Photo: Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0Malton records shoplifting at 4.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence held steady in a year. The overall Safety Grade is C+ (#28 of 54 in North Yorkshire), 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. Of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 42% record more crime per resident. Year on year, 27.3 violent and sexual offences and 8.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Malton
About the middle for a town its size
Of 715 UK towns of 4,000 to 9,000 people, Malton has the 388th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Treharris, Bulkington and Hemsby, higher than Aintree, Shrivenham and Watchfield and Pinchbeck. 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. 25% of Malton’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Malton’s C+ for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 681 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Malton 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
Against the typical town its size, Malton runs highest on shoplifting (8.2 per 1,000 against 1.8), drugs (2.2 per 1,000 against 1) and anti-social behaviour (14.9 per 1,000 against 8.8). Burglary and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 161 | 25.5 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 94 | 14.9 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 52 | 8.2 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 31 | 4.9 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 23 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 17 | 2.7 | 3.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 14 | 2.2 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 11 | 1.7 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 10 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 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.
1 in 4 Malton residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
51% 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.
Malton’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 name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 66% of Malton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 2% 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. 243 crimes.
How crime in Malton 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 +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -12% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -46% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -33% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Malton 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.
Set against 715 towns its size, Malton is 388th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Brayton North Yorkshire | 4,092 | 12.6 | 4.4 | 1.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 31 | Strensall North Yorkshire | 6,060 | 14.5 | 3.5 | 2.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 84 | Great Ayton North Yorkshire | 4,348 | 12.9 | 9.4 | 9.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 247 | Cross Hills North Yorkshire | 4,809 | 20.2 | 9.4 | 6.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 385 | Aintree Merseyside | 6,212 | 24.1 | 11.9 | 29.5 | C+ |
| 386 | Shrivenham and Watchfield Oxfordshire | 5,353 | 26.7 | 9.3 | 6 | C+ |
| 387 | Pinchbeck Lincolnshire | 4,275 | 24.4 | 11.6 | 15.2 | C+ |
| 388 | Malton North Yorkshire | 6,320 | 27.3 | 8.8 | 18.1 | C+ |
| 389 | Waterbeach Cambridgeshire | 5,375 | 23.5 | 12.7 | 7 | C+ |
| 390 | Sowerby North Yorkshire | 4,727 | 25.3 | 11 | 6.8 | C+ |
| 391 | Halfway Houses Kent | 4,396 | 25.7 | 10.5 | 9.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 715 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Malton, and others in North Yorkshire.
Where in Malton police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 61 | 85% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 42 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 28 | 50% anti-social behaviour |
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 Malton. 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 Malton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 33 collisions with injuries inside Malton in five years. 11 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Malton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Malton had 33.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Malton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Malton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malton | 6,320 | 27.3 | 8.8 | C+ |
| Norton-on-Derwent | 7,909 | 23 | 7.4 | B |
| Rillington | 1,206 | 21.3 | 2.5 | B+ |
| Thornton-le-Dale | 1,858 | 9.2 | 5.4 | A |
| Pickering | 7,260 | 27.5 | 10.2 | C+ |
| Kirkbymoorside | 2,763 | 27.6 | 10.9 | C+ |
| Stamford Bridge | 4,487 | 9.7 | 2.5 | A+ |
Malton records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 6 neighbours; only Pickering and Kirkbymoorside record more. Norton-on-Derwent, 0.8 miles away, records 23 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Malton’s 27.3.
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 Malton 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 Malton
Is Malton safe?
Police recorded 27.3 violent and sexual offences and 8.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Malton’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 43% of UK towns. Among 715 UK towns of 4,000 to 9,000 people, Malton is 388th from the least crime. 25% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Malton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft fell 46% and anti-social behaviour fell 33%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Malton?
Violence & sexual offences: 161 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (52) and criminal damage & arson (31), with 94 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.