Magherafelt records drugs at 4.8 times the rate of a typical town its size

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

Against the typical town its size, Magherafelt runs highest on drugs (5 per 1,000 against 1), anti-social behaviour (32.1 per 1,000 against 8.8) and shoplifting (3.7 per 1,000 against 1.8). Burglary sits below it.

“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 of 2,500 to 10,000 people.

9% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods, and 12% 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.

Magherafelt’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.

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 Magherafelt, and others in Mid Ulster.

And about 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 8 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Glebe records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Magherafelt.

Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Magherafelt’s settlement), September 2023 to August 2026.

“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data; England and Wales towns only).

Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +11% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -35% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +4% (towns its size +0%).

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 Magherafelt’s settlement, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Magherafelt records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Maghera, 6.9 miles away, records 17.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Magherafelt’s 32.2.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.