Photo: Robert Graham · CC BY-SA 2.0Bishop Auckland sees more crime per resident than 98% of UK towns
Of all the kinds of crime, shoplifting is where Bishop Auckland departs most from towns its size: 32.5 per 1,000 against 6.1. On the record of crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D− for safety: #41 of 52 in County Durham. In a usual year, 56.3 violent and sexual offences and 36.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bishop Auckland
Neighbourhood ranks
69% of Bishop Auckland’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 12% 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.
What’s behind Bishop Auckland’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 6,495 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bishop Auckland 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, Bishop Auckland runs highest on shoplifting (32.5 per 1,000 against 6.1), theft from the person (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.3) and criminal damage & arson (21.6 per 1,000 against 6.2).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,295 | 55.4 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 965 | 41.3 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 759 | 32.5 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 505 | 21.6 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 278 | 11.9 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 162 | 6.9 | 2.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 154 | 6.6 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 140 | 6 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 120 | 5.1 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 79 | 3.4 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 37 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 26 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 25 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 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.
69% of Bishop Auckland residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 69% 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.
Bishop Auckland’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 Bishop Auckland compares with UK towns of 16,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 130 | Consett County Durham | 29,874 | 33.8 | 13.4 | 14.3 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 185 | Seaham County Durham | 21,660 | 34.3 | 21.6 | 17.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 187 | Chester-le-Street County Durham | 23,554 | 37.2 | 18.9 | 24.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 234 | Newton Aycliffe County Durham | 25,760 | 48.3 | 24.9 | 19.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 253 | Adwick le Street South Yorkshire | 18,326 | 54.9 | 34.5 | 16.5 | D− |
| 254 | Carmarthen Dyfed | 16,448 | 71.2 | 18.9 | 23.2 | D− |
| 255 | Thornaby-on-Tees North Yorkshire | 23,352 | 59.3 | 33.4 | 59.7 | D− |
| 256 | Bishop Auckland County Durham | 23,359 | 56.3 | 36.4 | 33.6 | D− |
| 257 | Gainsborough Lincolnshire | 21,899 | 66.4 | 32 | 30.1 | D− |
| 258 | Eston North Yorkshire | 29,625 | 62.1 | 42.7 | 27.4 | D− |
| 259 | Skegness Lincolnshire | 20,701 | 79.4 | 27.6 | 41.7 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 261 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Bishop Auckland, and others in County Durham.
Crime in Bishop Auckland 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 35 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 40 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 Shildon and Dene Valley, West Auckland and Woodhouse Close; highest in Bishop Auckland Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shildon and Dene Valley | 2,082 | 34.3 | 16.3 | |
| West Auckland | 5,199 | 45.1 | 27.8 | |
| Woodhouse Close | 8,241 | 60.1 | 38.8 | |
| Bishop Auckland Town | 7,340 | 69.3 | 47.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,929 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 927 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 595 | 29% violent |
| Petrol stations | 196 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 55 | 49% anti-social behaviour |
| Police stations | 43 | 44% violent |
| Hospitals | 21 | 62% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Bishop Auckland. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bishop Auckland’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +8% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +37% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +2% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Bishop Auckland’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” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% 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. 2,233 crimes.
Two people died in collisions on Bishop Auckland’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 100 collisions with injuries inside Bishop Auckland in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 31 people were killed or seriously injured: 20 on foot and 2 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 Bishop Auckland’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bishop Auckland’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bishop Auckland had 26.5 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). 65% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Bishop Auckland’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bishop Auckland
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop Auckland | 23,359 | 56.3 | 36.4 | D− |
| Shildon | 9,650 | 65.8 | 42.4 | D− |
| Coundon and Leeholme | 2,522 | 60.8 | 38.1 | D− |
| West Auckland | 3,107 | 54.3 | 33.2 | D− |
| Toft Hill and High Etherley | 1,865 | 13.9 | 12.7 | B+ |
| Evenwood | 1,587 | 43.3 | 25.6 | D |
| Willington | 5,685 | 58.4 | 33.1 | D− |
| School Aycliffe | 1,590 | 13 | 4 | A |
Bishop Auckland records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Shildon and Coundon and Leeholme record more. West Auckland, 2.2 miles away, records 54.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bishop Auckland’s 56.3.
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 Bishop Auckland 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 Bishop Auckland
Is Bishop Auckland safe?
Police recorded 56.3 violent and sexual offences and 36.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bishop Auckland’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 2% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Bishop Auckland has less crime per resident than 2%.
What are the safest areas of Bishop Auckland?
By council ward, Shildon and Dene Valley, West Auckland and Woodhouse Close record the least violent and household crime per resident: 34.3, 45.1 and 60.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 69.3 in Bishop Auckland Town.
Is crime going up in Bishop Auckland?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 8%, shoplifting and theft rose 37% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bishop Auckland?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,295 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (759) and criminal damage & arson (505), with 965 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bishop Auckland compare with Newton Aycliffe?
Newton Aycliffe records 48.3 violent and sexual offences and 24.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bishop Auckland’s 56.3 and 36.4, 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.