Grain Warehouse to North of Grain Warehouse Dock · Photo: Rodhullandemu · CC BY-SA 4.0Wallasey sees more violent crime per resident than four in five UK towns
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Typical years here bring 38.2 violent and sexual offences plus 12.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. On the record of crimes police recorded inside Wallasey’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes C− for safety: #16 of 25 in Merseyside. Even so, for its size, it sits below 75% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more on crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wallasey
Less crime than many places its size
Of 85 UK towns and cities of 60,000 to 116,000 people, Wallasey has the 19th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Cheltenham, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Hereford, higher than Bognor Regis, Cannock and Shrewsbury. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C− for Wallasey
A firm grade. Built on 12,896 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wallasey 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
Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,283 | 38.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 866 | 10.1 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 686 | 8 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 597 | 7 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 345 | 4 | 3.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 306 | 3.6 | 6.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 193 | 2.3 | 10.3 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 170 | 2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 165 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 139 | 1.6 | 4.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 54 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 51 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 27 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 11 | 0.1 | 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.
Among 85 towns its size, Wallasey ranks 19th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangor Ards and North Down | 64,596 | 18.9 | 6.4 | 5.4 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Southport Merseyside | 94,438 | 37.2 | 9.8 | 12.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Bognor Regis West Sussex | 68,443 | 33.6 | 16.3 | 16.6 | C− |
| 17 | Cannock Staffordshire | 63,057 | 39.1 | 10.9 | 12.8 | C− |
| 18 | Shrewsbury Shropshire | 76,013 | 37.4 | 12.6 | 19.1 | C− |
| 19 | Wallasey Merseyside | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | 7 | C− |
| 20 | Tamworth Staffordshire | 76,074 | 36.8 | 14.7 | 13.4 | C− |
| 21 | Aylesbury Buckinghamshire | 87,966 | 39.9 | 11.9 | 18.1 | C− |
| 22 | Redditch Worcestershire | 81,634 | 37.7 | 14.6 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | Birkenhead Merseyside | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | 13.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 58 | St Helens Merseyside | 107,684 | 52 | 16.9 | 16.1 | 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 Wallasey, and others in Merseyside.
Crime in Wallasey 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 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 Wallasey, Moreton West and Saughall Massie and New Brighton; highest in Seacombe
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallasey | 14,475 | 20.4 | 5.8 | |
| Moreton West and Saughall Massie | 10,942 | 24.5 | 8 | |
| New Brighton | 14,643 | 34.5 | 9.8 | |
| Leasowe and Moreton East | 15,135 | 39.2 | 13.2 | |
| Liscard | 15,518 | 41.2 | 13.9 | |
| Seacombe | 14,906 | 64.9 | 19.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,347 | 40% violent |
| Supermarkets | 580 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 451 | 33% violent |
| Petrol stations | 198 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 155 | 37% anti-social behaviour |
| Ferry terminals | 109 | 63% drugs, public order & other |
| Police stations | 44 | 43% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Seacombe records 2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Wallasey. 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 Wallasey. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Wallasey’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Wallasey’s neighbourhoods rank in England
23% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 24% 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.
Wallasey’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.
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 +3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Wallasey’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% 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. 4,266 crimes.
Two people died in collisions on Wallasey’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 476 collisions with injuries inside Wallasey in five years, in which two people died. 152 people were killed or seriously injured: 53 on foot and 38 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 Wallasey’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wallasey’s own rate (0.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Wallasey had 35.4 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). 35% 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 Wallasey’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wallasey
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallasey | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | C− |
| Birkenhead | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | D |
| Greasby | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | A |
| Meols | 5,023 | 12.1 | 4.1 | A |
| Litherland | 18,752 | 42 | 13.5 | C− |
| Bootle | 53,722 | 61.5 | 19.9 | D− |
| Crosby | 50,218 | 31.2 | 11.4 | C |
| Hoylake | 5,311 | 23.1 | 8.4 | B− |
Wallasey records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Greasby, 3.5 miles away, records 11.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wallasey’s 38.2.
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
- 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 Wallasey 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 Wallasey
Is Wallasey safe?
Police recorded 38.2 violent and sexual offences and 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wallasey’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 21% of UK towns. Among 85 UK towns of 60,000 to 116,000 people, Wallasey is 19th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Wallasey?
By council ward, Wallasey, Moreton West and Saughall Massie and New Brighton record the least violent and household crime per resident: 20.4, 24.5 and 34.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 64.9 in Seacombe.
Is crime going up in Wallasey?
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.
What is the most common crime in Wallasey?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,283 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (686) and public order (597), with 866 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wallasey compare with Liverpool?
Liverpool records 54 violent and sexual offences and 20.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wallasey’s 38.2 and 12, 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.