Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Lisburn beats 98% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more on crime per resident
In a usual year, 22.9 violent and sexual offences and 9.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. Overall, it grades B− for safety. Anti-social behaviour stands out: 28.4 per 1,000 residents in Lisburn, against 17.5 in a typical town its size, with 1,463 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 8% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Lisburn
One ward carries much of the rate
Hilden ward recorded 852 of Lisburn’s 3,533 violent and sexual offences in three years: 76.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Lisburn the figure is 19.3. Where in Lisburn ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% more violent crime per resident in Lisburn 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 rose 29% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 126 UK towns and cities of 36,000 to 69,000 people, Lisburn has the 11th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Chippenham, Beeston and Horsham, higher than Haywards Heath, Metropolitan Newtownabbey and Thundersley and South Benfleet. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Northern Ireland
NISRA’s Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 ranks every small area of Northern Ireland on crime and disorder. 12% of Lisburn’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 13% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The B− for Lisburn, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 5,009 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Lisburn 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, Lisburn runs highest on anti-social behaviour (28.4 per 1,000 against 17.5) and drugs (4.5 per 1,000 against 3.8). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,463 | 28.4 | 17.5 |
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,181 | 23 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 396 | 7.7 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 371 | 7.2 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 234 | 4.5 | 3.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 227 | 4.4 | 6.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 86 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 81 | 1.6 | 3.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 57 | 1.1 | 4.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 26 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 18 | 0.3 | 7.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 10 | 0.2 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in White Mountain, Ballymacash and Magheralave; highest in Hilden
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Mountain | 4,975 | 4.8 | 3.4 | |
| Ballymacash | 3,317 | 9.6 | 3.7 | |
| Magheralave | 4,264 | 9.1 | 5.2 | |
| Harmony Hill | 2,776 | 13.2 | 4.4 | |
| Wallace Park | 3,992 | 17 | 4.2 | |
| Lisnagarvey | 3,061 | 17.8 | 7.3 | |
| Ballymacoss | 5,526 | 18.8 | 7.5 | |
| Knockmore | 4,747 | 18.9 | 7.8 | |
| Hillhall | 3,525 | 18.8 | 10.4 | |
| Blaris | 2,719 | 24.5 | 14 | |
| Old Warren | 4,236 | 35.5 | 15 | |
| Lagan Valley | 3,009 | 52.5 | 21.4 | |
| Hilden | 3,691 | 76.9 | 28.9 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Hilden records 4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Lisburn.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Lisburn’s settlement), September 2023 to August 2026.
11th of 126: Lisburn among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Haywards Heath West Sussex | 40,186 | 21.5 | 8.8 | 8.6 | B |
| 9 | Metropolitan Newtownabbey Antrim and Newtownabbey | 67,599 | 21.3 | 9 | 8.3 | B |
| 10 | Thundersley and South Benfleet Essex | 49,886 | 20.9 | 10.6 | 7.1 | B− |
| 11 | Lisburn Lisburn and Castlereagh | 51,447 | 22.9 | 9.6 | 11.6 | B− |
| 12 | Carlton Nottinghamshire | 53,555 | 23.2 | 9.4 | 13 | B− |
| 13 | Whitley Bay Tyne and Wear | 36,876 | 21.7 | 11 | 18.5 | B− |
| 14 | Bebington Merseyside | 57,607 | 25.6 | 8.3 | 8.7 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 126 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Lisburn, and others in Lisburn and Castlereagh.
How crime in Lisburn 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; England and Wales towns only).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +8% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +29% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +24% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +11% (towns its size -2%).
1 in 9 Lisburn residents lives in one of Northern Ireland’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
32% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods, and 13% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime and disorder domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and deliberate fires where people live, on 2014–15 figures (NISRA’s latest edition), so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Lisburn’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (Super Output Area, about 2,000 people) in the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 (crime and disorder domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Crime in Lisburn 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Lisburn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 513 collisions with injuries inside Lisburn in five years. 79 people were killed or seriously injured: 32 on foot and 12 on a bicycle.
That is fewer than 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 Lisburn’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lisburn’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Lisburn had 30.7 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). 41% 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 is as the Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded it: the Department for Transport’s adjustment, which evens out different ways of recording injuries, covers Great Britain’s forces only, and the towns its size are Great Britain’s. There’s no national rate here: more than three quarters of Northern Ireland’s road deaths (77%) happen outside every town’s settlement boundary. Source: PSNI police recorded injury road traffic collisions, 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Lisburn’s settlement, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Lisburn
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisburn | 51,447 | 22.9 | 9.6 | B− |
| Metropolitan Lisburn | 32,643 | 24.8 | 11.3 | C+ |
| Hillsborough and Culcavy | 3,754 | 6.9 | 3 | A+ |
| Carryduff | 7,173 | 11.5 | 5.1 | A |
| Belfast | 293,298 | 45.1 | 19 | D |
| Moira | 4,891 | 9.9 | 4.5 | A |
| Dromore | 6,395 | 17.3 | 6.5 | B+ |
| Metropolitan Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | A− |
Lisburn records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Metropolitan Lisburn and Belfast record more. Hillsborough and Culcavy, 3.6 miles away, records 6.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Lisburn’s 22.9.
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 Lisburn 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 settlement can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Lisburn
Is Lisburn safe?
Police recorded 22.9 violent and sexual offences and 9.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Lisburn’s settlement). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 50% of UK towns. Among 126 UK towns of 36,000 to 69,000 people, Lisburn is 11th from the least crime. 12% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Lisburn?
By council ward, White Mountain, Ballymacash and Magheralave record the least violent and household crime per resident: 4.8, 9.6 and 9.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 76.9 in Hilden.
Is crime going up in Lisburn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 29%, shoplifting and theft rose 24% and anti-social behaviour rose 11%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Lisburn?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,181 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (396) and criminal damage & arson (371), with 1,463 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Lisburn compare with Belfast?
Belfast records 45.1 violent and sexual offences and 19 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Lisburn’s 22.9 and 9.6, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime (Police Service of Northern Ireland), 36 months to August 2026, points inside the settlement boundary · NISRA Census 2021, data zones best-fitted to the NISRA Settlement Development Limits 2015 (settlement totals from NISRA where it publishes them) · OSNI ward boundaries (the 2014 wards), residents from NISRA Census 2021 data zones by area · NISRA Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017, crime and disorder domain by Super Output Area (residents from NISRA Census 2021 data zones by area) · PSNI police recorded injury road traffic collisions 2021–2025 (Open Data NI), points inside the settlement 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.