Photo: Bill Boaden · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Lincoln records more crime than 95% of UK towns
The yearly rates were 56.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Violent crime here is higher than in 96% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 90%. That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside Lincoln’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #55 of 61 in Lincolnshire.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Lincoln
More crime than many places its size
Of 64 UK towns and cities of 73,000 to 141,000 people, Lincoln has the 51st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than West Bromwich, Newport and Scunthorpe, higher than Chesterfield, Chatham and Weston-super-Mare. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
41% of Lincoln’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 11% 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 grade: D for Lincoln
A firm grade. Built on 23,473 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Lincoln against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Lincoln runs highest on bicycle theft (2.7 per 1,000 against 0.9), shoplifting (22.8 per 1,000 against 10.3) and anti-social behaviour (36.2 per 1,000 against 17.5). Vehicle crime and drugs sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,460 | 52.2 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 3,781 | 36.2 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,379 | 22.8 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,223 | 11.7 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,092 | 10.4 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 695 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 428 | 4.1 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 390 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 285 | 2.7 | 3.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 280 | 2.7 | 0.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 270 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 235 | 2.2 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 132 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 38 | 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.
41% of Lincoln residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
11% 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.
Lincoln’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.
Among 64 towns its size, Lincoln ranks 51st for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrogate North Yorkshire | 75,522 | 27.3 | 10.5 | 13.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Chesterfield Derbyshire | 76,394 | 56.2 | 17.1 | 21.8 | D |
| 49 | Chatham Kent | 76,956 | 54 | 20.6 | 20.8 | D |
| 50 | Weston-super-Mare Somerset | 84,600 | 57.4 | 17.2 | 20.8 | D |
| 51 | Lincoln Lincolnshire | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | 33.3 | D |
| 52 | Gloucester Gloucestershire | 118,562 | 58.3 | 17.1 | 26.2 | D |
| 53 | Basildon Essex | 115,935 | 54.2 | 24.2 | 19.8 | D− |
| 54 | Burnley Lancashire | 78,266 | 52.7 | 26.2 | 23.4 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 57 | Scunthorpe Lincolnshire | 81,286 | 58 | 24.6 | 26.4 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | D− |
| 64 | 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 Lincoln, and others in Lincolnshire.
Crime in Lincoln 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 18 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 Witham, Hartsholme and Nettleham; highest in Abbey
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witham | 8,138 | 23.3 | 8.4 | |
| Hartsholme | 7,912 | 29.6 | 13.5 | |
| Nettleham | 678 | 34.9 | 20.2 | |
| Glebe | 8,721 | 41 | 14.1 | |
| Boultham | 11,261 | 41.6 | 14.9 | |
| Birchwood | 8,934 | 40.6 | 20.4 | |
| Minster | 8,254 | 48.1 | 16.6 | |
| Carholme | 11,225 | 56.5 | 16.5 | |
| Moorland | 8,042 | 52.4 | 22 | |
| Castle | 7,723 | 57.2 | 18.8 | |
| Park | 12,002 | 93.1 | 27.8 | |
| Abbey | 11,310 | 105.4 | 27.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,560 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 2,460 | 29% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 1,392 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 1,153 | 56% violent |
| Petrol stations | 1,025 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 650 | 41% violent |
| Police stations | 235 | 38% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 190 | 36% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 172 | 37% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 65 | 42% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Abbey records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Lincoln. 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 Lincoln. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Lincoln’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 64% of Lincoln’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 19% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 6% 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. 8,129 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 +1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +1% (towns its size -2%).
Four people died in collisions on Lincoln’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 819 collisions with injuries inside Lincoln in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians). 195 people were killed or seriously injured: 62 on foot and 43 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 Lincoln’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lincoln’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Lincoln had 37.3 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). 32% 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 Lincoln’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Lincoln
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | 104,553 | 56.1 | 18.9 | D |
| Bracebridge Heath | 5,794 | 17.4 | 6.2 | B+ |
| Skellingthorpe | 3,116 | 16.8 | 7.7 | B+ |
| North Hykeham | 16,855 | 21.4 | 6.6 | B |
| Waddington | 6,828 | 18.2 | 5 | A− |
| Washingborough and Heighington | 6,386 | 13.5 | 3.8 | A |
| Nettleham | 3,418 | 17.1 | 5.1 | A− |
| Branston | 4,285 | 22.6 | 5.3 | B |
Lincoln records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bracebridge Heath, 2.5 miles away, records 17.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Lincoln’s 56.1.
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 650 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Lincoln’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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln
Is Lincoln safe?
Police recorded 56.1 violent and sexual offences and 18.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Lincoln’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 5% of UK towns. Among 64 UK towns of 73,000 to 141,000 people, Lincoln is 51st from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Lincoln?
By council ward, Witham, Hartsholme and Nettleham record the least violent and household crime per resident: 23.3, 29.6 and 34.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 105.4 in Abbey.
Is crime going up in Lincoln?
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 held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Lincoln city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,153 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 56% of them violent, and Abbey ward records 105.4 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 January.
What is the most common crime in Lincoln?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,460 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (2,379) and public order (1,223), with 3,781 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.