Photo: Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Grimsby runs higher than in almost every UK town
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. At 2.4 per 1,000 residents, bicycle theft in Grimsby runs well past the 0.9 of a typical town its size (202 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). From September 2023 to August 2026, crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area put it at D− for safety: #59 of 61 in Lincolnshire. Out of every 1,000 residents, 69.6 violent and sexual offences and 32.4 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 Grimsby
One ward carries much of the rate
West Marsh ward, where 31% of Grimsby’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 3,581 of Grimsby’s 17,925 violent and sexual offences in three years: 158.3 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Grimsby the figure is 60.6. Where in Grimsby ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
56% of Grimsby’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 15% 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.
The D− for Grimsby, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 26,275 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Grimsby against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
56% of Grimsby residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
15% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 56% 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.
Grimsby’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 Grimsby compares with UK towns of 60,000 to 116,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 68 | Lincoln Lincolnshire | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 33.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Scunthorpe Lincolnshire | 81,286 | 58 | 24.6 | 26.4 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 81 | Wakefield West Yorkshire | 97,871 | 69.2 | 22.9 | 28 | D− |
| 82 | Stockton-on-Tees County Durham | 84,824 | 63.5 | 32.2 | 26.9 | D− |
| 83 | Halifax West Yorkshire | 88,111 | 74.5 | 25.9 | 22.7 | D− |
| 84 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | D− |
| 85 | 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 Grimsby, and others in Lincolnshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Grimsby runs highest on bicycle theft (2.4 per 1,000 against 0.9), other crime (5.5 per 1,000 against 2.1) and criminal damage & arson (18.5 per 1,000 against 7.5). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,364 | 62.4 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,694 | 19.7 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,591 | 18.5 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,167 | 13.6 | 7.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,083 | 12.6 | 17.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 810 | 9.4 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 683 | 7.9 | 3.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 578 | 6.7 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 519 | 6 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 472 | 5.5 | 2.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 202 | 2.4 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 161 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 155 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 36 | 0.4 | 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.
Crime in Grimsby 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 33 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 32 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 Scartho, Yarborough and Freshney; highest in West Marsh
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scartho | 11,336 | 23.5 | 9.7 | |
| Yarborough | 11,628 | 37.2 | 16.4 | |
| Freshney | 9,281 | 48.5 | 21 | |
| Park | 11,797 | 57.8 | 28.5 | |
| Heneage | 11,469 | 65.1 | 33 | |
| South | 12,196 | 69.3 | 31.9 | |
| East Marsh | 10,667 | 124.6 | 60.6 | |
| West Marsh | 7,541 | 158.3 | 66.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 2,596 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 949 | 37% violent |
| Shopping areas | 866 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 710 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 386 | 32% violent |
| Hospitals | 373 | 54% violent |
| College and university buildings | 188 | 46% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 181 | 44% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 147 | 52% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 32 | 34% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so West Marsh records 2.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Grimsby. 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 Grimsby. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Grimsby’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Grimsby identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of Grimsby’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% 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 7% 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. 9,010 crimes.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -1% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +8% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -15% (towns its size -2%).
Six people died in collisions on Grimsby’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,033 collisions with injuries inside Grimsby in five years, in which six people died (2 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists). 262 people were killed or seriously injured: 59 on foot and 77 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 Grimsby’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Grimsby’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Grimsby had 61.0 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). 23% 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 Grimsby’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Grimsby
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grimsby | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | D− |
| Cleethorpes | 29,660 | 62.5 | 25.5 | D− |
| Waltham | 6,204 | 16.6 | 6.1 | A− |
| Humberston and New Waltham | 14,861 | 25.9 | 11 | C+ |
| Healing | 3,201 | 20.1 | 8.5 | B |
| Laceby | 3,284 | 24.1 | 11.2 | C+ |
| Holton le Clay | 3,823 | 17.3 | 7.1 | B+ |
| Stallingborough | 1,190 | 14.3 | 6.7 | A− |
Grimsby records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Cleethorpes, 2.4 miles away, records 62.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Grimsby’s 69.6.
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 373 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Grimsby’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 Grimsby 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 Grimsby
Is Grimsby safe?
Police recorded 69.6 violent and sexual offences and 32.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Grimsby’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Grimsby has less crime per resident than 2%.
What are the safest areas of Grimsby?
By council ward, Scartho, Yarborough and Freshney record the least violent and household crime per resident: 23.5, 37.2 and 48.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 158.3 in West Marsh.
Is crime going up in Grimsby?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 8% and anti-social behaviour fell 15%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Grimsby?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,364 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,694) and criminal damage & arson (1,591), with 1,083 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.