Photo: David Medcalf · CC BY-SA 2.0Cleator Moor records possession of weapons at 4.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime here is higher than in 85% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 78%. Taking everything together, Cleator Moor scores C− (#15 of 23 in Cumbria): more crime per resident than 84% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Typical years here bring 40.5 violent and sexual offences plus 14.3 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 Cleator Moor
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 15% less violent crime per resident in Cleator Moor 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 rose 21% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Cleator Moor has the 403rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bolton upon Dearne, Cinderford and Runwell, higher than Throckley, Bedwas and Treherbert. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
37% of Cleator Moor’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 26% 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 sits behind Cleator Moor’s C−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,096 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Cleator Moor 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, Cleator Moor runs highest on possession of weapons (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.4), drugs (3.9 per 1,000 against 1) and criminal damage & arson (12 per 1,000 against 4.5). Vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 238 | 35.7 | 22.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 80 | 12 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 60 | 9 | 3.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 39 | 5.8 | 8.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 26 | 3.9 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 26 | 3.9 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 13 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 11 | 1.6 | 0.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 10 | 1.5 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 6 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
Police in Cleator Moor identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 53% of Cleator Moor’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (76% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 9% 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. 372 crimes.
37% of Cleator Moor residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 37% 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.
Cleator Moor’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.
Among 481 towns its size, Cleator Moor ranks 403rd for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 26 | Seaton Cumbria | 5,051 | 15.5 | 4.6 | 2.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 159 | Cockermouth Cumbria | 8,859 | 24.2 | 6.1 | 5.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 237 | Millom Cumbria | 5,690 | 27 | 8.4 | 5.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 250 | Dalton-in-Furness Cumbria | 7,551 | 27.2 | 9.3 | 5.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 400 | Throckley Tyne and Wear | 6,207 | 36.4 | 17.4 | 6.4 | C− |
| 401 | Bedwas Gwent | 6,463 | 39.4 | 14.8 | 6.2 | C− |
| 402 | Treherbert Mid Glamorgan | 5,427 | 41.9 | 12.6 | 4.8 | C− |
| 403 | Cleator Moor Cumbria | 6,671 | 40.5 | 14.3 | 6.1 | C− |
| 404 | Moorends South Yorkshire | 5,194 | 37.4 | 17.5 | 7.3 | C− |
| 405 | Stocksbridge South Yorkshire | 7,264 | 35 | 20.2 | 11.4 | C− |
| 406 | Wadebridge Cornwall | 5,626 | 42.4 | 13 | 14.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 481 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Cleator Moor, and others in Cumbria.
Violent crime down 15% in a year, while towns its size held steady
“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 -15% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +21% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -43% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Cleator Moor 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 15 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Cleator Moor’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 24 collisions with injuries inside Cleator Moor in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Cleator Moor is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Cleator Moor’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Cleator Moor had 6.
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 Cleator Moor’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Cleator Moor
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleator Moor | 6,671 | 40.5 | 14.3 | C− |
| Frizington | 1,754 | 62.5 | 23 | D− |
| Whitehaven | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | D |
| Egremont | 5,791 | 46.5 | 14.3 | D |
| Moresby Parks | 1,180 | 12.4 | 1.4 | A+ |
| St Bees | 1,187 | 27 | 7.3 | B− |
| Distington | 1,375 | 30.6 | 7.5 | C+ |
| High Harrington | 1,574 | 10 | 1.7 | A+ |
Cleator Moor records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Moresby Parks, 3 miles away, records 12.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Cleator Moor’s 40.5.
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
- 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 Cleator Moor 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 Cleator Moor
Is Cleator Moor safe?
Police recorded 40.5 violent and sexual offences and 14.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Cleator Moor’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Cleator Moor is 403rd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Cleator Moor?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 15%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 21%, shoplifting and theft held steady 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 Cleator Moor?
Violence & sexual offences: 238 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (80) and public order (60), with 39 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Cleator Moor compare with Whitehaven?
Whitehaven records 52 violent and sexual offences and 14.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Cleator Moor’s 40.5 and 14.3, 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.