Photo: Meirion · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Chester has a higher rate per resident than 91% of UK towns
Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 56% of them record more crime per resident. Scored on crimes police recorded inside Chester’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D for safety: #41 of 46 in Cheshire. Typical years here bring 46.9 violent and sexual offences plus 10.8 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 Chester
One ward carries much of the rate
Chester City & the Garden Quarter ward, where 60% of Chester’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 5,385 of Chester’s 13,020 violent and sexual offences in three years: 97.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Chester the figure is 34.1. Where in Chester ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 75 UK towns and cities of 65,000 to 125,000 people, Chester has the 32nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Gillingham, Guildford and Derry City, higher than Stafford, Lowestoft and Crawley. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D for Chester, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 16,027 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Chester 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, Chester runs highest on public order (13.1 per 1,000 against 7.4), drugs (5.3 per 1,000 against 3.8) and violence & sexual offences (46.5 per 1,000 against 38.6). Anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,314 | 46.5 | 38.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,213 | 13.1 | 7.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 993 | 10.7 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 811 | 8.7 | 17.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 603 | 6.5 | 6.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 592 | 6.4 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 493 | 5.3 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 203 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 160 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 127 | 1.4 | 4.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 94 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 72 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 63 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 52 | 0.6 | 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.
Police in Chester identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 59% of Chester’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (58% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 7% 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. 5,342 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Great Boughton, Newton & Hoole and Handbridge Park; highest in Chester City & the Garden Quarter
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Boughton | 11,006 | 19.4 | 5.1 | |
| Newton & Hoole | 14,784 | 23.2 | 6.1 | |
| Handbridge Park | 9,424 | 24.5 | 7.7 | |
| Christleton & Huntington | 5,006 | 28.7 | 9 | |
| Saltney Ferry | 5,140 | 28.2 | 11.9 | |
| Lache | 5,905 | 35.3 | 7.8 | |
| Blacon | 14,084 | 49.7 | 11.3 | |
| Upton | 9,072 | 61.4 | 11.5 | |
| Chester City & the Garden Quarter | 18,335 | 97.9 | 20 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 2,074 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 1,310 | 50% violent |
| Car parks | 1,201 | 36% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,197 | 66% violent |
| Supermarkets | 1,118 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 514 | 45% violent |
| Petrol stations | 479 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 177 | 41% violent |
| College and university buildings | 49 | 55% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 35 | 43% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Chester City & the Garden Quarter records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Chester. 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 Chester. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Chester’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Chester 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 19 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
32nd of 75: Chester among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Newtownabbey Antrim and Newtownabbey | 67,599 | 21.3 | 9 | 8.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 26 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 29 | Stafford Staffordshire | 71,695 | 43.8 | 12.8 | 16 | C− |
| 30 | Lowestoft Suffolk | 71,308 | 40.6 | 17 | 14.3 | D |
| 31 | Crawley West Sussex | 120,567 | 42.7 | 15 | 22.5 | D |
| 32 | Chester Cheshire | 92,756 | 46.9 | 10.8 | 18.9 | D |
| 33 | High Wycombe Buckinghamshire | 83,541 | 40.6 | 17.2 | 22.5 | D |
| 34 | Bath Somerset | 94,080 | 41.6 | 16.9 | 28.3 | D |
| 35 | Burton upon Trent Staffordshire | 76,264 | 45.2 | 13.4 | 14.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 75 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Chester, and others in Cheshire.
How Chester’s neighbourhoods rank in England
32% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 20% 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.
Chester’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.
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 +2% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +6% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -11% (towns its size -2%).
Five people died in collisions on Chester’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 488 collisions with injuries inside Chester in five years, in which five people died (1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist). 114 people were killed or seriously injured: 38 on foot and 21 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 Chester’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chester’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Chester had 24.5 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). 33% 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 Chester’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Chester
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester | 92,756 | 46.9 | 10.8 | D |
| Moston | 1,099 | 20.3 | 3.3 | B+ |
| Christleton and Waverton | 2,670 | 19.6 | 6.6 | B+ |
| Guilden Sutton | 1,462 | 4.1 | 1.6 | A+ |
| Mickle Trafford | 1,840 | 10.7 | 1.8 | A+ |
| Saughall | 2,655 | 18.7 | 3.8 | A− |
| Broughton | 6,532 | 21.2 | 7.2 | B |
| Garden City | 2,427 | 66.3 | 26.8 | D− |
Chester records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Garden City records more. Moston, 2.3 miles away, records 20.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Chester’s 46.9.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 1,197 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Chester’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 Chester 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 Chester
Is Chester safe?
Police recorded 46.9 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Chester’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 14% of UK towns. Among 75 UK towns of 65,000 to 125,000 people, Chester is 32nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Chester?
By council ward, Great Boughton, Newton & Hoole and Handbridge Park record the least violent and household crime per resident: 19.4, 23.2 and 24.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 97.9 in Chester City & the Garden Quarter.
Is crime going up in Chester?
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 rose 6% and anti-social behaviour fell 11%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Chester town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,310 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 50% of them violent, and Chester City & the Garden Quarter ward records 97.9 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 April.
What is the most common crime in Chester?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,314 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (1,213) and shoplifting (993), with 811 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.