Photo: David Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Baldock runs higher than in 73% of UK towns
At 4.4 per 1,000 residents, vehicle crime in Baldock runs well past the 2.8 of a typical town its size (47 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Violent crime was down 7% in a year. Scored on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on C for safety: #39 of 50 in Hertfordshire. Per 1,000 residents a year, 32.5 violent and sexual offences and 13.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Baldock
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% less violent crime per resident in Baldock 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 ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Baldock has the 292nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Lydney, Killingworth and Sarn, higher than Littleport, Eckington and Swaffham. 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. 23% of Baldock’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% 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.
Inside Baldock’s C for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,438 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Baldock 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, Baldock runs highest on vehicle crime (4.4 per 1,000 against 2.8), other theft (6.8 per 1,000 against 4.4) and burglary (2.8 per 1,000 against 2.4). Public order and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 321 | 30.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 142 | 13.4 | 12.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 72 | 6.8 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 63 | 5.9 | 6.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 47 | 4.4 | 2.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 35 | 3.3 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 30 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 23 | 2.2 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 20 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 12 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 7 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 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 4 Baldock residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
38% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Baldock’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 Baldock identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Baldock’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (73% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 0% 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. 474 crimes.
Set against 453 towns its size, Baldock is 292nd
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Chorleywood Hertfordshire | 12,632 | 14.7 | 9.8 | 5.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 70 | Tring Hertfordshire | 11,961 | 17.4 | 10.2 | 9.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 147 | Radlett Hertfordshire | 8,182 | 17.8 | 15.6 | 7.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 182 | Sawbridgeworth Hertfordshire | 10,471 | 23.2 | 12.7 | 6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 289 | Littleport Cambridgeshire | 9,170 | 32 | 13.3 | 24.2 | C |
| 290 | Eckington Derbyshire | 7,435 | 33.7 | 11.7 | 7.8 | C |
| 291 | Swaffham Norfolk | 8,434 | 34.3 | 11 | 12.6 | C |
| 292 | Baldock Hertfordshire | 10,613 | 32.5 | 13 | 11.3 | C |
| 293 | Enderby and Narborough Leicestershire | 13,178 | 32 | 13.5 | 12 | C |
| 294 | Earl Shilton Leicestershire | 10,885 | 33.5 | 12.2 | 7.9 | C |
| 295 | Strabane Derry City and Strabane | 13,507 | 35.1 | 10.7 | 9.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 453 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Baldock, and others in Hertfordshire.
Crime in Baldock 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Baldock 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 -7% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -10% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -37% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Baldock police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 317 | 63% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 29 | 69% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 20 | 60% violent |
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 Baldock. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Baldock’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 36 collisions with injuries inside Baldock in five years. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 1 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 Baldock’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Baldock’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Baldock’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 13 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Baldock had 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 Baldock’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Baldock
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baldock | 10,613 | 32.5 | 13 | C |
| Letchworth | 33,993 | 32.7 | 12.6 | C |
| Stotfold | 12,313 | 18.8 | 6.3 | B+ |
| Arlesey | 6,027 | 21.3 | 12.7 | B− |
| Ashwell | 1,982 | 9.6 | 6.6 | A |
| Ickleford | 1,936 | 17.4 | 11.9 | B |
| Little Wymondley | 1,003 | 29.6 | 11 | C |
| Hitchin | 35,220 | 24.7 | 10.2 | B− |
Baldock records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Letchworth, 1.8 miles away, records 32.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Baldock’s 32.5.
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 Baldock 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 Baldock
Is Baldock safe?
Police recorded 32.5 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 Baldock’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 27% of UK towns. Among 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Baldock is 292nd from the least crime. 23% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Baldock?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 10% and anti-social behaviour fell 37%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Baldock?
Violence & sexual offences: 321 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came other theft (72) and criminal damage & arson (63), with 142 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Baldock compare with Stevenage?
Stevenage records 42.1 violent and sexual offences and 13.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Baldock’s 32.5 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.