Photo: John Lucas · CC BY-SA 2.0St Ives stands out for shoplifting: 3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Measured against the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 10% of them record more crime per resident. St Ives’s overall Safety Grade is D (#25 of 35 in Cornwall): more crime per resident than 87% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally climbed 21% in a year. Annual rates stand at 44.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in St Ives
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 21% more violent crime per resident in St Ives 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 28% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, St Ives has the 458th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Sandwich, Portrush and Boldon Colliery, higher than Coleford, Stanton Hill and Skegby and Upton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside St Ives’s D for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 898 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks St Ives 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, St Ives runs highest on shoplifting (5.5 per 1,000 against 1.8), other theft (8.5 per 1,000 against 3.2) and violence & sexual offences (52.8 per 1,000 against 22.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 286 | 52.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 86 | 15.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 49 | 9.1 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 46 | 8.5 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 30 | 5.5 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 29 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 9 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 7 | 1.3 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 7 | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 5 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 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.
How crime in St Ives has moved
Devon & Cornwall Police published three months short or not at all (Sep 2023, Oct 2023 and Nov 2023), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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 +21% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -28% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +9% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -43% (towns its size +0%).
How St Ives’s neighbourhoods rank in England
29% 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.
St Ives’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.
Set against 518 towns its size, St Ives is 458th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 378 | St Blazey Cornwall | 6,569 | 33.1 | 11.4 | 7.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 382 | Looe Cornwall | 5,314 | 31.5 | 13.3 | 9.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 407 | Callington Cornwall | 4,665 | 36.9 | 11.9 | 12.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 446 | Wadebridge Cornwall | 5,626 | 42.4 | 13 | 14.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 455 | Coleford Gloucestershire | 5,023 | 43.6 | 13.9 | 14.1 | D |
| 456 | Stanton Hill and Skegby Nottinghamshire | 4,568 | 39.9 | 18 | 11.1 | D |
| 457 | Upton West Yorkshire | 6,332 | 40.7 | 17.4 | 7.1 | D |
| 458 | St Ives Cornwall | 5,413 | 44.3 | 13.8 | 13.2 | D |
| 459 | Havercroft and Ryhill West Yorkshire | 5,204 | 43.8 | 14.4 | 4.4 | D |
| 460 | Coleshill Warwickshire | 6,744 | 27.4 | 31 | 9.8 | D |
| 461 | Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Northumberland | 5,951 | 36.8 | 21.7 | 18.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 St Ives, and others in Cornwall.
Crime in St Ives 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 15 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 66% of St Ives’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 2% of violent and 5% 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. 211 crimes.
Where in St Ives police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 128 | 40% violent |
| Supermarkets | 49 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 23 | 39% 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 St Ives. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on St Ives’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 41 collisions with injuries inside St Ives in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 9 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; St Ives’s two people are context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of St Ives’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 5 people killed or seriously injured in five years; St Ives had 9.
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 St Ives’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around St Ives
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Ives | 5,413 | 44.3 | 13.8 | D |
| Carbis Bay | 3,967 | 18.1 | 4.7 | A− |
| Hayle | 9,040 | 36.7 | 15.3 | C− |
| St Erth | 1,128 | 34.5 | 11.3 | C |
| Crowlas | 1,054 | 16.9 | 5.9 | A− |
| Connor Downs | 1,482 | 36.6 | 6.1 | C |
| Longrock | 1,983 | 38.3 | 14.1 | C− |
| Marazion | 1,350 | 25.1 | 11.3 | C+ |
St Ives records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Carbis Bay, 1.3 miles away, records 18.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against St Ives’s 44.3.
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
- Some months are short. Devon & Cornwall Police published September 2023, October 2023 and November 2023 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 St Ives 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 St Ives
Is St Ives safe?
Police recorded 44.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside St Ives’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 13% of UK towns. Among 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, St Ives is 458th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in St Ives?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 21%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 28%, shoplifting and theft rose 9% and anti-social behaviour fell 43%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in St Ives?
Violence & sexual offences: 286 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (49) and other theft (46), with 86 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does St Ives compare with Camborne?
Camborne records 50 violent and sexual offences and 17.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against St Ives’s 44.3 and 13.8, 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.