Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0Great Ayton records anti-social behaviour at 2.9 times the rate of a typical town its size
Overall, it grades A− for safety (#12 of 54 in North Yorkshire). Violence recorded locally climbed 59% in a year. Compared with the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it records less crime per resident than 84%. In a usual year, 12.9 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Great Ayton
Less crime than most places its size
Of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Great Ayton has the 121st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bulford, Oakley and Helsby, higher than Addingham, Old Basing and Martham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 39% of Great Ayton’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 59% more violent crime per resident in Great Ayton than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Great Ayton’s A− for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 291 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Great Ayton 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 crime in Great Ayton has moved
“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).
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 +59% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +111% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -52% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +129% (towns its size +0%).
A third of Great Ayton residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
63% 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.
Great Ayton’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Great Ayton runs highest on anti-social behaviour (25.3 per 1,000 against 8.8), criminal damage & arson (9.9 per 1,000 against 4.5) and shoplifting (3.4 per 1,000 against 1.8). Violence & sexual offences sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 110 | 25.3 | 8.8 |
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 67 | 15.4 | 22.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 43 | 9.9 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 16 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 15 | 3.4 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 15 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 9 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 5 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 4 | 0.9 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 3 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
Great Ayton is 121st of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Dunnington North Yorkshire | 3,256 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 3.2 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Upper Poppleton North Yorkshire | 3,520 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 6.6 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Copmanthorpe North Yorkshire | 3,671 | 8.4 | 3 | 4.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Bishopthorpe North Yorkshire | 3,333 | 10 | 3.9 | 3.6 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 118 | Addingham West Yorkshire | 3,247 | 13.2 | 8.9 | 3.4 | A− |
| 119 | Old Basing Hampshire | 3,834 | 14.6 | 7.7 | 3.2 | A− |
| 120 | Martham Norfolk | 3,633 | 18.4 | 4 | 2.3 | A− |
| 121 | Great Ayton North Yorkshire | 4,348 | 12.9 | 9.4 | 9.5 | A− |
| 122 | Steyning West Sussex | 5,513 | 14.1 | 8.2 | 22.1 | A− |
| 123 | Headley Down and Headley Hampshire | 4,935 | 16.4 | 5.9 | 3.2 | A− |
| 124 | Exminster Devon | 4,388 | 16.8 | 5.6 | 2.9 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Great Ayton, and others in North Yorkshire.
Crime in Great Ayton 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Where in Great Ayton police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 163 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 52 | 42% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 30 | 67% shoplifting & theft |
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 Great Ayton. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Great Ayton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 14 collisions with injuries inside Great Ayton in five years. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Great Ayton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Great Ayton’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Great Ayton had 7.
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 Great Ayton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Great Ayton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Ayton | 4,348 | 12.9 | 9.4 | A− |
| Stokesley | 4,906 | 22.7 | 11.6 | B− |
| Guisborough | 18,091 | 31 | 16.6 | C− |
| Eston | 29,625 | 62.1 | 42.7 | D− |
| Middlesbrough | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | D− |
| Stainton | 1,817 | 25 | 15 | C+ |
| Hutton Rudby | 1,955 | 5.5 | 2.9 | A+ |
| New Marske | 2,990 | 22.3 | 10.6 | B− |
Great Ayton records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Hutton Rudby, 6.5 miles away, records 5.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Great Ayton’s 12.9.
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 Great Ayton 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 Great Ayton
Is Great Ayton safe?
Police recorded 12.9 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Great Ayton’s built-up area). That earns an A− for safety: less crime per resident than 77% of UK towns. Among 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Great Ayton is 121st from the least crime. 39% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Great Ayton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 59%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 111%, shoplifting and theft fell 52% and anti-social behaviour rose 129%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Great Ayton?
Violence & sexual offences: 67 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (43) and other theft (16), with 110 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Great Ayton compare with Middlesbrough?
Middlesbrough records 70.8 violent and sexual offences and 40.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Great Ayton’s 12.9 and 9.4, 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.