Photo: Pete Cruse · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Plymouth than in 91% of UK towns
Its Safety Grade is D, on crimes police recorded inside Plymouth’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #45 of 47 in Devon. Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 37% of them record more crime per resident. What’s more, violent crime was up 9% in a year. The local count comes to 49.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 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 Plymouth
One ward carries much of the rate
St Peter and the Waterfront ward recorded 8,854 of Plymouth’s 37,745 violent and sexual offences in three years: 166.3 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Plymouth the figure is 38.7. Where in Plymouth ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Plymouth 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 47 UK towns and cities of 187,000 to 360,000 people, Plymouth has the 30th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Islington, Portsmouth and Coventry, higher than Cardiff, Haringey and Belfast. 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. 14% of Plymouth’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 25% 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.
The grade: D for Plymouth
A firm grade. Built on 49,178 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Plymouth 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 Woolwell, Plymstock Dunstone and Plympton St Mary; highest in St Peter and the Waterfront
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolwell | 2,993 | 11.9 | 2.5 | |
| Plymstock Dunstone | 11,591 | 15.9 | 5.5 | |
| Plympton St Mary | 12,580 | 17.7 | 5.1 | |
| Plymstock Radford | 14,292 | 19.7 | 6.7 | |
| Plympton Erle | 8,751 | 22.9 | 6.4 | |
| Plympton Chaddlewood | 8,224 | 22.6 | 7.3 | |
| Eggbuckland | 13,084 | 23.2 | 7.4 | |
| Peverell | 13,473 | 25.2 | 10.6 | |
| Bickleigh & Cornwood | 882 | 27.2 | 9.1 | |
| Southway | 13,588 | 33.4 | 7 | |
| Moor View | 13,381 | 39.6 | 10.4 | |
| Compton | 12,286 | 39.3 | 14.3 | |
| Ham | 14,381 | 44.1 | 12.1 | |
| Budshead | 12,953 | 46.2 | 12.1 | |
| Efford and Lipson | 14,199 | 44.3 | 15.8 | |
| St Budeaux | 13,219 | 48.5 | 13.6 | |
| Honicknowle | 13,925 | 49.2 | 14.4 | |
| Sutton and Mount Gould | 14,149 | 52.1 | 20.9 | |
| Drake | 11,048 | 54.8 | 18.8 | |
| Stoke | 13,436 | 51.9 | 22.3 | |
| Devonport | 16,326 | 70.7 | 19.4 | |
| St Peter and the Waterfront | 17,751 | 166.3 | 42.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,163 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 5,096 | 35% violent |
| Nightclubs | 1,116 | 58% violent |
| Shopping areas | 916 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 894 | 52% violent |
| Police stations | 735 | 37% violent |
| Petrol stations | 617 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 554 | 43% violent |
| College and university buildings | 387 | 48% violent |
| Ferry terminals | 163 | 40% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St Peter and the Waterfront records 4.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Plymouth. 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 Plymouth. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Plymouth’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Plymouth identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 51% of Plymouth’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” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 14,667 crimes.
Crime in Plymouth 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 14 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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Plymouth runs highest on possession of weapons (1.8 per 1,000 against 1.1), violence & sexual offences (49.5 per 1,000 against 38.6) and criminal damage & arson (9.3 per 1,000 against 7.5). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 13,220 | 49.5 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 3,918 | 14.7 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 2,487 | 9.3 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,184 | 8.2 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 2,056 | 7.7 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,891 | 7.1 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 843 | 3.2 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 784 | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 584 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 558 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 480 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 220 | 0.8 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 196 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 107 | 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.
How crime in Plymouth has moved
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).
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 +5% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -25% (towns its size -2%).
30th of 47: Plymouth among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Cardiff South Glamorgan | 348,511 | 40 | 22.4 | 26.6 | D |
| 28 | Haringey London | 264,069 | 38.4 | 24.6 | 29 | D |
| 29 | Belfast Belfast | 293,298 | 45.1 | 19 | 22.6 | D |
| 30 | Plymouth Devon | 266,970 | 49.4 | 14.9 | 16.2 | D |
| 31 | Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire | 197,328 | 46.3 | 19.3 | 23.3 | D |
| 32 | Northampton Northamptonshire | 243,527 | 46.1 | 19.7 | 20.2 | D |
| 33 | Tower Hamlets London | 311,072 | 43.3 | 23 | 39.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Westminster London | 203,571 | 81.4 | 42.3 | 254.6 | 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 Plymouth, and others in Devon.
1 in 7 Plymouth residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
32% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 25% 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.
Plymouth’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.
16 people died in collisions on Plymouth’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,881 collisions with injuries inside Plymouth in five years, in which 16 people died (6 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 341 people were killed or seriously injured: 78 on foot and 62 on a bicycle.
That is 1.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Plymouth had 25.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 23% 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 Plymouth’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Plymouth
Plymouth records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Sherford records more. Torpoint, 3.6 miles away, records 33.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Plymouth’s 49.4.
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 894 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Plymouth’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth
Is Plymouth safe?
Police recorded 49.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Plymouth’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 47 UK towns of 187,000 to 360,000 people, Plymouth is 30th from the least crime. 14% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Plymouth?
By council ward, Woolwell, Plymstock Dunstone and Plympton St Mary record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.9, 15.9 and 17.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 166.3 in St Peter and the Waterfront.
Is crime going up in Plymouth?
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 5% and anti-social behaviour fell 25%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Plymouth city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,116 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 58% of them violent, and St Peter and the Waterfront ward records 166.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Plymouth?
Violence & sexual offences: 13,220 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (2,487) and shoplifting (2,184), with 3,918 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.