Photo: Peter I. Vardy · Public domainPer resident, Widnes records more violent crime than 90% of UK towns
Set against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 54% of them. Recorded violent and sexual offences ran at 45.3 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle crime and damage at 13.0. The grade is D, built on crimes police recorded inside Widnes’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #42 of 46 in Cheshire.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Widnes
About the middle for a town its size
Of 119 UK towns and cities of 42,000 to 81,000 people, Widnes has the 65th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Guildford, Worksop and Runcorn, higher than Loughborough, Lowestoft and Kirkby. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
39% of Widnes’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 16% 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 Widnes, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 10,466 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Widnes 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, Widnes runs highest on public order (10.1 per 1,000 against 7.4), other crime (2.6 per 1,000 against 2.1) and possession of weapons (1.3 per 1,000 against 1.1). Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,511 | 41.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 625 | 10.4 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 604 | 10.1 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 371 | 6.2 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 282 | 4.7 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 261 | 4.4 | 3.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 245 | 4.1 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 168 | 2.8 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 156 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 130 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 80 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 44 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 40 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 9 | 0.2 | 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.
39% of Widnes residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
16% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 39% 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.
Widnes’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.
Police in Widnes identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Widnes’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” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 10% 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. 3,863 crimes.
Crime in Widnes 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 10 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 Birchfield, Farnworth and Highfield; highest in Central & West Bank
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birchfield | 8,029 | 13 | 5 | |
| Farnworth | 7,427 | 23 | 8.8 | |
| Highfield | 6,394 | 26.2 | 8.2 | |
| Halton View | 7,226 | 32.3 | 9.9 | |
| Bankfield | 6,490 | 37 | 7.6 | |
| Hough Green | 6,735 | 46 | 10.9 | |
| Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank | 3,898 | 70.2 | 20.9 | |
| Appleton | 6,666 | 87.8 | 22.1 | |
| Central & West Bank | 7,073 | 87.8 | 25.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 732 | 34% violent |
| Supermarkets | 689 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 522 | 25% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 288 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 187 | 57% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 97 | 40% violent |
| Police stations | 83 | 43% violent |
| College and university buildings | 75 | 41% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 49 | 80% homes & vehicles |
| Hospitals | 26 | 35% drugs, public order & other |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Central & West Bank records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Widnes. 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 Widnes. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Widnes’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Towns its size: Widnes comes 65th of 119
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | Macclesfield Cheshire | 54,352 | 40.2 | 10.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 55 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Loughborough Leicestershire | 64,850 | 35.6 | 22 | 26.2 | D |
| 63 | Lowestoft Suffolk | 71,308 | 40.6 | 17 | 14.3 | D |
| 64 | Kirkby Merseyside | 45,559 | 43 | 15 | 10.3 | D |
| 65 | Widnes Cheshire | 59,938 | 45.3 | 13 | 12 | D |
| 66 | Burton upon Trent Staffordshire | 76,264 | 45.2 | 13.4 | 14.6 | D |
| 67 | Sittingbourne Kent | 54,385 | 41.3 | 17.5 | 20.8 | D |
| 68 | Kidderminster Worcestershire | 57,567 | 40.2 | 18.5 | 20.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 71 | Runcorn Cheshire | 61,641 | 48.6 | 12.6 | 10.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 80 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 119 | 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 Widnes, and others in Cheshire.
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 +1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -7% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +5% (towns its size -2%).
No one died in a collision on Widnes’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 315 collisions with injuries inside Widnes in five years. 86 people were killed or seriously injured: 26 on foot and 14 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 Widnes’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Widnes’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Widnes had 28.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 30% 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 Widnes’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Widnes
Widnes records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Runcorn and St Helens record more. Cronton, 1.7 miles away, records 12.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Widnes’s 45.3.
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
- 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 Widnes 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 Widnes
Is Widnes safe?
Police recorded 45.3 violent and sexual offences and 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Widnes’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 13% of UK towns. Among 119 UK towns of 42,000 to 81,000 people, Widnes is 65th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Widnes?
By council ward, Birchfield, Farnworth and Highfield record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13, 23 and 26.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 87.8 in Central & West Bank.
Is crime going up in Widnes?
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 fell 7% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Widnes town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 187 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 57% of them violent, and Central & West Bank ward records 87.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in June and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Widnes?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,511 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (604) and criminal damage & arson (371), with 625 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Widnes compare with Liverpool?
Liverpool records 54 violent and sexual offences and 20.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Widnes’s 45.3 and 13, 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.