Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Whitehaven than in 91% of UK towns
The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Whitehaven’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #19 of 23 in Cumbria. Recorded violence held steady in a year. Police recorded 93 cases of drugs here in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 4.1 per 1,000 against a typical 1.9. The local count comes to 52.0 violent and sexual offences and 14.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Whitehaven
More crime than many places its size
Of 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Whitehaven has the 212th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Brownhills, Staines-upon-Thames and Littlehampton, higher than Northfleet, Pontypool and Ripley. 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. 18% of Whitehaven’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 12% 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.
Whitehaven: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 4,580 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Whitehaven against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Whitehaven identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 45% of Whitehaven’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” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 12% 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. 1,489 crimes.
Whitehaven places 212th of 251 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 139 | Kendal Cumbria | 28,939 | 37.6 | 10.8 | 13 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 186 | Penrith Cumbria | 16,705 | 45.9 | 11.3 | 17.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 209 | Northfleet Kent | 29,892 | 45 | 20.6 | 15.5 | D |
| 210 | Pontypool Gwent | 29,070 | 47 | 18.7 | 10.5 | D |
| 211 | Ripley Derbyshire | 20,191 | 52.3 | 13.8 | 14.1 | D |
| 212 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| 213 | Camborne Cornwall | 20,445 | 50 | 17.1 | 11.3 | D |
| 214 | Darwen Lancashire | 27,897 | 48 | 19.3 | 10.3 | D |
| 215 | Jarrow Tyne and Wear | 29,467 | 46.8 | 21.7 | 28.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 237 | Workington Cumbria | 21,276 | 59.3 | 22.1 | 21.8 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 251 | 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 Whitehaven, and others in Cumbria.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Whitehaven runs highest on drugs (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.9), public order (10.8 per 1,000 against 5.4) and possession of weapons (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.7). Anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,227 | 53.5 | 30.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 249 | 10.8 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 225 | 9.8 | 6.2 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 155 | 6.8 | 12.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 122 | 5.3 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 93 | 4.1 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 79 | 3.4 | 6.1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 76 | 3.3 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 46 | 2 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 32 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 31 | 1.4 | 2.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.2 | 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.
Crime in Whitehaven 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 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 Egremont North and St Bees, Hillcrest and Hensingham and Mirehouse; highest in Bransty
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egremont North and St Bees | 2,048 | 31.6 | 10.1 | |
| Hillcrest and Hensingham | 5,092 | 36.5 | 10.3 | |
| Mirehouse | 5,196 | 39.7 | 9.8 | |
| Kells and Sandwith | 5,550 | 45.3 | 14.2 | |
| Bransty | 5,066 | 95.7 | 25.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Nightclubs | 327 | 51% violent |
| Shopping areas | 263 | 39% violent |
| Car parks | 164 | 35% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 138 | 46% violent |
| Supermarkets | 120 | 36% anti-social behaviour |
| Hospitals | 97 | 56% violent |
| Petrol stations | 82 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Bransty records 2.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Whitehaven. 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 Whitehaven. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Whitehaven’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
1 in 6 Whitehaven residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
23% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 12% 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.
Whitehaven’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.
How crime in Whitehaven 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 +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -2% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -1% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -41% (towns its size -4%).
Two people died in collisions on Whitehaven’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 146 collisions with injuries inside Whitehaven in five years, in which two people died. 39 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 4 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 Whitehaven’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Whitehaven’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Whitehaven had 34.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 38% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Whitehaven’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Whitehaven
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehaven | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | D |
| Moresby Parks | 1,180 | 12.4 | 1.4 | A+ |
| Cleator Moor | 6,671 | 40.5 | 14.3 | C− |
| Frizington | 1,754 | 62.5 | 23 | D− |
| St Bees | 1,187 | 27 | 7.3 | B− |
| Distington | 1,375 | 30.6 | 7.5 | C+ |
| Egremont | 5,791 | 46.5 | 14.3 | D |
| High Harrington | 1,574 | 10 | 1.7 | A+ |
Whitehaven records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Frizington records more. Moresby Parks, 1.8 miles away, records 12.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Whitehaven’s 52.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 97 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Whitehaven’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 Whitehaven 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 Whitehaven
Is Whitehaven safe?
Police recorded 52 violent and sexual offences and 14.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Whitehaven’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Whitehaven is 212th from the least crime. 18% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Whitehaven?
By council ward, Egremont North and St Bees, Hillcrest and Hensingham and Mirehouse record the least violent and household crime per resident: 31.6, 36.5 and 39.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 95.7 in Bransty.
Is crime going up in Whitehaven?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 41%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Whitehaven town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 327 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 51% of them violent, and Bransty ward records 95.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in December and was lowest in September.
What is the most common crime in Whitehaven?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,227 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (249) and criminal damage & arson (225), with 155 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.