Photo: Derek Voller · CC BY-SA 2.0York records bicycle theft at 3.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Taking everything together, York scores C− (#43 of 54 in North Yorkshire): more crime per resident than 83% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Violence recorded locally climbed 6% in a year. Add to that, it has more violent crime than 82% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 82%. Annual rates stand at 38.0 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in York
One ward carries much of the rate
Guildhall ward, where 43% of York’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 4,664 of York’s 16,136 violent and sexual offences in three years: 106.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of York the figure is 29.5. Where in York ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% more violent crime per resident in York than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 9% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 42 UK towns and cities of 99,000 to 191,000 people, York has the 12th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Telford, Swansea and Gillingham, higher than Cambridge, Cheltenham and Watford. 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. 14% of York’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 18% 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.
The grade: C− for York
A firm grade. Built on 22,742 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks York 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, York runs highest on bicycle theft (2.9 per 1,000 against 0.9), anti-social behaviour (30.1 per 1,000 against 17.5) and shoplifting (13.9 per 1,000 against 10.3). Other crime and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 5,271 | 37.2 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 4,261 | 30.1 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,963 | 13.9 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,120 | 7.9 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 952 | 6.7 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 750 | 5.3 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 507 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 411 | 2.9 | 0.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 388 | 2.7 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 349 | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 202 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 189 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 127 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 71 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Lowest recorded crime in Heworth Without, Acomb and Osbaldwick & Derwent; highest in Guildhall
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heworth Without | 4,080 | 5.6 | 3.7 | |
| Acomb | 9,111 | 15.3 | 7.1 | |
| Osbaldwick & Derwent | 2,125 | 14 | 8.8 | |
| Dringhouses & Woodthorpe | 11,490 | 17.8 | 6.9 | |
| Rawcliffe & Clifton Without | 12,337 | 17.9 | 10.4 | |
| Hull Road | 13,435 | 22.2 | 8.8 | |
| Fulford & Heslington | 3,815 | 24.9 | 6.8 | |
| Holgate | 11,963 | 24.9 | 13.1 | |
| Fishergate | 9,559 | 32.6 | 12.4 | |
| Heworth | 13,432 | 32.1 | 14.7 | |
| Clifton | 9,420 | 30.8 | 22.3 | |
| Westfield | 13,977 | 47.4 | 22.6 | |
| Micklegate | 12,403 | 60.2 | 21.3 | |
| Guildhall | 14,549 | 106.9 | 32.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 2,658 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,776 | 37% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,289 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 490 | 50% drugs, public order & other |
| Hospitals | 458 | 49% violent |
| Petrol stations | 247 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 242 | 58% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 214 | 44% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 132 | 24% homes & vehicles |
| Parks and open spaces | 125 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Guildhall records 3.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of York. 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 York. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside York’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Towns its size: York comes 12th of 42
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 24.7 | 14 | 20.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Cambridge Cambridgeshire | 152,742 | 35.3 | 16.9 | 36.6 | C− |
| 10 | Cheltenham Gloucestershire | 115,941 | 35.2 | 17.3 | 21 | C− |
| 11 | Watford Hertfordshire | 131,336 | 36.1 | 16.6 | 20.6 | C− |
| 12 | York North Yorkshire | 141,696 | 38 | 15.5 | 25.3 | C− |
| 13 | Basingstoke Hampshire | 117,211 | 41.3 | 13.1 | 13.5 | C− |
| 14 | Ipswich Suffolk | 151,566 | 41 | 14.9 | 20.1 | C− |
| 15 | Crawley West Sussex | 120,567 | 42.7 | 15 | 22.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Middlesbrough North Yorkshire | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 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 York, and others in North Yorkshire.
Crime in York 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 23 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in York identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 61% of York’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% 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. 7,631 crimes.
How crime in York has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +6% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -9% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -11% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +4% (towns its size -2%).
1 in 7 York residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
41% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 18% 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.
York’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.
Two people died in collisions on York’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 946 collisions with injuries inside York in five years, in which two people died. 194 people were killed or seriously injured: 50 on foot and 81 on a bicycle.
That is fewer than is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of York’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so York’s own rate (0.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, York had 27.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 26% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 York’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around York
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| York | 141,696 | 38 | 15.5 | C− |
| Heslington | 1,787 | 9.1 | 3.2 | A+ |
| Osbaldwick | 2,313 | 16.9 | 10.1 | B |
| Huntington | 12,420 | 23.1 | 8.6 | B− |
| Bishopthorpe | 3,333 | 10 | 3.9 | A+ |
| Upper Poppleton | 3,520 | 7.1 | 3.7 | A+ |
| Skelton (York) | 1,380 | 15 | 3.4 | A |
| Copmanthorpe | 3,671 | 8.4 | 3 | A+ |
York records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Heslington, 1.9 miles away, records 9.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against York’s 38.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 458 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in York’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 York 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 York
Is York safe?
Police recorded 38 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside York’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 17% of UK towns. Among 42 UK towns of 99,000 to 191,000 people, York is 12th from the least crime. 14% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of York?
By council ward, Heworth Without, Acomb and Osbaldwick & Derwent record the least violent and household crime per resident: 5.6, 15.3 and 14 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 106.9 in Guildhall.
Is crime going up in York?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 9%, shoplifting and theft fell 11% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is York city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 242 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 58% of them violent, and Guildhall ward records 106.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in January.
What is the most common crime in York?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,271 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,963) and criminal damage & arson (1,120), with 4,261 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.