208 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.