Photo: Glyn Baker · CC BY-SA 2.0Braintree sees more violent crime per resident than four in five UK towns
Recorded violence fell 5% in a year. In a usual year, 39.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. Overall, it grades C− for safety (#58 of 81 in Essex). Drugs stands out: 3.7 per 1,000 residents in Braintree, against 1.9 in a typical town its size, with 161 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Braintree
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 5% less violent crime per resident in Braintree than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people 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 157 UK towns of 30,000 to 58,000 people, Braintree has the 84th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Ballymena, Bury St Edmunds and Swadlincote, higher than Andover, Epsom and Rushden. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Braintree’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 6,735 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Braintree 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, Braintree runs highest on drugs (3.7 per 1,000 against 1.9), vehicle crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 2.8) and shoplifting (7.7 per 1,000 against 6.1). Anti-social behaviour and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,597 | 37 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 428 | 9.9 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 333 | 7.7 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 269 | 6.2 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 247 | 5.7 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 235 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 161 | 3.7 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 155 | 3.6 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 83 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 72 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 40 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 26 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 23 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 15 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Crime in Braintree 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Braintree’s neighbourhoods rank in England
15% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Braintree’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.
How crime in Braintree has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 -5% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +10% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +6% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Bocking Blackwater, Braintree South and Bocking North; highest in Braintree Central & Beckers Green
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bocking Blackwater | 10,296 | 25.7 | 8.9 | |
| Braintree South | 6,560 | 30.3 | 8.2 | |
| Bocking North | 3,826 | 41.3 | 12.8 | |
| Bocking South | 6,752 | 45.5 | 12.3 | |
| Braintree West | 6,165 | 41.9 | 17 | |
| Braintree Central & Beckers Green | 9,580 | 51.3 | 12.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 400 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 355 | 34% violent |
| Shopping areas | 342 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 133 | 48% violent |
| Petrol stations | 123 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 62 | 53% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Braintree. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Braintree’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Braintree’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% 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 8% of violent and 6% 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. 2,354 crimes.
Braintree places 84th of 157 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 13.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Billericay Essex | 34,068 | 16.9 | 9.1 | 8.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Thundersley and South Benfleet Essex | 49,886 | 20.9 | 10.6 | 7.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Rayleigh Essex | 32,383 | 23.4 | 9.8 | 9.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Brentwood Essex | 55,339 | 26.9 | 17 | 17.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 81 | Andover Hampshire | 48,484 | 41.5 | 10.3 | 12.3 | C− |
| 82 | Epsom Surrey | 35,857 | 34.7 | 17.2 | 18.1 | C− |
| 83 | Rushden Northamptonshire | 31,689 | 36.6 | 15.4 | 21.6 | C− |
| 84 | Braintree Essex | 43,179 | 39.8 | 12.4 | 15.8 | C− |
| 85 | Prescot Merseyside | 39,227 | 40.6 | 12.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 86 | Washington Tyne and Wear | 51,318 | 32.7 | 20.4 | 18 | C− |
| 87 | Spalding Lincolnshire | 30,552 | 39.7 | 13.4 | 15 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 157 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Braintree, and others in Essex.
One person died in collisions on Braintree’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 212 collisions with injuries inside Braintree in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 60 people were killed or seriously injured: 21 on foot and 11 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Braintree’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Braintree’s own rate (0.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Braintree had 27.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 35% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Braintree’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Braintree
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braintree | 43,179 | 39.8 | 12.4 | C− |
| Great Notley | 7,659 | 13.8 | 6.3 | A− |
| Tye Green | 1,415 | 25.7 | 8 | B− |
| Black Notley | 1,932 | 19.7 | 6.6 | B+ |
| Rayne | 2,169 | 18.9 | 9.1 | B |
| Silver End | 3,913 | 32.2 | 11.2 | C |
| Gosfield | 1,453 | 9.9 | 4.4 | A+ |
| Great Leighs | 2,968 | 19.5 | 6.2 | B+ |
Braintree records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Great Notley, 1.9 miles away, records 13.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Braintree’s 39.8.
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 Braintree 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 Braintree
Is Braintree safe?
Police recorded 39.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Braintree’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 19% of UK towns. Among 157 UK towns of 30,000 to 58,000 people, Braintree is 84th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Braintree?
By council ward, Bocking Blackwater, Braintree South and Bocking North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 25.7, 30.3 and 41.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 51.3 in Braintree Central & Beckers Green.
Is crime going up in Braintree?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 5%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 10% and anti-social behaviour rose 6%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Braintree?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,597 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (333) and public order (269), with 428 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.