34, London Road · Photo: RobertP4591 · CC BY-SA 4.0Set against UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Wickford records less crime than 79%
On violence it beats 60% of UK towns; on burglary, vehicle crime and damage, only 28%. Violent crime barely moved in a year. The overall Safety Grade is B− (#27 of 81 in Essex), which means close to the middle of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Typical years here bring 19.8 violent and sexual offences plus 13.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wickford
Less crime than most places its size
Of 237 UK towns of 19,000 to 37,000 people, Wickford has the 42nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Sevenoaks, Lancing and Sompting and Biggleswade, higher than Calne, Clevedon and Whitley Bay. 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 Wickford’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 18% 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.
What’s behind Wickford’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 2,709 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wickford against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Wickford identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 84% of Wickford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 3% 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. 873 crimes.
Of 237 towns its size, Wickford is 42nd from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Billericay Essex | 34,068 | 16.9 | 9.1 | 8.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Calne Wiltshire | 19,725 | 25.9 | 6.5 | 5.3 | B− |
| 40 | Clevedon Somerset | 21,084 | 24.2 | 8.5 | 8.8 | B− |
| 41 | Whitley Bay Tyne and Wear | 36,876 | 21.7 | 11 | 18.5 | B− |
| 42 | Wickford Essex | 27,533 | 19.8 | 13 | 8.1 | B− |
| 43 | Rayleigh Essex | 32,383 | 23.4 | 9.8 | 9.3 | B− |
| 44 | Penwortham Lancashire | 20,489 | 24.8 | 8.8 | 6.7 | B− |
| 45 | Ash and Ash Vale Surrey | 24,284 | 21.7 | 11.9 | 6.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Stanford-le-Hope Essex | 29,527 | 23.7 | 13.3 | 11.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 101 | Maldon Essex | 23,389 | 33.1 | 10.3 | 10.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 116 | Loughton Essex | 33,338 | 30.2 | 17.1 | 19.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 237 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Wickford, and others in Essex.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Wickford runs highest on anti-social behaviour (16.6 per 1,000 against 12.4) and vehicle crime (3.5 per 1,000 against 2.8). Violence & sexual offences and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 522 | 19 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 458 | 16.6 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 178 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 125 | 4.5 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 97 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 95 | 3.5 | 2.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 88 | 3.2 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 50 | 1.8 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 41 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 37 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 22 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 12 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 9 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 8 | 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.
1 in 6 Wickford residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
50% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 18% 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.
Wickford’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.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -16% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +15% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +62% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Crouch, Wickford North and Wickford Park; highest in Wickford Castledon
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crouch | 636 | 13.6 | 8.9 | |
| Wickford North | 9,488 | 17.6 | 10.5 | |
| Wickford Park | 9,415 | 19.4 | 13 | |
| Wickford Castledon | 7,994 | 22.9 | 15.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 401 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 148 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 136 | 35% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 65 | 42% anti-social behaviour |
| Bus and coach stations | 20 | 50% homes & vehicles |
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 Wickford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Wickford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Wickford 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
One person died in collisions on Wickford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 79 collisions with injuries inside Wickford in five years, in which one person died. 25 people were killed or seriously injured: 9 on foot and 6 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 Wickford’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wickford’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Wickford had 18.2 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Wickford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wickford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wickford | 27,533 | 19.8 | 13 | B− |
| Runwell | 8,086 | 36.4 | 20 | C− |
| Crays Hill | 1,218 | 23.3 | 17 | C+ |
| North Benfleet | 1,765 | 30 | 18.5 | C− |
| Ramsden Heath | 1,949 | 13.7 | 9.4 | A− |
| Basildon | 115,935 | 54.2 | 24.2 | D− |
| Rayleigh | 32,383 | 23.4 | 9.8 | B− |
| Thundersley and South Benfleet | 49,886 | 20.9 | 10.6 | B− |
Wickford records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Ramsden Heath, 3 miles away, records 13.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wickford’s 19.8.
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 Wickford 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 Wickford
Is Wickford safe?
Police recorded 19.8 violent and sexual offences and 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wickford’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 49% of UK towns. Among 237 UK towns of 19,000 to 37,000 people, Wickford is 42nd from the least crime. 18% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Wickford?
By council ward, Crouch, Wickford North and Wickford Park record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.6, 17.6 and 19.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 22.9 in Wickford Castledon.
Is crime going up in Wickford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 16%, shoplifting and theft rose 15% and anti-social behaviour rose 62%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wickford?
Violence & sexual offences: 522 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (178) and shoplifting (125), with 458 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wickford compare with Basildon?
Basildon records 54.2 violent and sexual offences and 24.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wickford’s 19.8 and 13, 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.