Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Chesterfield than in 94% of UK towns
Violent crime was up 9% in a year. Public order stands out: 12.4 per 1,000 residents in Chesterfield, against 7.4 in a typical town its size, with 950 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #55 of 59 in Derbyshire. Behind the grade sit 56.2 violent and sexual offences and 17.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Chesterfield
One ward carries much of the rate
St Leonard's ward, where 43% of Chesterfield’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 3,217 of Chesterfield’s 12,872 violent and sexual offences in three years: 137.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Chesterfield the figure is 46.9. Where in Chesterfield ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Chesterfield than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 92 UK towns and cities of 53,000 to 103,000 people, Chesterfield has the 70th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Scarborough, Mansfield and Burnley, higher than Taunton, South Shields and Carlisle. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Chesterfield’s D for safety
A firm grade. Built on 16,791 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Chesterfield against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Walton, West and Brampton & Walton; highest in St Leonard's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walton | 5,331 | 13.3 | 5.6 | |
| West | 5,736 | 19.2 | 8.8 | |
| Brampton & Walton | 645 | 21.2 | 9.3 | |
| Linacre | 3,845 | 21.7 | 8.9 | |
| Grassmoor | 582 | 28.1 | 3.4 | |
| Brimington South | 1,329 | 26.1 | 9.3 | |
| Barrow Hill and New Whittington | 4,563 | 34.8 | 10.5 | |
| Brockwell | 6,590 | 36.6 | 14.6 | |
| Hasland | 6,290 | 39.3 | 15.7 | |
| Holmebrook | 4,273 | 54.6 | 16.7 | |
| Dunston | 6,494 | 65 | 20.1 | |
| Moor | 4,290 | 64.3 | 21.4 | |
| Old Whittington | 3,777 | 59.8 | 27.6 | |
| Loundsley Green | 3,739 | 69.6 | 19 | |
| Rother | 6,299 | 73.5 | 17.6 | |
| St Helen's | 4,827 | 74.7 | 23.2 | |
| St Leonard's | 7,784 | 137.8 | 30.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 2,063 | 31% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,644 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 1,559 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 1,085 | 61% violent |
| Petrol stations | 603 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 281 | 48% violent |
| College and university buildings | 249 | 60% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 109 | 86% anti-social behaviour |
| Bus and coach stations | 46 | 48% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St Leonard's records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Chesterfield. 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 Chesterfield. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Chesterfield’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Chesterfield 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 18 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
70th of 92: Chesterfield among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 67 | Taunton Somerset | 61,667 | 56.2 | 15.1 | 24.5 | D |
| 68 | South Shields Tyne and Wear | 73,326 | 49.1 | 22.9 | 26.4 | D |
| 69 | Carlisle Cumbria | 77,729 | 55.4 | 16.6 | 19.3 | D |
| 70 | Chesterfield Derbyshire | 76,394 | 56.2 | 17.1 | 21.8 | D |
| 71 | Margate Kent | 63,315 | 56.1 | 17.5 | 17.1 | D |
| 72 | Chatham Kent | 76,956 | 54 | 20.6 | 20.8 | D |
| 73 | Weston-super-Mare Somerset | 84,600 | 57.4 | 17.2 | 20.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 92 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Chesterfield, and others in Derbyshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Chesterfield runs highest on public order (12.4 per 1,000 against 7.4), theft from the person (1 per 1,000 against 0.7) and violence & sexual offences (55.8 per 1,000 against 38.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,266 | 55.8 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,644 | 21.5 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 972 | 12.7 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 950 | 12.4 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 668 | 8.7 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 535 | 7 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 361 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 314 | 4.1 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 299 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 185 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 116 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 105 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 80 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 33 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Police in Chesterfield identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Chesterfield’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 7% 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. 5,542 crimes.
How crime in Chesterfield has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +9% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +7% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -1% (towns its size -2%).
How Chesterfield’s neighbourhoods rank in England
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 15% 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.
Chesterfield’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.
Five people died in collisions on Chesterfield’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 549 collisions with injuries inside Chesterfield in five years, in which five people died (4 were pedestrians). 130 people were killed or seriously injured: 46 on foot and 8 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Chesterfield’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chesterfield’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Chesterfield had 33.9 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 35% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Chesterfield’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Chesterfield
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chesterfield | 76,394 | 56.2 | 17.1 | D |
| Brimington | 11,068 | 40.5 | 10.2 | C− |
| Holymoorside | 1,363 | 13.5 | 2.9 | A |
| Wingerworth | 6,404 | 14.9 | 5.6 | A− |
| Grassmoor | 3,528 | 55.3 | 14.3 | D |
| Staveley | 15,151 | 44.7 | 13.3 | D |
| Old Tupton | 4,190 | 39.5 | 10.7 | C− |
| Duckmanton | 1,775 | 41.7 | 11.5 | C− |
Chesterfield records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Brimington, 2 miles away, records 40.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Chesterfield’s 56.2.
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 1,085 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Chesterfield’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 Chesterfield 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 Chesterfield
Is Chesterfield safe?
Police recorded 56.2 violent and sexual offences and 17.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Chesterfield’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among 92 UK towns of 53,000 to 103,000 people, Chesterfield is 70th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Chesterfield?
By council ward, Walton, West and Brampton & Walton record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.3, 19.2 and 21.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 137.8 in St Leonard's.
Is crime going up in Chesterfield?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 7% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Chesterfield?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,266 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (972) and public order (950), with 1,644 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.