Photo: Colin Kinnear · CC BY-SA 2.0Penrith records more violent crime per head than 90% of UK towns
Of all the kinds of crime, drugs is where Penrith departs most from towns its size: 4.8 per 1,000 against 1.9. Graded on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores D for safety: #16 of 23 in Cumbria. Each year brought 45.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 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 Penrith
More crime than many places its size
Of 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Penrith has the 245th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Swinton, Buxton and Staveley, higher than Maltby, Hebburn and Cudworth and Shafton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Penrith
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,857 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Penrith 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, Penrith runs highest on drugs (4.8 per 1,000 against 1.9), possession of weapons (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.7) and shoplifting (11 per 1,000 against 6.1). 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 | 744 | 44.5 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 184 | 11 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 158 | 9.5 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 108 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 80 | 4.8 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 70 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 56 | 3.4 | 12.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 37 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 24 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 22 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 20 | 1.2 | 2.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 10 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
“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 Penrith identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 48% of Penrith’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 14% 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. 984 crimes.
Penrith is 245th of 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 242 | Maltby South Yorkshire | 16,305 | 37.9 | 18.7 | 11.1 | C− |
| 243 | Hebburn Tyne and Wear | 21,341 | 37.9 | 19.2 | 10.6 | D |
| 244 | Cudworth and Shafton South Yorkshire | 12,472 | 38.4 | 18.8 | 7.7 | D |
| 245 | Penrith Cumbria | 16,705 | 45.9 | 11.3 | 17.8 | D |
| 246 | Bedlington Northumberland | 16,186 | 41.3 | 16.2 | 18.3 | D |
| 247 | Rochford Essex | 12,617 | 42.2 | 15.3 | 8.2 | D |
| 248 | Hoyland South Yorkshire | 15,527 | 35.9 | 21.6 | 18.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 277 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 301 | Workington Cumbria | 21,276 | 59.3 | 22.1 | 21.8 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 317 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Penrith, and others in Cumbria.
How Penrith’s neighbourhoods rank in England
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 8% 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.
Penrith’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 Penrith 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 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 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 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 +0% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -17% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -8% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -54% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Penrith police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 229 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 191 | 80% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 185 | 49% violent |
| Shopping areas | 92 | 38% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 40 | 50% violent |
| Police stations | 26 | 54% violent |
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 Penrith. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Penrith’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 66 collisions with injuries inside Penrith in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 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 Penrith’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Penrith’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Penrith had 15.6 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 Penrith’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Penrith
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith | 16,705 | 45.9 | 11.3 | D |
| Appleby-in-Westmorland | 3,233 | 42.4 | 10.4 | C− |
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 Penrith 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 Penrith
Is Penrith safe?
Police recorded 45.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Penrith’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 14% of UK towns. Among 317 UK towns of 12,000 to 23,000 people, Penrith is 245th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Penrith?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 17%, shoplifting and theft fell 8% and anti-social behaviour fell 54%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Penrith?
Violence & sexual offences: 744 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (184) and public order (158), with 56 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Penrith compare with Carlisle?
Carlisle records 55.4 violent and sexual offences and 16.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Penrith’s 45.9 and 11.3, 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.