Photo: Dave Bevis · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Northwich than in 89% of UK towns
Violent crime was down 7% in a year. Even so, its letter for safety is D, worked out from crimes police recorded inside Northwich’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #44 of 46 in Cheshire. Public order stands out: 12.5 per 1,000 residents locally, against 5.4 in a typical town its size, with 234 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Each year brought 49.4 violent and sexual offences and 11.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 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 Northwich
One ward carries much of the rate
Northwich Leftwich ward, where 58% of Northwich’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 956 of Northwich’s 2,756 violent and sexual offences in three years: 200.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Northwich the figure is 35. Where in Northwich ↓
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% less violent crime per resident in Northwich than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Northwich has the 252nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Mountain Ash, Clifton and Ryde, higher than Newquay, Wombwell and Normanton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Northwich’s D for safety
A firm grade. Built on 3,409 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Northwich 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 Rudheath, Northwich Winnington & Castle and Hartford & Greenbank; highest in Northwich Leftwich
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rudheath | 868 | 11.5 | 3.1 | |
| Northwich Winnington & Castle | 8,942 | 28.3 | 8 | |
| Hartford & Greenbank | 2,132 | 46.3 | 8.4 | |
| Northwich Witton | 5,117 | 46.1 | 10.9 | |
| Northwich Leftwich | 1,587 | 200.8 | 42.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 556 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 146 | 27% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 45 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 27 | 41% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Northwich Leftwich records 5.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Northwich. 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 Northwich. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Northwich’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Northwich runs highest on public order (12.5 per 1,000 against 5.4), shoplifting (12.4 per 1,000 against 6.1) and drugs (3.9 per 1,000 against 1.9).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 868 | 46.6 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 257 | 13.8 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 234 | 12.5 | 5.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 232 | 12.4 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 114 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 107 | 5.7 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 72 | 3.9 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 56 | 3 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 50 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 45 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 15 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 14 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
“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.
Northwich is 252nd of 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Davenham Cheshire | 13,840 | 18.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | A− |
| 11 | Poynton Cheshire | 13,015 | 16.4 | 5.4 | 8.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Knutsford Cheshire | 13,254 | 21.2 | 7.3 | 8.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Neston Cheshire | 14,963 | 23 | 6.4 | 6.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 249 | Newquay Cornwall | 24,543 | 45.9 | 14.8 | 18 | D |
| 250 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | 16,758 | 40.6 | 20.4 | 6 | D |
| 251 | Normanton West Yorkshire | 21,976 | 44.6 | 16.5 | 12.1 | D |
| 252 | Northwich Cheshire | 18,646 | 49.4 | 11.7 | 19.9 | D |
| 253 | Heanor Derbyshire | 24,264 | 45.3 | 16 | 14.2 | D |
| 254 | Tiverton Devon | 19,710 | 45.4 | 16 | 13.2 | D |
| 255 | Dunscroft and Hatfield South Yorkshire | 14,000 | 37.4 | 24.1 | 10.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Northwich, and others in Cheshire.
Crime in Northwich 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 12 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.
How Northwich’s neighbourhoods rank in England
17% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 19% 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.
Northwich’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.
How crime in Northwich 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 -7% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -5% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +11% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Northwich’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (56% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 9% 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. 1,105 crimes.
One person died in collisions on Northwich’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 102 collisions with injuries inside Northwich in five years, in which one person died. 22 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 4 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 Northwich’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Northwich’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Northwich had 23.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Northwich’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Northwich
Northwich records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Davenham, 1.5 miles away, records 18.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Northwich’s 49.4.
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 Northwich 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 Northwich
Is Northwich safe?
Police recorded 49.4 violent and sexual offences and 11.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Northwich’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 11% of UK towns. Among 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Northwich is 252nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Northwich?
By council ward, Rudheath, Northwich Winnington & Castle and Hartford & Greenbank record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.5, 28.3 and 46.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 200.8 in Northwich Leftwich.
Is crime going up in Northwich?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 5% and anti-social behaviour rose 11%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Northwich?
Violence & sexual offences: 868 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (234) and shoplifting (232), with 257 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Northwich compare with Winsford?
Winsford records 49.9 violent and sexual offences and 10.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Northwich’s 49.4 and 11.7, 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.