Photo: Gary Rogers · CC BY-SA 2.0St Helens sees more crime per resident than 93% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Out of every 1,000 residents, 52.0 violent and sexual offences and 16.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually. The grade is D, built on crimes police recorded inside St Helens’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #23 of 25 in Merseyside. Police recorded 1,000 cases of drugs here in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 9.3 per 1,000 against a typical 3.8.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in St Helens
One ward carries much of the rate
St Helens Town Centre ward recorded 3,893 of St Helens’s 16,796 violent and sexual offences in three years: 163.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of St Helens the figure is 43.1. Where in St Helens ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 66 UK towns and cities of 75,000 to 145,000 people, St Helens has the 44th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Carlisle, Chesterfield and Chatham, higher than Birkenhead, Gateshead and Colchester. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
44% of St Helens’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 12% 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.
Inside St Helens’s D for safety
A firm grade. Built on 22,236 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks St Helens against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
44% of St Helens residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 44% 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.
St Helens’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Sutton North West, Eccleston and Peasley Cross & Fingerpost; highest in St Helens Town Centre
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton North West | 7,049 | 24.1 | 5.9 | |
| Eccleston | 7,875 | 23.8 | 6.5 | |
| Peasley Cross & Fingerpost | 3,334 | 30.5 | 12.1 | |
| Windle | 10,953 | 35.6 | 12 | |
| Moss Bank | 10,420 | 38.5 | 11.7 | |
| Blackbrook | 5,295 | 40.7 | 11.1 | |
| Bold & Lea Green | 11,006 | 39.6 | 13.3 | |
| West Park | 11,574 | 40.7 | 13 | |
| Sutton South East | 6,599 | 40.1 | 14.5 | |
| Thatto Heath | 13,247 | 54.5 | 19.4 | |
| Parr | 12,117 | 76.3 | 27.4 | |
| St Helens Town Centre | 7,922 | 163.8 | 48.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,451 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,285 | 37% violent |
| Shopping areas | 945 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 859 | 32% violent |
| Petrol stations | 827 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 167 | 45% drugs, public order & other |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 164 | 37% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St Helens Town Centre records 3.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of St Helens. 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 St Helens. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside St Helens’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, St Helens runs highest on drugs (9.3 per 1,000 against 3.8), other crime (3.2 per 1,000 against 2.1) and public order (10.9 per 1,000 against 7.4). Burglary and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,397 | 50.1 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,242 | 11.5 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,172 | 10.9 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,080 | 10 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,025 | 9.5 | 10.3 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,000 | 9.3 | 3.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 642 | 6 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 510 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 348 | 3.2 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 294 | 2.7 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 113 | 1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 98 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 70 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 56 | 0.5 | 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 St Helens 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
St Helens places 44th of 66 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrogate North Yorkshire | 75,522 | 27.3 | 10.5 | 13.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Southport Merseyside | 94,438 | 37.2 | 9.8 | 12.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Wallasey Merseyside | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | 7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Birkenhead Merseyside | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | 13.7 | D |
| 42 | Gateshead Tyne and Wear | 115,278 | 44.1 | 24 | 20.7 | D |
| 43 | Colchester Essex | 130,259 | 51.1 | 17.1 | 20.6 | D |
| 44 | St Helens Merseyside | 107,684 | 52 | 16.9 | 16.1 | D |
| 45 | Hastings East Sussex | 91,497 | 48.8 | 20.8 | 22.4 | D |
| 46 | Darlington County Durham | 93,022 | 45.2 | 25.8 | 20.3 | D |
| 47 | Kensington and Chelsea London | 143,348 | 39.4 | 32 | 59.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | 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 St Helens, and others in Merseyside.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 65% of St Helens’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 12% 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. 7,556 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 +8% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +7% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +5% (towns its size -2%).
Seven people died in collisions on St Helens’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 613 collisions with injuries inside St Helens in five years, in which seven people died (1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist). 196 people were killed or seriously injured: 66 on foot and 30 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 St Helens’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so St Helens’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, St Helens had 36.5 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). 34% 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 St Helens’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around St Helens
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Helens | 107,684 | 52 | 16.9 | D |
| Prescot | 39,227 | 40.6 | 12.4 | C− |
| Haydock | 16,143 | 33.2 | 12.7 | C |
| Billinge | 4,963 | 19.5 | 7.1 | B+ |
| Burtonwood | 3,504 | 20.9 | 5.8 | B+ |
| Cronton | 1,234 | 12.4 | 6.5 | A |
| Rainford | 5,573 | 18.7 | 6 | B+ |
| Newton-le-Willows | 24,651 | 40.6 | 13.5 | C− |
St Helens records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Prescot, 2.8 miles away, records 40.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against St Helens’s 52.
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 St Helens 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 St Helens
Is St Helens safe?
Police recorded 52 violent and sexual offences and 16.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside St Helens’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 7% of UK towns. Among 66 UK towns of 75,000 to 145,000 people, St Helens is 44th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of St Helens?
By council ward, Sutton North West, Eccleston and Peasley Cross & Fingerpost record the least violent and household crime per resident: 24.1, 23.8 and 30.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 163.8 in St Helens Town Centre.
Is crime going up in St Helens?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 8%, shoplifting and theft rose 7% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is St Helens city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 859 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 32% of them violent, and St Helens Town Centre ward records 163.8 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 St Helens?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,397 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (1,172) and criminal damage & arson (1,080), with 1,242 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does St Helens compare with Warrington?
Warrington records 38.8 violent and sexual offences and 10.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against St Helens’s 52 and 16.9, over the same three years.
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.