Photo: Phil Brandon Hunter · CC BY-SA 2.0Tenterden stands out for shoplifting: 2.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime was down 12% in a year. Even so, it has less crime per resident than 31% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Year on year, 28.5 violent and sexual offences and 12.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur 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 Tenterden
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 12% less violent crime per resident in Tenterden than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 5% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Tenterden has the 336th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than East Cowes, Shiremoor and Blythe Bridge and Forsbrook, higher than Red Lodge, Long Sutton and Clydach. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Tenterden’s Safety Grade is C
A fairly firm grade. Built on 955 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Tenterden against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Tenterden’s neighbourhoods rank in England
44% 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.
Tenterden’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Tenterden runs highest on shoplifting (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.8), criminal damage & arson (9.1 per 1,000 against 4.5) and anti-social behaviour (15.3 per 1,000 against 8.8). Public order and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 197 | 25.3 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 119 | 15.3 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 71 | 9.1 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 35 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 32 | 4.1 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 20 | 2.6 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 18 | 2.3 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 13 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 1.3 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 10 | 1.3 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 1 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 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.
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.
Police in Tenterden identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 59% of Tenterden’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” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% 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. 321 crimes.
How crime in Tenterden has moved
“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).
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 -12% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -5% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -26% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +47% (towns its size +0%).
Set against 546 towns its size, Tenterden is 336th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | Bearsted Kent | 8,349 | 14.8 | 7.1 | 4.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 74 | Kings Hill Kent | 9,963 | 15.9 | 8.1 | 5.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 80 | Otford and Kemsing Kent | 7,332 | 12.6 | 11.9 | 5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 126 | Littlestone-on-Sea Kent | 5,271 | 21.4 | 6.1 | 2.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 333 | Red Lodge Suffolk | 5,771 | 31.8 | 9.1 | 3.5 | C |
| 334 | Long Sutton Lincolnshire | 5,377 | 29.8 | 11.1 | 7.9 | C |
| 335 | Clydach West Glamorgan | 8,445 | 32.2 | 8.8 | 4.9 | C |
| 336 | Tenterden Kent | 7,775 | 28.5 | 12.4 | 11.5 | C |
| 337 | Totnes Devon | 9,217 | 27.8 | 13.3 | 17 | C |
| 338 | Bagshot Surrey | 5,930 | 28.2 | 12.9 | 14.6 | C |
| 339 | Leiston Suffolk | 5,919 | 32.7 | 8.7 | 6.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | 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 Tenterden, and others in Kent.
Crime in Tenterden 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Tenterden St Michael's, Tenterden North and Tenterden South; highest in Tenterden South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenterden St Michael's | 2,742 | 20.8 | 7.2 | |
| Tenterden North | 2,150 | 31.6 | 12.9 | |
| Tenterden South | 2,464 | 32.9 | 17.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 143 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 125 | 37% violent |
| Supermarkets | 63 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 62 | 74% violent |
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 Tenterden. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Tenterden’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Tenterden’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 39 collisions with injuries inside Tenterden in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Tenterden is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Tenterden had 33.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Tenterden’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Tenterden
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenterden | 7,775 | 28.5 | 12.4 | C |
| Woodchurch | 1,201 | 18 | 8.6 | B+ |
| Biddenden | 1,345 | 24.3 | 11.7 | C+ |
| Bethersden | 1,008 | 14.9 | 9.6 | B+ |
| Benenden | 1,409 | 8.3 | 6.4 | A |
| Shadoxhurst | 1,009 | 10.9 | 4 | A |
| Northiam | 1,910 | 15.2 | 7.2 | A− |
| Cranbrook | 3,962 | 31.8 | 20.4 | C− |
Tenterden records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Cranbrook records more. Woodchurch, 3.6 miles away, records 18 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Tenterden’s 28.5.
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 Tenterden 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 Tenterden
Is Tenterden safe?
Police recorded 28.5 violent and sexual offences and 12.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Tenterden’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 33% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Tenterden is 336th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Tenterden?
By council ward, Tenterden St Michael's, Tenterden North and Tenterden South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 20.8, 31.6 and 32.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 32.9 in Tenterden South.
Is crime going up in Tenterden?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 12%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 5%, shoplifting and theft fell 26% and anti-social behaviour rose 47%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Tenterden?
Violence & sexual offences: 197 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (71) and other theft (35), with 119 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Tenterden compare with Ashford?
Ashford records 40.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Tenterden’s 28.5 and 12.4, 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.