Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Leicester runs higher than in 94% of UK towns
Violent crime here is higher than in 92% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 95%. Graded on crimes police recorded inside Leicester’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores D for safety. Recorded violence held steady in a year. Out of every 1,000 residents, 49.0 violent and sexual offences and 23.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Leicester
One ward carries much of the rate
Castle ward, where 36% of Leicester’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 11,274 of Leicester’s 59,783 violent and sexual offences in three years: 158.7 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Leicester the figure is 42. Where in Leicester ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 27 UK towns and cities of 285,000 to 549,000 people, Leicester has the 22nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bristol, Leeds and Bradford, higher than Tower Hamlets, Coventry and Newcastle upon Tyne. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
41% of Leicester’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 8% 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 Leicester’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 88,031 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Leicester against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Knighton, Millfield and North Evington; highest in Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knighton | 15,813 | 23.6 | 11.6 | |
| Millfield | 2,686 | 19.7 | 16.1 | |
| North Evington | 23,919 | 26.5 | 9.9 | |
| Ellis | 5,387 | 19.3 | 17.3 | |
| Wycliffe | 15,783 | 27 | 9.8 | |
| Saxondale | 5,703 | 22.9 | 14.4 | |
| Belgrave | 20,571 | 29 | 11.9 | |
| Thurnby & Houghton | 6,765 | 25.1 | 16.1 | |
| Spinney Hills | 13,041 | 30.8 | 11.1 | |
| Queniborough | 900 | 32.6 | 10.4 | |
| Rushey Mead | 16,892 | 30.6 | 12.6 | |
| Fairestone | 4,877 | 26.4 | 18.3 | |
| Winstanley | 7,272 | 27.6 | 19.1 | |
| Humberstone & Hamilton | 21,139 | 32.1 | 15.3 | |
| Ravenhurst and Fosse | 7,301 | 31.9 | 20.9 | |
| Evington | 17,273 | 37.4 | 18.1 | |
| Troon | 14,179 | 42 | 19.6 | |
| Stoneygate | 21,098 | 44.3 | 20.2 | |
| Thurncourt | 12,056 | 46.8 | 18.2 | |
| Aylestone | 11,943 | 45.4 | 24.1 | |
| Western | 21,085 | 54.4 | 25.2 | |
| Abbey | 21,577 | 50.9 | 30.4 | |
| Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields | 21,030 | 54.8 | 27.6 | |
| Beaumont Leys | 18,034 | 58.9 | 28.3 | |
| Eyres Monsell | 12,009 | 65.6 | 24.5 | |
| Westcotes | 15,782 | 55.7 | 36 | |
| Fosse | 14,375 | 68.4 | 34.4 | |
| Saffron | 13,895 | 70.9 | 35.5 | |
| Castle | 23,678 | 158.7 | 61.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 6,253 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 4,811 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 4,356 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 1,838 | 40% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,701 | 41% violent |
| Petrol stations | 1,661 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 1,111 | 37% violent |
| Police stations | 659 | 41% drugs, public order & other |
| College and university buildings | 506 | 31% shoplifting & theft |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 236 | 26% homes & vehicles |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Castle records 3.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Leicester. 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 Leicester. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Leicester’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
41% of Leicester residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
8% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 41% 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.
Leicester’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.
Leicester places 22nd of 27 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 25.3 | 21 | 18.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Tower Hamlets London | 311,072 | 43.3 | 23 | 39.6 | D |
| 20 | Coventry West Midlands | 344,289 | 47.6 | 23.7 | 20.2 | D |
| 21 | Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear | 286,472 | 47.8 | 24.2 | 29.9 | D |
| 22 | Leicester Leicestershire | 406,612 | 49 | 23.2 | 22.1 | D |
| 23 | Liverpool Merseyside | 506,564 | 54 | 20.2 | 20.9 | D |
| 24 | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | 299,786 | 53.3 | 23.3 | 31.9 | D− |
| 25 | Bristol Bristol | 425,196 | 55.3 | 25.9 | 26.9 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Bradford West Yorkshire | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | 19.3 | 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 Leicester, and others in Leicestershire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Leicester runs highest on theft from the person (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.7), bicycle theft (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9) and public order (12.5 per 1,000 against 7.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 18,083 | 44.5 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 6,629 | 16.3 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 5,090 | 12.5 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 4,629 | 11.4 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 4,202 | 10.3 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 3,163 | 7.8 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2,413 | 5.9 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,918 | 4.7 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,697 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 836 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 626 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 617 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 513 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 487 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
“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.
Crime in Leicester 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 21 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 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 Leicester 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 -3% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -12% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -10% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -4% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Leicester’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 22% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (54% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 8% 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. 30,423 crimes.
22 people died in collisions on Leicester’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 2,333 collisions with injuries inside Leicester in five years, in which 22 people died (7 were pedestrians and 4 were cyclists). 632 people were killed or seriously injured: 207 on foot and 139 on a bicycle.
That is 1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Leicester had 31.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 33% 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 Leicester’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Leicester
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leicester | 406,612 | 49 | 23.2 | D |
| Thurmaston | 9,509 | 34.3 | 19.7 | C− |
| Birstall | 14,317 | 19 | 14.2 | B− |
| Oadby | 24,039 | 21.8 | 10.5 | B− |
| Wigston | 34,728 | 30.7 | 14 | C |
| Thurcaston | 1,649 | 25.1 | 22.8 | C− |
| Anstey | 7,043 | 25 | 14.8 | C+ |
| Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe | 13,847 | 20.6 | 13.8 | B− |
Leicester records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Thurmaston, 3.3 miles away, records 34.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Leicester’s 49.
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 1,701 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Leicester’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 Leicester 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 Leicester
Is Leicester safe?
Police recorded 49 violent and sexual offences and 23.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Leicester’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among 27 UK towns of 285,000 to 549,000 people, Leicester is 22nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Leicester?
By council ward, Knighton, Millfield and North Evington record the least violent and household crime per resident: 23.6, 19.7 and 26.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 158.7 in Castle.
Is crime going up in Leicester?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft fell 10% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Leicester city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,838 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 40% of them violent, and Castle ward records 158.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Leicester?
Violence & sexual offences: 18,083 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (5,090) and criminal damage & arson (4,629), with 6,629 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.