Photo: Gordon Hatton · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime in the Moray council area is 22% below Scotland’s rate
Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Elgin has no Safety Grade and no overall grade until the 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation brings neighbourhood crime figures. What Scotland does publish: crime for the whole Moray council area (441 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Elgin’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.
What stands out about safety in Elgin
Crime up over ten years
Recorded crime across the Moray council area went from 391 to 441 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓
A mix of neighbourhoods
14% of Elgin’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 22% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 271 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is about the same as Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the Scottish Government’s recorded crime and SIMD figures on this page.
What police recorded in the Moray council area in 2025-26
Per 10,000 people. The tick on each bar is Scotland’s rate. Every town in the council area shares these figures.
Against Scotland, the Moray council area runs highest on domestic abuse (10 per 10,000 against 6) and drug supply (11 per 10,000 against 9). Car theft and robbery sit below Scotland’s rate.
Show every crime group as a table
| Group | Recorded | Per 10,000 | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-sexual crimes of violence | 1,272 | 134 | 136 |
| Sexual crimes | 342 | 36 | 30 |
| Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud) | 1,105 | 116 | 213 |
| Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising) | 537 | 57 | 69 |
| Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice) | 934 | 98 | 121 |
| Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour) | 592 | 62 | 93 |
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crimes and offences by council area. Groups 1 to 5 are crimes; group 6, antisocial offences, is offences.
69% of crimes in the Moray council area were cleared up, more than Scotland’s 57%
Share of crimes recorded in 2025-26 that were cleared up: a suspect identified and enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal. The tick is Scotland.
Violence and drugs crimes are cleared up most often, because they are usually recorded with a suspect in view; housebreaking, theft and vandalism least.
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crime clear-up rates by council area.
Recorded crime up 13% since 2016-17
Per 10,000 people each year, the Moray council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes +13% (Scotland +3%), violence +7%.
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2016-17 to the newest year. Since April 2019 violence includes the new crime of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Fewest SIMD crimes in Lhanbryde, Urquhart, Pitgavney and seaward; most in Elgin Bishopmill East and Ladyhill
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, by small area (2011 data zones, grouped by the names the Scottish Government gives them), fewest first.
| Area | Residents | Per 10,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lhanbryde, Urquhart, Pitgavney and seaward | 899 | 44 | |
| Heldon West, Fogwatt to Inchberry | 3,493 | 81 | |
| Elgin Bishopmill West and Newfield | 3,049 | 190 | |
| New Elgin West | 3,526 | 216 | |
| New Elgin East | 3,580 | 263 | |
| Elgin Central West | 3,079 | 351 | |
| Elgin Cathedral to Ashgrove and Pinefield | 3,707 | 383 | |
| Elgin Bishopmill East and Ladyhill | 3,284 | 475 |
3 of Elgin’s 8 areas are at or above Scotland’s rate of 276 (orange bars). SIMD counts crimes where they were recorded, so an area with a town centre, a station or a hospital records more than its own residents suffer.
1 in 7 Elgin residents lives in one of Scotland’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
Elgin’s residents by the crime decile of their small area (2011 data zone, about 800 people) in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Scotland’s 6,976 data zones and 10 the lowest.
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 14% in the highest-crime 20%. Elgin counted 271 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, about the same as Scotland’s 276; three years before, 311 (-13%, Scotland -9%).
Scottish Government, SIMD 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (crimes of violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault, 2014/15 and 2017/18). Residents from Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
Elgin is 27th of 58 Scottish towns of 12,522 to 48,257
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, counting from the fewest: the towns either side of Elgin, and the ends of the list. Described, not graded.
| # | Town | People | SIMD crimes per 10,000 | In the most crime-deprived fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newton Mearns East Renfrewshire | 28,447 | 99 | 0% |
| 2 | Linlithgow West Lothian | 12,522 | 102 | 0% |
| … | ||||
| 24 | Port Glasgow Inverclyde | 14,260 | 264 | 20% |
| 25 | Barrhead East Renfrewshire | 17,608 | 266 | 24% |
| 26 | Johnstone Renfrewshire | 16,477 | 271 | 26% |
| 27 | Elgin Moray | 24,617 | 271 | 14% |
| 28 | Armadale West Lothian | 12,590 | 272 | 16% |
| 29 | Dumbarton West Dunbartonshire | 21,027 | 275 | 20% |
| 30 | Musselburgh East Lothian | 21,476 | 303 | 20% |
| … | ||||
| 57 | Alloa Clackmannanshire | 14,689 | 502 | 42% |
| 58 | Falkirk Falkirk | 34,637 | 547 | 42% |
For every 1,000 people in the Moray council area, about 17 violent or sexual crimes in 2025-26
And about 7 housebreakings, car thefts or acts of vandalism and fire-raising, plus 10 other thefts and frauds. Each dot is one person; each coloured dot is one recorded crime. These are council-wide figures: every town in the Moray council area shares them.
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can suffer several, and crimes in a city centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
No one died in a collision on Elgin’s roads in 2021–2025
Collisions police recorded inside Elgin’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Police recorded 28 collisions with injuries inside Elgin in five years. 11 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Elgin’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Elgin’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Elgin had 8.9 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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; the towns its size are England and Wales’s. There’s no national rate here: more than two thirds of Scotland’s road deaths (70%) happen outside every town’s locality boundary. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Crime in the places around Elgin
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18. The map colours each town by the quarter of Scotland’s towns it falls in; they are not grades. Tap a town for its safety page.
| Town | People | SIMD crimes per 10,000 | Most crime-deprived fifth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elgin | 24,617 | 271 | 14% |
| Lossiemouth | 6,654 | 220 | 9% |
| Forres | 9,290 | 236 | 23% |
Elgin counted more SIMD crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Lossiemouth, 4.8 miles away, counted 220 per 10,000, against Elgin’s 271.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Council areas, not towns. Recorded crime and clear-up rates are published for each of Scotland’s 32 council areas, so every town in the Moray council area shares them. A city centre and a quiet village in the same council show the same figures.
- SIMD crime is town-level, but old. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counts selected crimes (violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault) in each small area. SIMD 2020 uses crimes from 2017/18; SIMD 2026, due at the end of 2026, will bring newer figures; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
- Not a grade. Nothing on this page is graded. The towns-its-size ranking and the neighbours’ colours describe SIMD crime rates; they aren’t a Safety Grade and don’t feed one.
- Recorded, not experienced. Recorded crime is what the police record. It moves with reporting and policing as well as with crime; the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey asks people directly, for Scotland as a whole.
Questions about safety in Elgin
Is Elgin safe?
Police Scotland recorded 441 crimes per 10,000 people across the Moray council area in 2025-26, 22% below Scotland’s 569. Within Elgin, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 271 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 14% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Elgin has no Safety Grade.
How many crimes are solved in the Moray council area?
69% of crimes recorded in 2025-26 were cleared up (someone was identified and there was enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal), against 57% across Scotland.
Why doesn’t Elgin have a Safety Grade?
Our Safety Grade counts crimes inside each town’s boundary. Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes by location for reuse, so Scottish towns can’t be measured the same way. The 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation will bring newer neighbourhood crime figures.
Sources: Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland (crimes, offences and clear-up rates by council area, 2016-17 to 2025-26); Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (2014/15, 2017/18), 2011 data zones with Census 2022 residents · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the NRS 2022 locality 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.