Photo: Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Wigton has a higher rate per resident than 85% of UK towns
Out of every 1,000 residents, 40.1 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually. Taking everything together, Wigton scores C− (#13 of 23 in Cumbria): more crime per resident than 79% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Criminal damage & arson runs at 9.8 per 1,000 residents here, against 4.5 in a typical town its size: police recorded 53 in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime was up 27% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wigton
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 27% more violent crime per resident in Wigton 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 51% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Wigton has the 417th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Kegworth, Ventnor and Old Sarum, higher than Winterton, Newent and Copthorne. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Wigton’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 808 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wigton 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 Wigton identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 40% of Wigton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 10% 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. 261 crimes.
How crime in Wigton has moved
“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 +27% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +51% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -6% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -31% (towns its size +0%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Wigton runs highest on criminal damage & arson (9.8 per 1,000 against 4.5), violence & sexual offences (44.7 per 1,000 against 22.4) and shoplifting (3.5 per 1,000 against 1.8). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 241 | 44.7 | 22.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 53 | 9.8 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 36 | 6.7 | 3.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 22 | 4.1 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 19 | 3.5 | 1.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 9 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 8 | 1.5 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 5 | 0.9 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 4 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
“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.
417th of 518: Wigton among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Seaton Cumbria | 5,051 | 15.5 | 4.6 | 2.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | Grange-over-Sands Cumbria | 4,047 | 14.2 | 7.7 | 4.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 282 | Millom Cumbria | 5,690 | 27 | 8.4 | 5.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 363 | Keswick Cumbria | 4,465 | 31.5 | 11.3 | 18 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 414 | Winterton Lincolnshire | 4,764 | 37.5 | 12 | 3.9 | C− |
| 415 | Newent Gloucestershire | 5,360 | 39.3 | 10.7 | 6.4 | C− |
| 416 | Copthorne West Sussex | 4,917 | 34.2 | 15.8 | 13.5 | C− |
| 417 | Wigton Cumbria | 5,396 | 40.1 | 9.9 | 6.2 | C− |
| 418 | Old Tupton Derbyshire | 4,190 | 39.5 | 10.7 | 5.5 | C− |
| 419 | Wincanton Somerset | 6,744 | 37.7 | 12.6 | 16.8 | C− |
| 420 | Rownhams and Nursling Hampshire | 4,796 | 27.4 | 22.9 | 22.5 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 518 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | 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 Wigton, and others in Cumbria.
How Wigton’s neighbourhoods rank in England
52% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 19% 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.
Wigton’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 Wigton 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 12 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 Wigton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 17 collisions with injuries inside Wigton in five years. 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Wigton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Wigton’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Wigton had 2.
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 Wigton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wigton
Wigton records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 5 neighbours; only Aspatria and Carlisle record more. Dalston, 7.2 miles away, records 21.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wigton’s 40.1.
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 Wigton 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 Wigton
Is Wigton safe?
Police recorded 40.1 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wigton’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 21% of UK towns. Among 518 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people, Wigton is 417th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wigton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 27%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 51%, shoplifting and theft fell 6% and anti-social behaviour fell 31%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wigton?
Violence & sexual offences: 241 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (53) and public order (36), with 22 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wigton 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 Wigton’s 40.1 and 9.9, 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.