Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0For its size, Downham Market has less crime per resident than 76% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
The overall Safety Grade is B− (#28 of 51 in Norfolk), which means close to the middle of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Each year brought 24.6 violent and sexual offences and 9.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Downham Market
Less crime than many places its size
Of 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Downham Market has the 129th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe, Tiptree and Catshill, higher than Banstead, Chipping Sodbury and Llanharan and Brynna. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Downham Market: B− for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,147 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Downham Market against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Downham Market’s neighbourhoods rank in England
43% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Downham Market’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.
Police in Downham Market identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 56% of Downham Market’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (72% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 3% 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. 432 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Public order and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 253 | 22.3 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 102 | 9 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 73 | 6.4 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 63 | 5.6 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 54 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 37 | 3.3 | 5.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 25 | 2.2 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 15 | 1.3 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 15 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 9 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Downham Market places 129th of 393 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Taverham and Drayton Norfolk | 14,989 | 13.7 | 3.7 | 2.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Bradwell Norfolk | 11,632 | 19.3 | 8.8 | 6.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 99 | Attleborough Norfolk | 11,236 | 26.1 | 5.8 | 5.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 126 | Banstead Surrey | 8,929 | 21.3 | 12.5 | 12 | B− |
| 127 | Chipping Sodbury Gloucestershire | 8,026 | 23.9 | 9.9 | 6.2 | B− |
| 128 | Llanharan and Brynna Mid Glamorgan | 8,106 | 27.2 | 6.7 | 3.1 | B− |
| 129 | Downham Market Norfolk | 11,349 | 24.6 | 9.3 | 9.1 | B− |
| 130 | Killamarsh Derbyshire | 9,082 | 23.5 | 10.5 | 3.1 | B− |
| 131 | Emsworth Hampshire | 11,512 | 23.4 | 10.9 | 12.4 | B− |
| 132 | Southborough Kent | 9,632 | 24.6 | 9.8 | 8.4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 138 | Fakenham Norfolk | 8,390 | 27.7 | 7.3 | 15.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 393 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Downham Market, and others in Norfolk.
Lowest recorded crime in North Downham, South Downham and East Downham; highest in Downham Old Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Downham | 2,550 | 10.7 | 5 | |
| South Downham | 2,348 | 15.6 | 6.8 | |
| East Downham | 3,267 | 24 | 6.5 | |
| Downham Old Town | 3,184 | 42.5 | 17.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 157 | 46% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 135 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 59 | 34% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Downham Old Town records 2.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Downham Market. 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 Downham Market. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Downham Market’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Downham Market 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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 +0% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -20% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +33% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -40% (towns its size -4%).
Two people died in collisions on Downham Market’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 39 collisions with injuries inside Downham Market in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 9 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 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 Downham Market’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Downham Market’s own rate (3.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Downham Market’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 13 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Downham Market had 9.
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 Downham Market’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Downham Market
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downham Market | 11,349 | 24.6 | 9.3 | B− |
| Watlington | 2,593 | 18.1 | 7.6 | B+ |
| Southery | 1,258 | 17.8 | 5 | A− |
| Stoke Ferry | 1,191 | 18.8 | 6.2 | B+ |
| Upwell and Outwell | 3,664 | 28.4 | 13.1 | C |
| Marshland St James | 1,025 | 20.5 | 3.9 | B+ |
| Marham | 2,608 | 12 | 2.2 | A+ |
| West Winch | 2,828 | 14.6 | 4.8 | A− |
Downham Market records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Upwell and Outwell records more. Watlington, 4.9 miles away, records 18.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Downham Market’s 24.6.
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 Downham Market 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 Downham Market
Is Downham Market safe?
Police recorded 24.6 violent and sexual offences and 9.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Downham Market’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 47% of UK towns. Among 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Downham Market is 129th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Downham Market?
By council ward, North Downham, South Downham and East Downham record the least violent and household crime per resident: 10.7, 15.6 and 24 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 42.5 in Downham Old Town.
Is crime going up in Downham Market?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 20%, shoplifting and theft rose 33% and anti-social behaviour fell 40%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Downham Market?
Violence & sexual offences: 253 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (73) and criminal damage & arson (63), with 102 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Downham Market compare with King's Lynn?
King's Lynn records 51.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Downham Market’s 24.6 and 9.3, 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.