Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Princes Risborough records shoplifting at 2.4 times the rate of a typical town its size
For every 1,000 residents, 26.2 violent and sexual offences and 8.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year. Overall, Princes Risborough grades C+ for safety (#29 of 39 in Buckinghamshire): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Recorded violence fell 13% in a year. Set against the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 45% of them.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Princes Risborough
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Princes Risborough than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 19% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Princes Risborough has the 253rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Easingwold, Pontarddulais and New Mills, higher than Bidford-on-Avon, Fakenham and Winslow. 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. 20% of Princes Risborough’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.
What’s behind Princes Risborough’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 782 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Princes Risborough against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 5 Princes Risborough residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
57% 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.
Princes Risborough’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Princes Risborough runs highest on shoplifting (4.4 per 1,000 against 1.8), vehicle crime (2.9 per 1,000 against 2) and other crime (1.9 per 1,000 against 1.5). Criminal damage & arson sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 168 | 22.3 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 58 | 7.7 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 33 | 4.4 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 29 | 3.9 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 24 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 24 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 22 | 2.9 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 14 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 1.3 | 1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 9 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 4 | 0.5 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
“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.
Police in Princes Risborough identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 53% of Princes Risborough’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% of violent and 0% 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. 271 crimes.
How crime in Princes Risborough 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 -13% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -19% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -47% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -18% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Princes Risborough 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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 8 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Set against 546 towns its size, Princes Risborough is 253rd
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Wendover Buckinghamshire | 8,729 | 13.6 | 6.5 | 6.6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 89 | Haddenham Buckinghamshire | 5,603 | 19.2 | 5.8 | 7.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 128 | Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire | 5,511 | 19.7 | 8 | 3.6 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 142 | Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire | 8,117 | 14.4 | 14.1 | 10.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 250 | Bidford-on-Avon Warwickshire | 5,825 | 23.6 | 11.2 | 4.1 | B− |
| 251 | Fakenham Norfolk | 8,390 | 27.7 | 7.3 | 15.3 | B− |
| 252 | Winslow Buckinghamshire | 5,238 | 24.6 | 10.4 | 10.6 | C+ |
| 253 | Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire | 7,528 | 26.2 | 8.9 | 15.6 | C+ |
| 254 | Rawdon West Yorkshire | 6,738 | 21.7 | 13.6 | 4.5 | C+ |
| 255 | Millom Cumbria | 5,690 | 27 | 8.4 | 5.2 | C+ |
| 256 | Yatton Somerset | 7,704 | 26.6 | 8.9 | 6.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Princes Risborough, and others in Buckinghamshire.
Where in Princes Risborough police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 135 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 106 | 80% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 27 | 37% violent |
| Car parks | 27 | 26% homes & vehicles |
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 Princes Risborough. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Princes Risborough’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 19 collisions with injuries inside Princes Risborough in five years. 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 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 Princes Risborough is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Princes Risborough’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Princes Risborough had 2.
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 Princes Risborough’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Princes Risborough
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princes Risborough | 7,528 | 26.2 | 8.9 | C+ |
| Longwick | 1,528 | 17.7 | 5.5 | A− |
| Lacey Green and Loosley Row | 1,135 | 4.7 | 1.5 | A+ |
| Chinnor | 7,268 | 15.5 | 6.5 | A− |
| Walter's Ash and Naphill | 3,893 | 9.3 | 3.6 | A+ |
| Prestwood and Great Missenden | 7,600 | 19.6 | 11.2 | B− |
| Stoke Mandeville | 2,855 | 28.5 | 12.1 | C |
| Wendover | 8,729 | 13.6 | 6.5 | A− |
Princes Risborough records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Stoke Mandeville records more. Longwick, 1.5 miles away, records 17.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Princes Risborough’s 26.2.
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 Princes Risborough 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 Princes Risborough
Is Princes Risborough safe?
Police recorded 26.2 violent and sexual offences and 8.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Princes Risborough’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 44% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Princes Risborough is 253rd from the least crime. 20% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Princes Risborough?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 19%, shoplifting and theft fell 47% and anti-social behaviour fell 18%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Princes Risborough?
Violence & sexual offences: 168 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (33) and criminal damage & arson (29), with 58 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Princes Risborough compare with Aylesbury?
Aylesbury records 39.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Princes Risborough’s 26.2 and 8.9, 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.