Photo: Petegal-half · CC BY-SA 3.0Few UK towns record more crime per resident than Stockton-on-Tees
The Safety Grade comes out at D−, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Stockton-on-Tees’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #46 of 52 in County Durham. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. With 320 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, robbery reaches 3.8 per 1,000 residents here, well above the typical 1.4. Per 1,000 residents a year, 63.5 violent and sexual offences and 32.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Stockton-on-Tees
One ward carries much of the rate
Stockton Town Centre ward, where 35% of Stockton-on-Tees’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 5,314 of Stockton-on-Tees’s 16,153 violent and sexual offences in three years: 221.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Stockton-on-Tees the figure is 47. Where in Stockton-on-Tees ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
45% of Stockton-on-Tees’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 20% 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 grade: D− for Stockton-on-Tees
A firm grade. Built on 24,338 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Stockton-on-Tees 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 Stockton-on-Tees residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
20% 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.
Stockton-on-Tees’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Norton West, Hartburn and Fairfield; highest in Stockton Town Centre
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton West | 6,065 | 11.1 | 7.1 | |
| Hartburn | 6,346 | 15 | 14 | |
| Fairfield | 5,430 | 27.7 | 9.9 | |
| Grangefield | 6,527 | 24.1 | 17.4 | |
| Parkfield and Oxbridge | 9,726 | 43.6 | 24.1 | |
| Norton North | 6,489 | 55.3 | 24.1 | |
| Roseworth | 7,210 | 53.4 | 31.7 | |
| Hardwick and Salters Lane | 7,925 | 56.9 | 30.1 | |
| Bishopsgarth and Elm Tree | 6,270 | 63.1 | 31 | |
| Norton South | 7,744 | 76.7 | 38 | |
| Newtown | 7,111 | 75.1 | 48.2 | |
| Stockton Town Centre | 7,981 | 221.9 | 92.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,874 | 39% violent |
| Supermarkets | 1,074 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 789 | 43% violent |
| Shopping areas | 716 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 595 | 56% violent |
| Prisons | 572 | 61% violent |
| Petrol stations | 358 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 77 | 45% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Stockton Town Centre records 4.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Stockton-on-Tees. 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 Stockton-on-Tees. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Stockton-on-Tees’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Stockton-on-Tees compares with UK towns of 59,000 to 115,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 60 | Darlington County Durham | 93,022 | 45.2 | 25.8 | 20.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 79 | Barnsley South Yorkshire | 71,394 | 61 | 30.5 | 27.8 | D− |
| 80 | Hartlepool County Durham | 88,001 | 63.1 | 28.5 | 34.9 | D− |
| 81 | Wakefield West Yorkshire | 97,871 | 69.2 | 22.9 | 28 | D− |
| 82 | Stockton-on-Tees County Durham | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | 26.9 | D− |
| 83 | Halifax West Yorkshire | 88,111 | 74.5 | 25.9 | 22.7 | D− |
| 84 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | D− |
| 85 | 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 Stockton-on-Tees, and others in County Durham.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Stockton-on-Tees runs highest on robbery (3.8 per 1,000 against 1.4), other crime (5.5 per 1,000 against 2.1) and burglary (8.1 per 1,000 against 3.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,000 | 58.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,226 | 26.2 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,770 | 20.9 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,259 | 14.8 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,093 | 12.9 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 745 | 8.8 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 742 | 8.7 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 686 | 8.1 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 545 | 6.4 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 469 | 5.5 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 320 | 3.8 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 168 | 2 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 81 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 70 | 0.8 | 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.
Crime in Stockton-on-Tees 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 32 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 31 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
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 +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +8% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +47% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -14% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 72% of Stockton-on-Tees’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 6% 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. 8,407 crimes.
Six people died in collisions on Stockton-on-Tees’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 389 collisions with injuries inside Stockton-on-Tees in five years, in which six people died (3 were pedestrians). 116 people were killed or seriously injured: 40 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 Stockton-on-Tees’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Stockton-on-Tees’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Stockton-on-Tees had 27.4 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). 34% 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 Stockton-on-Tees’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Stockton-on-Tees
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockton-on-Tees | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | D− |
| Thornaby-on-Tees | 23,352 | 59.3 | 33.4 | D− |
| Billingham | 33,917 | 38.6 | 24.3 | D |
| Egglescliffe | 10,250 | 18.1 | 10.4 | B |
| Ingleby Barwick | 23,380 | 15.2 | 5.7 | A− |
| Stillington | 1,407 | 28.7 | 14 | C |
| Wynyard | 4,040 | 16.6 | 5.5 | A− |
| Stainton | 1,817 | 25 | 15 | C+ |
Stockton-on-Tees records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Thornaby-on-Tees, 2.6 miles away, records 59.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Stockton-on-Tees’s 63.5.
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
- A prison inside the boundary. police.uk counted 572 at or near a prison (61% violent) and 595 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Stockton-on-Tees’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Stockton-on-Tees 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 Stockton-on-Tees
Is Stockton-on-Tees safe?
Police recorded 63.5 violent and sexual offences and 32.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Stockton-on-Tees’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Stockton-on-Tees has less crime per resident than 3%.
What are the safest areas of Stockton-on-Tees?
By council ward, Norton West, Hartburn and Fairfield record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.1, 15 and 27.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 221.9 in Stockton Town Centre.
Is crime going up in Stockton-on-Tees?
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 47% and anti-social behaviour fell 14%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Stockton-on-Tees?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,000 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,770) and criminal damage & arson (1,259), with 2,226 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Stockton-on-Tees 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 Stockton-on-Tees’s 63.5 and 32.2, 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.