Photo: Robert Graham · CC BY-SA 2.0Hartlepool has more crime per resident than 98% of UK towns
The typical town its size sees 10.3 cases of shoplifting per 1,000 residents; Hartlepool sees 26.9, or 2,367 in the 12 months to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 8% in a year. On top of that, its letter for safety is D−, worked out from crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #41 of 52 in County Durham. Typical years here bring 63.1 violent and sexual offences plus 28.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage 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 Hartlepool
One ward carries much of the rate
Burn Valley ward recorded 3,145 of Hartlepool’s 16,640 violent and sexual offences in three years: 137.3 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Hartlepool the figure is 56. Where in Hartlepool ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% more violent crime per resident in Hartlepool 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 rose 16% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
52% of Hartlepool’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 11% 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.
Hartlepool: D− for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 24,150 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hartlepool against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
52% of Hartlepool residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
11% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 52% 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.
Hartlepool’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, Hartlepool runs highest on other crime (5.7 per 1,000 against 2.1), shoplifting (26.9 per 1,000 against 10.3) and robbery (3.2 per 1,000 against 1.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,275 | 59.9 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,367 | 26.9 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,190 | 24.9 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,510 | 17.2 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,046 | 11.9 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 638 | 7.2 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 606 | 6.9 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 520 | 5.9 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 512 | 5.8 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 506 | 5.7 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 283 | 3.2 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 141 | 1.6 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 72 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 38 | 0.4 | 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 Hartlepool compares with UK towns of 62,000 to 119,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | Darlington County Durham | 93,022 | 45.2 | 25.8 | 20.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Dudley West Midlands | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | 17.6 | D− |
| 74 | Walsall West Midlands | 70,777 | 62.9 | 26.3 | 27.8 | D− |
| 75 | Barnsley South Yorkshire | 71,394 | 61 | 30.5 | 27.8 | D− |
| 76 | Hartlepool County Durham | 88,001 | 63.1 | 28.5 | 34.9 | D− |
| 77 | Wakefield West Yorkshire | 97,871 | 69.2 | 22.9 | 28 | D− |
| 78 | Stockton-on-Tees County Durham | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | 26.9 | D− |
| 79 | Halifax West Yorkshire | 88,111 | 74.5 | 25.9 | 22.7 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 81 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Hartlepool, and others in County Durham.
Crime in Hartlepool 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 30 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 35 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 Fens & Greatham, Rural West and Hart; highest in Burn Valley
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fens & Greatham | 5,247 | 9.1 | 4.8 | |
| Rural West | 5,302 | 16.2 | 6.7 | |
| Hart | 6,834 | 15.5 | 7.7 | |
| Seaton | 7,197 | 23 | 9.7 | |
| Throston | 8,254 | 63.4 | 27.6 | |
| Rossmere | 7,514 | 61.1 | 31.1 | |
| De Bruce | 8,055 | 69.9 | 26.1 | |
| Manor House | 8,539 | 63.8 | 33.3 | |
| Victoria | 7,490 | 78.3 | 35.2 | |
| Foggy Furze | 8,151 | 71 | 43.8 | |
| Headland & Harbour | 7,785 | 107.7 | 38.9 | |
| Burn Valley | 7,633 | 137.3 | 57.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,976 | 70% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,176 | 30% violent |
| Petrol stations | 746 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 729 | 48% violent |
| Shopping areas | 657 | 73% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 61 | 31% homes & vehicles |
| Hospitals | 43 | 30% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Burn Valley records 2.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Hartlepool. 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 Hartlepool. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hartlepool’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Hartlepool 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 +8% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +16% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -22% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 64% of Hartlepool’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” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 8% 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. 8,267 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Hartlepool’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 383 collisions with injuries inside Hartlepool in five years, in which four people died (1 was a pedestrian). 146 people were killed or seriously injured: 53 on foot and 23 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 Hartlepool’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hartlepool’s own rate (0.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hartlepool had 33.3 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). 36% 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 Hartlepool’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hartlepool
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartlepool | 88,001 | 63.1 | 28.5 | D− |
| Blackhall Colliery | 4,577 | 49.1 | 23.1 | D |
| Billingham | 33,917 | 38.6 | 24.3 | D |
| Wynyard | 4,040 | 16.6 | 5.5 | A− |
| Horden | 6,805 | 62.9 | 39 | D− |
| Wingate | 5,033 | 37.8 | 35.4 | D |
| Peterlee | 19,750 | 58.1 | 30.5 | D− |
| Trimdon Colliery | 1,788 | 49.8 | 34.1 | D− |
Hartlepool records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Horden records more. Blackhall Colliery, 5 miles away, records 49.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hartlepool’s 63.1.
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 Hartlepool 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 Hartlepool
Is Hartlepool safe?
Police recorded 63.1 violent and sexual offences and 28.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hartlepool’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 2% of UK towns. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Hartlepool has less crime per resident than 5%.
What are the safest areas of Hartlepool?
By council ward, Fens & Greatham, Rural West and Hart record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.1, 16.2 and 15.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 137.3 in Burn Valley.
Is crime going up in Hartlepool?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 16%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 22%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hartlepool?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,275 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (2,367) and criminal damage & arson (1,510), with 2,190 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hartlepool compare with Middlesbrough?
Middlesbrough records 70.8 violent and sexual offences and 40.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hartlepool’s 63.1 and 28.5, 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.