Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Southport records less crime per resident than 83%
Violent crime barely moved in a year. Per 1,000 residents a year, 37.2 violent and sexual offences and 9.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Southport
One ward carries much of the rate
Duke's ward, where 57% of Southport’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 3,622 of Southport’s 10,517 violent and sexual offences in three years: 84 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Southport the figure is 28.7. Where in Southport ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 75 UK towns and cities of 66,000 to 127,000 people, Southport has the 11th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Wallasey, Tamworth and Aylesbury, higher than Royal Sutton Coldfield, Bracknell and Worthing. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
How Southport comes out at C
A fairly firm grade. Built on 13,280 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Southport 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, Southport runs highest on drugs (5.1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,247 | 34.4 | 38.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 799 | 8.5 | 7.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 746 | 7.9 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 707 | 7.5 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 492 | 5.2 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 485 | 5.1 | 3.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 429 | 4.5 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 183 | 1.9 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 141 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 139 | 1.5 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 62 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 58 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 52 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 33 | 0.3 | 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.
Southport places 11th of 75 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Newtownabbey Antrim and Newtownabbey | 67,599 | 21.3 | 9 | 8.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Royal Sutton Coldfield West Midlands | 93,392 | 26.6 | 17.5 | 17.8 | C |
| 9 | Bracknell Berkshire | 78,662 | 31.9 | 13.5 | 18.4 | C |
| 10 | Worthing West Sussex | 111,635 | 34.1 | 12.6 | 24.3 | C |
| 11 | Southport Merseyside | 94,438 | 37.2 | 9.8 | 12.7 | C |
| 12 | Solihull West Midlands | 107,754 | 28.4 | 19.2 | 26.7 | C− |
| 13 | Bognor Regis West Sussex | 68,443 | 33.6 | 16.3 | 16.6 | C− |
| 14 | Shrewsbury Shropshire | 76,013 | 37.4 | 12.6 | 19.1 | C− |
| 15 | Wallasey Merseyside | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | 7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 50 | Birkenhead Merseyside | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | 13.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 52 | St Helens Merseyside | 107,684 | 52 | 16.9 | 16.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 75 | 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 Southport, and others in Merseyside.
Lowest recorded crime in Scarisbrick, Meols and Birkdale; highest in Duke's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarisbrick | 669 | 14.9 | 7 | |
| Meols | 12,064 | 19.4 | 5.2 | |
| Birkdale | 12,688 | 23.3 | 6.3 | |
| Ainsdale | 12,600 | 24.6 | 7.8 | |
| Halsall | 791 | 28.2 | 5.5 | |
| Norwood | 14,822 | 31 | 8.4 | |
| Cambridge | 12,522 | 34.6 | 7.9 | |
| Kew | 13,906 | 38.3 | 10 | |
| Duke's | 14,376 | 84 | 21.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,036 | 33% violent |
| Supermarkets | 944 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 785 | 31% violent |
| Shopping areas | 526 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 348 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 311 | 56% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 134 | 34% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 99 | 39% violent |
| Police stations | 94 | 51% violent |
| College and university buildings | 83 | 51% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Duke's records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Southport. 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 Southport. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Southport’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Southport’s neighbourhoods rank in England
36% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 10% 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.
Southport’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.
Crime in Southport 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 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Southport identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Southport’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% 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. 4,705 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 -11% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -2% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +10% (towns its size -2%).
Five people died in collisions on Southport’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 530 collisions with injuries inside Southport in five years, in which five people died (2 were pedestrians). 146 people were killed or seriously injured: 39 on foot and 35 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 Southport’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Southport’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Southport had 31.0 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). 27% 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 Southport’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Southport
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southport | 94,438 | 37.2 | 9.8 | C |
| Banks | 4,439 | 18.3 | 6 | B+ |
| Formby | 22,892 | 19.4 | 6.1 | B+ |
| Ormskirk | 27,720 | 21.3 | 7.4 | B |
| Burscough | 8,773 | 25.8 | 7.8 | B− |
| Rufford | 1,562 | 10 | 4.5 | A |
| Tarleton and Hesketh Bank | 8,756 | 16.4 | 4.3 | A− |
| Lytham St Anne's | 42,693 | 27.3 | 11.2 | C+ |
Southport records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Banks, 4 miles away, records 18.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Southport’s 37.2.
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 311 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Southport’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 Southport 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 Southport
Is Southport safe?
Police recorded 37.2 violent and sexual offences and 9.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Southport’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 75 UK towns of 66,000 to 127,000 people, Southport is 11th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Southport?
By council ward, Scarisbrick, Meols and Birkdale record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14.9, 19.4 and 23.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 84 in Duke's.
Is crime going up in Southport?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 10%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Southport town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 57 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 56% of them violent, and Duke's ward records 84 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 Southport?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,247 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (799) and shoplifting (707), with 746 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.