Photo: Oast House Archive · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Rye than in 89% of UK towns
In a usual year, 41.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. Violent crime here is higher than in 86% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 92%. Add to that, on the record of crimes police recorded inside Rye’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D for safety: #22 of 26 in East Sussex. Recorded violence rose 13% 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 Rye
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% more violent crime per resident in Rye 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Rye: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 890 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Rye against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Rye runs highest on shoplifting (8.4 per 1,000 against 1.8), criminal damage & arson (14.1 per 1,000 against 4.5) and public order (11 per 1,000 against 3.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 209 | 42.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 122 | 25 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 69 | 14.1 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 54 | 11 | 3.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 41 | 8.4 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 35 | 7.2 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 13 | 2.7 | 2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 11 | 2.3 | 1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 10 | 2 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 9 | 1.8 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 9 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
“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.
How Rye compares with UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 74 | Crumbles East Sussex | 3,056 | 12.5 | 6.1 | 2.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 138 | Lower Willingdon East Sussex | 6,126 | 15.6 | 6.8 | 5.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 326 | Wadhurst East Sussex | 3,408 | 18.1 | 11.2 | 5.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 340 | Ringmer East Sussex | 3,221 | 21.4 | 8.4 | 3.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 752 | Egremont Cumbria | 5,791 | 46.5 | 14.3 | 9.5 | D |
| 753 | Headcorn Kent | 3,293 | 40.6 | 20.3 | 17.4 | D |
| 754 | Iver Buckinghamshire | 3,267 | 41.2 | 20.1 | 12.1 | D |
| 755 | Rye East Sussex | 4,888 | 41.5 | 20.1 | 15.4 | D |
| 756 | Sacriston County Durham | 5,186 | 38.5 | 23.3 | 17.4 | D |
| 757 | Brotton North Yorkshire | 5,399 | 43.7 | 18.8 | 12.4 | D |
| 758 | Brampton South Yorkshire | 4,620 | 37.5 | 25.5 | 35.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 823 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Rye, and others in East Sussex.
Police in Rye identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 82% of Rye’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 20% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (56% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 2% 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. 289 crimes.
How crime in Rye 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 +13% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -2% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +13% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Rye 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 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Rye’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 23% 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.
Rye’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.
No one died in a collision on Rye’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 51 collisions with injuries inside Rye in five years. 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Rye is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Rye had 73.7 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Rye’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Rye
Rye records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Camber records more. Winchelsea Beach, 2.2 miles away, records 22.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Rye’s 41.5.
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 Rye 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 Rye
Is Rye safe?
Police recorded 41.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Rye’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 11% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Rye has less crime per resident than 9%.
Is crime going up in Rye?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 13%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Rye?
Violence & sexual offences: 209 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (69) and public order (54), with 122 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Rye compare with Hastings?
Hastings records 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 20.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Rye’s 41.5 and 20.1, 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.