Photo: Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. · CC BY 2.5Northfleet sees more crime per resident than nine in ten UK towns
Scored on crimes police recorded inside Northfleet’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D for safety: #74 of 87 in Kent. Violent crime here is higher than in 89% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 93%. Violence recorded locally dropped 17% in a year. Its police logs show 45.0 violent and sexual offences and 20.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Northfleet
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 17% less violent crime per resident in Northfleet 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 210 UK towns of 21,000 to 40,000 people, Northfleet has the 173rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Darwen, Jarrow and Brownhills, higher than Sutton in Ashfield, Merthyr Tydfil and Chorley. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
51% of Northfleet’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 4% 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 Northfleet’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 5,867 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Northfleet against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
51% of Northfleet residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
4% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 51% 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.
Northfleet’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 Northfleet 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 -17% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -28% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +19% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Northfleet runs highest on drugs (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.9), vehicle crime (5.5 per 1,000 against 2.8) and other theft (8.5 per 1,000 against 4.4). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,112 | 37.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 534 | 17.9 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 344 | 11.5 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 254 | 8.5 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 165 | 5.5 | 2.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 131 | 4.4 | 5.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 123 | 4.1 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 103 | 3.4 | 1.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 90 | 3 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 56 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 32 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 19 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 11 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 10 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
“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.
Northfleet is 173rd of 210 UK towns of 21,000 to 40,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Sevenoaks Kent | 26,474 | 19.1 | 14.8 | 17.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Larkfield Kent | 26,147 | 25.2 | 13.9 | 9.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 75 | Whitstable Kent | 32,185 | 27.1 | 13.3 | 19.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 85 | Tonbridge Kent | 36,136 | 30.1 | 13.8 | 17.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 170 | Sutton in Ashfield Nottinghamshire | 36,435 | 45 | 19.4 | 24.7 | D |
| 171 | Merthyr Tydfil Mid Glamorgan | 39,542 | 45.6 | 19.1 | 25.4 | D |
| 172 | Chorley Lancashire | 39,539 | 48.7 | 16.2 | 15 | D |
| 173 | Northfleet Kent | 29,892 | 45 | 20.6 | 15.5 | D |
| 174 | Pontypool Gwent | 29,070 | 47 | 18.7 | 10.5 | D |
| 175 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| 176 | Morley West Yorkshire | 32,562 | 46.9 | 20.3 | 20.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 210 | 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 Northfleet, and others in Kent.
Police in Northfleet identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 57% of Northfleet’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” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 11% 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. 2,163 crimes.
Crime in Northfleet 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 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Painters Ash, Coldharbour and Northfleet South; highest in Pelham
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Painters Ash | 5,681 | 19.1 | 10.6 | |
| Coldharbour | 4,683 | 46.3 | 18.6 | |
| Northfleet South | 9,089 | 44.8 | 24.8 | |
| Northfleet North | 8,397 | 58.1 | 22 | |
| Pelham | 1,182 | 73 | 34.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 785 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 622 | 35% drugs, public order & other |
| Car parks | 309 | 48% violent |
| Petrol stations | 111 | 28% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 52 | 40% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Pelham records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Northfleet. 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 Northfleet. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Northfleet’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Three people died in collisions on Northfleet’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 241 collisions with injuries inside Northfleet in five years, in which three people died (1 was a pedestrian). 68 people were killed or seriously injured: 18 on foot and 5 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 Northfleet’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Northfleet’s own rate (2.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Northfleet had 45.5 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). 26% 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 Northfleet’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Northfleet
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northfleet | 29,892 | 45 | 20.6 | D |
| Gravesend | 58,105 | 45.1 | 23.1 | D |
| Ebbsfleet Valley | 2,989 | 50.5 | 27.3 | D− |
| Istead Rise | 3,398 | 9.7 | 7.6 | A |
| Tilbury | 14,187 | 55.6 | 35.9 | D− |
| Swanscombe | 15,462 | 36.8 | 21.3 | D |
| Bean | 1,633 | 27.6 | 16.5 | C |
| Stone | 6,438 | 54.7 | 28.2 | D− |
Northfleet records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Istead Rise, 2.1 miles away, records 9.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Northfleet’s 45.
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 Northfleet 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 Northfleet
Is Northfleet safe?
Police recorded 45 violent and sexual offences and 20.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Northfleet’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 210 UK towns of 21,000 to 40,000 people, Northfleet is 173rd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Northfleet?
By council ward, Painters Ash, Coldharbour and Northfleet South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 19.1, 46.3 and 44.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 73 in Pelham.
Is crime going up in Northfleet?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 17%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 28% and anti-social behaviour rose 19%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Northfleet?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,112 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (344) and other theft (254), with 534 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Northfleet compare with Gravesend?
Gravesend records 45.1 violent and sexual offences and 23.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Northfleet’s 45 and 20.6, 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.