Photo: Richard West · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Whitby has a higher rate per resident than 91% of UK towns
It has less crime per resident than 22% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. What’s more, the Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Whitby’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #44 of 54 in North Yorkshire. Out of every 1,000 residents, 46.6 violent and sexual offences and 14.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Whitby
More crime than many places its size
Of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Whitby has the 310th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Mountain Ash, Ystrad Mynach and Bolsover, higher than Northallerton, Immingham and Downpatrick. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Whitby’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 2,290 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Whitby against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Whitby identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 49% of Whitby’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 4% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (74% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 8% 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. 798 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Whitby runs highest on anti-social behaviour (28.5 per 1,000 against 12.4), shoplifting (10.9 per 1,000 against 6.1) and drugs (2.9 per 1,000 against 1.9). Burglary and other crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 559 | 44.4 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 359 | 28.5 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 138 | 10.9 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 106 | 8.4 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 77 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 67 | 5.3 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 37 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 34 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 23 | 1.8 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 14 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 13 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 7 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.5 | 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.
Set against 376 towns its size, Whitby is 310th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 3 | Haxby North Yorkshire | 10,176 | 11.7 | 5.4 | 8.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 87 | Huntington North Yorkshire | 12,420 | 23.1 | 8.6 | 19.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 93 | Ripon North Yorkshire | 16,593 | 23.9 | 8.1 | 9.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 101 | Catterick Garrison North Yorkshire | 14,212 | 26.9 | 6.1 | 7.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 307 | Northallerton North Yorkshire | 13,314 | 42.3 | 17.1 | 22.4 | D |
| 308 | Immingham Lincolnshire | 9,770 | 42.8 | 16.9 | 14 | D |
| 309 | Downpatrick Newry, Mourne and Down | 11,545 | 44.1 | 16.2 | 11.1 | D |
| 310 | Whitby North Yorkshire | 12,603 | 46.6 | 14 | 15.2 | D |
| 311 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | 16,758 | 40.6 | 20.4 | 6 | D |
| 312 | Dunscroft and Hatfield South Yorkshire | 14,000 | 37.4 | 24.1 | 10.1 | D |
| 313 | Houghton-le-Spring Tyne and Wear | 12,552 | 37 | 24.7 | 18.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | 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 Whitby, and others in North Yorkshire.
Crime in Whitby 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 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Whitby’s neighbourhoods rank in England
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Whitby’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.
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 -2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +14% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -11% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Whitby police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 110 | 38% violent |
| Shopping areas | 110 | 34% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 110 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 109 | 44% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 65 | 54% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 57 | 51% violent |
| Petrol stations | 43 | 28% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 22 | 55% violent |
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 Whitby. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Whitby’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 85 collisions with injuries inside Whitby in five years, in which one person died. 21 people were killed or seriously injured: 10 on foot and 2 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 Whitby’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Whitby’s own rate (1.6) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Whitby had 32.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above 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. 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 Whitby’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Whitby
Whitby records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 2 neighbours; only Loftus records more. Sleights, 2.5 miles away, records 16.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Whitby’s 46.6.
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 Whitby 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 Whitby
Is Whitby safe?
Police recorded 46.6 violent and sexual offences and 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Whitby’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 12% of UK towns. Among 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Whitby is 310th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Whitby?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 14% and anti-social behaviour fell 11%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Whitby town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 109 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 44% of them violent. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in October.
What is the most common crime in Whitby?
Violence & sexual offences: 559 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (138) and criminal damage & arson (106), with 359 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Whitby compare with Scarborough?
Scarborough records 58.8 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Whitby’s 46.6 and 14, 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.