Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Burnley runs higher than in 96% of UK towns
At 8.1 per 1,000 residents, burglary in Burnley runs well past the 3.4 of a typical town its size (634 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Measured on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026, it earns a Safety Grade of D−: #60 of 65 in Lancashire. What’s more, recorded violence rose 10% in a year. Police counts work out at 52.7 violent and sexual offences and 26.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Burnley
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% more violent crime per resident in Burnley than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more 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 89 UK towns and cities of 55,000 to 106,000 people, Burnley has the 74th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Dewsbury, Rotherham and Preston, higher than Lincoln, Scarborough and Mansfield. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
50% of Burnley’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 16% 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 Burnley’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 18,499 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Burnley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
50% of Burnley residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
16% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 50% 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.
Burnley’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, Burnley runs highest on burglary (8.1 per 1,000 against 3.4), other crime (3.8 per 1,000 against 2.1) and anti-social behaviour (29.4 per 1,000 against 17.5).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,141 | 52.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,301 | 29.4 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,277 | 16.3 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 874 | 11.2 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 718 | 9.2 | 7.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 634 | 8.1 | 3.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 607 | 7.8 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 523 | 6.7 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 301 | 3.8 | 2.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 294 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 124 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 107 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 72 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 59 | 0.8 | 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.
Burnley places 74th of 89 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 71 | Lincoln Lincolnshire | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 33.3 | D |
| 72 | Scarborough North Yorkshire | 59,505 | 58.8 | 17.2 | 22.9 | D |
| 73 | Mansfield Nottinghamshire | 63,448 | 56.4 | 22.2 | 33.5 | D− |
| 74 | Burnley Lancashire | 78,266 | 52.7 | 26.2 | 23.4 | D− |
| 75 | West Bromwich West Midlands | 103,099 | 54.4 | 24.7 | 17.4 | D− |
| 76 | Scunthorpe Lincolnshire | 81,286 | 58 | 24.6 | 26.4 | D− |
| 77 | Canterbury Kent | 55,107 | 61.9 | 23.2 | 37.8 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 80 | Preston Lancashire | 94,502 | 60.8 | 26.8 | 27.7 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 89 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Burnley, and others in Lancashire.
Crime in Burnley 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 26 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 26 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 Burnley has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +10% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +24% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -29% (towns its size -2%).
Lowest recorded crime in Cliviger with Worsthorne, Whittlefield with Ightenhill and Briercliffe; highest in Trinity
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliviger with Worsthorne | 2,422 | 11.8 | 11.4 | |
| Whittlefield with Ightenhill | 5,850 | 23.7 | 13.2 | |
| Briercliffe | 4,763 | 25.7 | 15.7 | |
| Lanehead | 6,779 | 31.9 | 14.8 | |
| Queensgate | 6,677 | 49.8 | 18.8 | |
| Brunshaw | 6,264 | 49.3 | 21.3 | |
| Rosegrove with Lowerhouse | 7,099 | 41.6 | 29.9 | |
| Coal Clough with Deerplay | 5,084 | 46.7 | 30.8 | |
| Rosehill with Burnley Wood | 6,660 | 51.9 | 26.7 | |
| Gannow | 5,912 | 52.2 | 27 | |
| Bank Hall | 6,798 | 80.1 | 35.2 | |
| Daneshouse with Stoneyholme | 7,889 | 86.1 | 29.6 | |
| Trinity | 6,069 | 91.4 | 53.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,835 | 34% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 1,624 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,057 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 994 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 435 | 35% violent |
| Police stations | 195 | 59% anti-social behaviour |
| Hospitals | 182 | 40% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 142 | 31% violent |
| College and university buildings | 24 | 38% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 23 | 57% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Trinity records 1.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Burnley. 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 Burnley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Burnley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Burnley identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Burnley’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” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 5% 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. 6,154 crimes.
Six people died in collisions on Burnley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 544 collisions with injuries inside Burnley in five years, in which six people died (3 were pedestrians). 189 people were killed or seriously injured: 69 on foot and 15 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 Burnley’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Burnley’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Burnley had 48.3 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). 37% 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 Burnley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Burnley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | 78,266 | 52.7 | 26.2 | D− |
| Brierfield | 10,723 | 41.3 | 16.3 | D |
| Padiham | 10,121 | 56.6 | 25.4 | D− |
| Fence | 1,585 | 6.5 | 8.8 | A |
| Hapton | 2,240 | 17.3 | 15.8 | B− |
| Nelson | 33,808 | 44.8 | 15.6 | D |
| Barrowford | 5,887 | 27.5 | 12.8 | C+ |
| Huncoat | 1,258 | 28.4 | 10.9 | C+ |
Burnley records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Padiham records more. Brierfield, 1.9 miles away, records 41.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Burnley’s 52.7.
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 182 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Burnley’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Burnley 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 Burnley
Is Burnley safe?
Police recorded 52.7 violent and sexual offences and 26.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Burnley’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 4% of UK towns. Among 89 UK towns of 55,000 to 106,000 people, Burnley is 74th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Burnley?
By council ward, Cliviger with Worsthorne, Whittlefield with Ightenhill and Briercliffe record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.8, 23.7 and 25.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 91.4 in Trinity.
Is crime going up in Burnley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 24% and anti-social behaviour fell 29%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Burnley town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 435 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 35% of them violent, and Trinity ward records 91.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Burnley?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,141 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,277) and criminal damage & arson (874), with 2,301 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.