Photo: Ianmacm at English Wikipedia · Public domainCrime per resident in Paignton runs higher than in 83% of UK towns
Counting crimes police recorded inside Paignton’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades C− for safety: #39 of 47 in Devon.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Paignton
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Paignton 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 ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 111 UK towns and cities of 47,000 to 91,000 people, Paignton has the 48th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Barry, Gosport and Stafford, higher than Newcastle-under-Lyme, Hereford and Washington. 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 Paignton’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 13% 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.
Paignton grades C− for safety
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A firm grade. Built on 10,510 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Paignton against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Lowest recorded crime in Churston with Galmpton, Preston and Goodrington with Roselands; highest in Collaton St Mary
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Paignton’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churston with Galmpton | 5,456 | 13.7 | 6 | |
| Preston | 10,517 | 25.2 | 10.9 | |
| Goodrington with Roselands | 7,427 | 26.2 | 10.5 | |
| Clifton with Maidenway | 8,074 | 28 | 12.4 | |
| Shiphay | 8,005 | 33.6 | 7.7 | |
| King's Ash | 7,808 | 38.8 | 12.6 | |
| Cockington with Chelston | 8,362 | 37.9 | 15.1 | |
| Roundham with Hyde | 8,796 | 72.9 | 26.7 | |
| Collaton St Mary | 2,735 | 106 | 28.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,081 | 67% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 731 | 33% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 473 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 254 | 39% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 179 | 37% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 112 | 43% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 49 | 39% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Collaton St Mary records 3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Paignton. 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 Paignton. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Police in Paignton identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
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. 3,345 crimes.
No suspect was identified for 55% of Paignton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 5% of household crimes reached court.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
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.
Public order and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,729 | 40.4 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 803 | 11.9 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 651 | 9.6 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 507 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 458 | 6.8 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 324 | 4.8 | 7.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 186 | 2.8 | 3.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 177 | 2.6 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 168 | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 136 | 2 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 70 | 1 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 35 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 21 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 21 | 0.3 | 1.4 |
“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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 42 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
And about 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
Violent crime up 9% in a year, while towns its size held steady
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 -2% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +12% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -21% (towns its size -2%).
Devon & Cornwall Police published three months short or not at all (Sep 2023, Oct 2023 and Nov 2023), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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).
1 in 6 Paignton residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
Paignton’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.
36% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 13% 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.
Paignton is 48th of 111 UK towns of 47,000 to 91,000
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Paignton, and others in Devon.
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 45 | Newcastle-under-Lyme Staffordshire | 76,511 | 39.5 | 13.3 | 14.5 | C− |
| 46 | Hereford Herefordshire | 60,471 | 41.7 | 11.1 | 17.4 | C− |
| 47 | Washington Tyne and Wear | 51,318 | 32.7 | 20.4 | 18 | C− |
| 48 | Paignton Devon | 67,509 | 40.2 | 13.7 | 16.3 | C− |
| 49 | Corby Northamptonshire | 68,164 | 41.1 | 13.2 | 16.4 | C− |
| 50 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | 20.2 | C− |
| 51 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 98 | Torquay Devon | 52,034 | 62.6 | 20.2 | 23.6 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 111 | 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.
Six people died in collisions on Paignton’s roads in 2021–2025
Collisions police recorded inside Paignton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Police recorded 393 collisions with injuries inside Paignton in five years, in which six people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 103 people were killed or seriously injured: 26 on foot and 14 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 Paignton’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Paignton’s own rate (1.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Paignton had 30.5 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). 25% 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.
Crime in the places around Paignton
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paignton | 67,509 | 40.2 | 13.7 | C− |
| Marldon | 2,073 | 11.2 | 6.1 | A |
| Torquay | 52,034 | 62.6 | 20.2 | D− |
| Stoke Gabriel | 1,340 | 11.4 | 3.8 | A |
| Kingskerswell | 3,761 | 25 | 11.3 | C+ |
| Brixham | 17,839 | 30.1 | 10.1 | C+ |
| Ipplepen | 2,150 | 10.6 | 5.6 | A |
| Abbotskerswell | 1,182 | 6.2 | 4.9 | A+ |
Paignton records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Torquay records more. Marldon, 1.4 miles away, records 11.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Paignton’s 40.2.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Some months are short. Devon & Cornwall Police published September 2023, October 2023 and November 2023 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Paignton 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 Paignton
Is Paignton safe?
Police recorded 40.2 violent and sexual offences and 13.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Paignton’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 17% of UK towns. Among 111 UK towns of 47,000 to 91,000 people, Paignton is 48th from the least crime. 18% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Paignton?
By council ward, Churston with Galmpton, Preston and Goodrington with Roselands record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.7, 25.2 and 26.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 106 in Collaton St Mary.
Is crime going up in Paignton?
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 12% and anti-social behaviour fell 21%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Paignton?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,729 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (651) and criminal damage & arson (507), with 803 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.