Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0Kendal records bicycle theft at 3.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence rose 6% in a year. Annual rates stand at 37.6 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents. Its letter overall is C− (#10 of 23 in Cumbria): more crime per resident than 77% of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Measured against the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 42% of them record more crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Kendal
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% more violent crime per resident in Kendal than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 222 UK towns of 20,000 to 39,000 people, Kendal has the 112th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Retford, Daventry and Rugeley, higher than Antrim, Dereham and Congleton. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 22% of Kendal’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 7% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Kendal, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 4,203 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Kendal 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, Kendal runs highest on bicycle theft (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.3), drugs (4.5 per 1,000 against 1.9) and public order (8 per 1,000 against 5.4). 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 | 1,110 | 38.4 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 231 | 8 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 207 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 205 | 7.1 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 149 | 5.1 | 12.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 129 | 4.5 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 122 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 53 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 49 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 48 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 32 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 24 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | 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.
Police in Kendal identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 54% of Kendal’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% 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 10% 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. 1,360 crimes.
1 in 4 Kendal residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
43% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 7% 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.
Kendal’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.
Crime in Kendal 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Kendal has moved
“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 +6% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -12% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Kendal Castle, Kendal South and Kendal Highgate; highest in Kendal Strickland and Fell
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kendal Castle | 6,056 | 11.6 | 4.6 | |
| Kendal South | 4,067 | 31.9 | 8.8 | |
| Kendal Highgate | 5,948 | 39.6 | 12.4 | |
| Kendal Nether | 6,237 | 41.5 | 11 | |
| Kendal Strickland and Fell | 6,631 | 59.4 | 16.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 474 | 39% violent |
| Police stations | 182 | 45% violent |
| Shopping areas | 128 | 63% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 115 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 94 | 57% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 90 | 42% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Kendal Strickland and Fell records 1.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Kendal. 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 Kendal. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Kendal’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Among 222 towns its size, Kendal ranks 112th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 109 | Antrim Antrim and Newtownabbey | 25,606 | 33.7 | 13.6 | 8.7 | C |
| 110 | Dereham Norfolk | 20,788 | 37.3 | 10.5 | 16 | C− |
| 111 | Congleton Cheshire | 30,001 | 38.6 | 9.2 | 10 | C− |
| 112 | Kendal Cumbria | 28,939 | 37.6 | 10.8 | 13 | C− |
| 113 | Hucknall Nottinghamshire | 35,848 | 34.4 | 14.3 | 23.4 | C− |
| 114 | Lichfield Staffordshire | 32,586 | 34.1 | 14.7 | 15.1 | C− |
| 115 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | 23,683 | 33.5 | 15.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 184 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 210 | Workington Cumbria | 21,276 | 59.3 | 22.1 | 21.8 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 222 | 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 Kendal, and others in Cumbria.
One person died in collisions on Kendal’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 97 collisions with injuries inside Kendal in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 25 people were killed or seriously injured: 9 on foot and 8 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 Kendal’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kendal’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Kendal had 17.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Kendal’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Kendal
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kendal | 28,939 | 37.6 | 10.8 | C− |
| Levens | 1,020 | 9.8 | 2.9 | A+ |
| Staveley | 1,466 | 16.4 | 5.2 | A− |
| Milnthorpe | 1,871 | 24.9 | 8.6 | B− |
| Windermere | 4,819 | 32.1 | 11.6 | C |
| Bowness-on-Windermere | 2,290 | 69.6 | 16 | D− |
| Holme | 1,477 | 17.6 | 5.6 | A− |
| Sedbergh | 1,449 | 28.5 | 9.9 | C+ |
Kendal records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Bowness-on-Windermere records more. Levens, 4.3 miles away, records 9.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kendal’s 37.6.
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 Kendal 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 Kendal
Is Kendal safe?
Police recorded 37.6 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Kendal’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 23% of UK towns. Among 222 UK towns of 20,000 to 39,000 people, Kendal is 112th from the least crime. 22% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Kendal?
By council ward, Kendal Castle, Kendal South and Kendal Highgate record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.6, 31.9 and 39.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 59.4 in Kendal Strickland and Fell.
Is crime going up in Kendal?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 12%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Kendal?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,110 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (231) and criminal damage & arson (207), with 149 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.