Photo: Christine Johnstone · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Runcorn than in 89% of UK towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 92% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 70%. On top of that, a Safety Grade of D follows from crimes police recorded inside Runcorn’s built-up area over the years September 2023 to August 2026: #44 of 46 in Cheshire. Recorded violence fell 15% in a year. Year on year, 48.6 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur 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 Runcorn
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 15% less violent crime per resident in Runcorn than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 11% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 116 UK towns and cities of 43,000 to 83,000 people, Runcorn has the 69th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Yeovil, Banbury and Kettering, higher than Kidderminster, Guildford and Worksop. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
45% of Runcorn’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 19% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D for Runcorn, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 11,289 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Runcorn against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
45% of Runcorn residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
19% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 45% 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.
Runcorn’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, Runcorn runs highest on drugs (5.5 per 1,000 against 3.8), public order (10.4 per 1,000 against 7.4) and other crime (2.8 per 1,000 against 2.1). Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,578 | 41.8 | 38.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 643 | 10.4 | 7.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 545 | 8.8 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 393 | 6.4 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 337 | 5.5 | 3.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 284 | 4.6 | 6.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 259 | 4.2 | 10.3 |
| Other crime | not graded | 173 | 2.8 | 2.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 139 | 2.3 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 136 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 69 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 33 | 0.5 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 31 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.1 | 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.
How crime in Runcorn has moved
“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 -15% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -11% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -4% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -12% (towns its size -2%).
Police in Runcorn identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 57% of Runcorn’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% 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. 4,036 crimes.
Crime in Runcorn 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 11 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Beechwood & Heath, Norton North and Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor; highest in Halton Lea
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beechwood & Heath | 7,556 | 15.6 | 5.2 | |
| Norton North | 7,102 | 39.1 | 9.6 | |
| Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor | 2,758 | 36.4 | 13.8 | |
| Bridgewater | 7,681 | 40.5 | 10.8 | |
| Norton South & Preston Brook | 7,147 | 49.2 | 8 | |
| Grange | 8,080 | 47.9 | 9.9 | |
| Halton Castle | 6,763 | 55.4 | 15.3 | |
| Mersey & Weston | 7,866 | 71.9 | 19.9 | |
| Halton Lea | 6,688 | 75.8 | 21.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 901 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 676 | 28% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 209 | 40% violent |
| Shopping areas | 143 | 31% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 93 | 23% violent |
| Petrol stations | 56 | 30% violent |
| Police stations | 49 | 51% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 48 | 31% drugs, public order & other |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Halton Lea records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Runcorn. 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 Runcorn. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Runcorn’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Set against 116 towns its size, Runcorn is 69th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Macclesfield Cheshire | 54,352 | 40.2 | 10.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Widnes Cheshire | 59,938 | 45.3 | 13 | 12 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | Kidderminster Worcestershire | 57,567 | 40.2 | 18.5 | 20.5 | D |
| 67 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 44.3 | 15.2 | 23.7 | D |
| 68 | Worksop Nottinghamshire | 43,435 | 40.2 | 20.9 | 32.9 | D |
| 69 | Runcorn Cheshire | 61,641 | 48.6 | 12.6 | 10.2 | D |
| 70 | Tynemouth Tyne and Wear | 60,611 | 40.4 | 20.9 | 23.7 | D |
| 71 | Rochester Kent | 67,279 | 44.7 | 16.8 | 17.3 | D |
| 72 | Lancaster Lancashire | 52,646 | 39.3 | 22.6 | 17.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 116 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Runcorn, and others in Cheshire.
Four people died in collisions on Runcorn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 200 collisions with injuries inside Runcorn in five years, in which four people died (1 was a cyclist). 50 people were killed or seriously injured: 9 on foot and 12 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 Runcorn’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Runcorn’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Runcorn had 16.2 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). 18% 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 Runcorn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Runcorn
Runcorn records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Frodsham, 2.8 miles away, records 24 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Runcorn’s 48.6.
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 Runcorn 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 Runcorn
Is Runcorn safe?
Police recorded 48.6 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Runcorn’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 11% of UK towns. Among 116 UK towns of 43,000 to 83,000 people, Runcorn is 69th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Runcorn?
By council ward, Beechwood & Heath, Norton North and Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.6, 39.1 and 36.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 75.8 in Halton Lea.
Is crime going up in Runcorn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 15%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 12%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Runcorn?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,578 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (643) and criminal damage & arson (393), with 545 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Runcorn compare with Warrington?
Warrington records 38.8 violent and sexual offences and 10.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Runcorn’s 48.6 and 12.6, 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.