Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Gloucester than in 95% of UK towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 96% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 86%. What’s more, its Safety Grade is D, on crimes police recorded inside Gloucester’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Annual rates stand at 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 17.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Gloucester
One ward carries much of the rate
Westgate ward, where 39% of Gloucester’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 5,047 of Gloucester’s 16,718 violent and sexual offences in three years: 173.5 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Gloucester the figure is 35.4. Where in Gloucester ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 54 UK towns and cities of 83,000 to 160,000 people, Gloucester has the 41st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Newport, Preston and Hartlepool, higher than Kensington and Chelsea, Weston-super-Mare and Lincoln. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
35% of Gloucester’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 26% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Gloucester’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 21,623 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Gloucester 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 Longlevens, Abbeymead and Abbeydale; highest in Westgate
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longlevens | 9,532 | 11.1 | 3.3 | |
| Abbeymead | 6,091 | 11.4 | 3.4 | |
| Abbeydale | 7,155 | 12.7 | 4.1 | |
| Hucclecote | 6,208 | 13.3 | 3.9 | |
| Elmbridge | 6,467 | 15.6 | 4.7 | |
| Barnwood | 6,735 | 19.6 | 6.5 | |
| Grange | 7,098 | 21.3 | 6.1 | |
| Churchdown Brookfield with Hucclecote | 1,220 | 23.8 | 7.1 | |
| Kingsway | 5,647 | 39.1 | 7.1 | |
| Tuffley | 6,174 | 39.1 | 9.7 | |
| Moreland | 10,608 | 37.8 | 14.5 | |
| Coney Hill | 3,401 | 48.2 | 12.6 | |
| Podsmead | 3,465 | 50.4 | 15.7 | |
| Barton and Tredworth | 12,005 | 50.6 | 19.9 | |
| Matson, Robinswood and White City | 9,963 | 63.1 | 16.5 | |
| Kingsholm and Wotton | 7,099 | 92.3 | 28.2 | |
| Westgate | 9,694 | 173.5 | 45.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 3,714 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 2,190 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,318 | 26% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,282 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 662 | 50% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 265 | 50% violent |
| Nightclubs | 242 | 55% violent |
| Hospitals | 228 | 54% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 44 | 43% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Westgate records 4.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Gloucester. 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 Gloucester. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Gloucester’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Vehicle crime and drugs sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,541 | 21.4 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,250 | 10.5 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 714 | 6 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 529 | 4.5 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 382 | 3.2 | 6.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 372 | 3.1 | 7.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 214 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 201 | 1.7 | 3.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 148 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 147 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 147 | 1.2 | 2.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 117 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 76 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 35 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
“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.
35% of Gloucester residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 35% 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.
Gloucester’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.
Police in Gloucester identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 57% of Gloucester’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 8% 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. 9,075 crimes.
Crime in Gloucester 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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 11 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
41st of 54: Gloucester among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | 12.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Cheltenham Gloucestershire | 115,941 | 35.2 | 17.3 | 21 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 38 | Kensington and Chelsea London | 143,348 | 39.4 | 32 | 59.7 | D |
| 39 | Weston-super-Mare Somerset | 84,600 | 57.4 | 17.2 | 20.8 | D |
| 40 | Lincoln Lincolnshire | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 33.3 | D |
| 41 | Gloucester Gloucestershire | 118,562 | 58.3 | 17.1 | 26.2 | D |
| 42 | Huddersfield West Yorkshire | 141,683 | 57.1 | 18.5 | 18.2 | D |
| 43 | Basildon Essex | 115,935 | 54.2 | 24.2 | 19.8 | D− |
| 44 | West Bromwich West Midlands | 103,099 | 54.4 | 24.7 | 17.4 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Middlesbrough North Yorkshire | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 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 Gloucester, and others in Gloucestershire.
Nine people died in collisions on Gloucester’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 756 collisions with injuries inside Gloucester in five years, in which nine people died (4 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists). 216 people were killed or seriously injured: 52 on foot and 50 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 Gloucester’s size would see about 7 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Gloucester’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Gloucester had 36.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 24% 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 Gloucester’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Gloucester
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloucester | 118,562 | 58.3 | 17.1 | D |
| Upton St Leonards | 1,132 | 13.1 | 6.6 | A− |
| Longford | 2,536 | 21.7 | 6.2 | B |
| Brockworth | 12,007 | 38.6 | 8.9 | C− |
| Churchdown | 13,480 | 27.5 | 6 | B− |
| Quedgeley and Hardwicke | 21,125 | 32.8 | 7.4 | C+ |
| Highnam | 1,920 | 11 | 8.6 | A− |
| Shurdington | 1,888 | 18 | 6.1 | B+ |
Gloucester records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Upton St Leonards, 1.8 miles away, records 13.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Gloucester’s 58.3.
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 228 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Gloucester’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- Some months are short. Gloucestershire Police published February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026, June 2026, July 2026 and August 2026 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 Gloucester 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 Gloucester
Is Gloucester safe?
Police recorded 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 17.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Gloucester’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 5% of UK towns. Among 54 UK towns of 83,000 to 160,000 people, Gloucester is 41st from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Gloucester?
By council ward, Longlevens, Abbeymead and Abbeydale record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.1, 11.4 and 12.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 173.5 in Westgate.
What is the most common crime in Gloucester?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,541 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (714) and public order (529), with 1,250 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.