Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Cliffe records burglary at 4.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Burglary: police recorded 20 in Cliffe in the 12 months to August 2026, 7.9 per 1,000 residents against 1.9 in a typical town its size. Overall, it grades B− for safety (#23 of 87 in Kent).
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Cliffe
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 38% less violent crime per resident in Cliffe than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 550 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Cliffe has the 358th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Dunchurch, Pucklechurch and Padstow, higher than Millbrook, Ellington and Hay-on-Wye. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Cliffe grades B− for safety
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A fairly firm grade. Built on 253 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Cliffe against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Violent crime down 38% in a year, while towns its size held steady
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 -38% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +67% (towns its size -1%), anti-social behaviour +7% (towns its size +0%).
“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).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
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.
Against the typical town its size, Cliffe runs highest on burglary (7.9 per 1,000 against 1.9) and anti-social behaviour (12.2 per 1,000 against 8.8). Violence & sexual offences sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 41 | 16.2 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 31 | 12.2 | 8.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 20 | 7.9 | 1.9 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 12 | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 8 | 3.2 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 3.2 | 1.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 3 | 1.2 | 1 |
| Public order | not graded | 2 | 0.8 | 3.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
How Cliffe’s neighbourhoods rank in England
Cliffe’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.
0% 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.
Cliffe is 358th of 550 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Cliffe, and others in Kent.
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Ightham Kent | 2,037 | 6.1 | 7 | 2.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 70 | Cliffe Woods Kent | 2,689 | 11.2 | 6 | 3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 102 | Culverstone Green Kent | 2,038 | 11.5 | 7.7 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 235 | Eastry Kent | 2,388 | 19 | 7 | 2.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 355 | Millbrook Cornwall | 2,299 | 21.5 | 11.6 | 4.4 | B− |
| 356 | Ellington Northumberland | 2,131 | 18.2 | 14.9 | 15.2 | B− |
| 357 | Hay-on-Wye Powys | 2,065 | 25.2 | 8 | 5.8 | B− |
| 358 | Cliffe Kent | 2,531 | 22.8 | 10.5 | 2 | B− |
| 359 | Bishops Lydeard Somerset | 2,050 | 24.6 | 8.8 | 3.9 | B− |
| 360 | Roche Cornwall | 2,311 | 27.5 | 5.8 | 5.2 | B− |
| 361 | Fordham Cambridgeshire | 2,566 | 22.2 | 11.2 | 9.7 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 550 | Avonmouth Bristol | 2,643 | 82.9 | 54.6 | 60.4 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
For every 1,000 residents, about 17 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
And about 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 3 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
No one died in a collision on Cliffe’s roads in 2021–2025
Collisions police recorded inside Cliffe’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Police recorded 3 collisions with injuries inside Cliffe in five years. 0 people were killed or seriously injured.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Cliffe is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Cliffe’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Cliffe had 0.
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.
Crime in the places around Cliffe
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffe | 2,531 | 22.8 | 10.5 | B− |
| Cliffe Woods | 2,689 | 11.2 | 6 | A |
| High Halstow | 1,823 | 13.7 | 4.8 | A |
| Chattenden | 2,417 | 40.6 | 19.3 | D |
| Higham | 2,642 | 19.3 | 12.5 | B− |
| Hoo St Werburgh | 8,758 | 37.4 | 10.9 | C− |
| East Tilbury | 5,751 | 37.2 | 15.7 | C− |
| Shorne | 1,038 | 11.2 | 15.7 | B |
Cliffe records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Cliffe Woods, 1.9 miles away, records 11.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Cliffe’s 22.8.
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 Cliffe 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 Cliffe
Is Cliffe safe?
Police recorded 22.8 violent and sexual offences and 10.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Cliffe’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 48% of UK towns. Among 550 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Cliffe is 358th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Cliffe?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 38%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 67%, shoplifting and theft rose 167% and anti-social behaviour rose 7%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Cliffe?
Violence & sexual offences: 41 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came burglary (20) and criminal damage & arson (12), with 31 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Cliffe compare with Gillingham?
Gillingham records 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Cliffe’s 22.8 and 10.5, 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.