Photo: Philip Jeffrey · CC BY-SA 2.0Kettering has more crime per resident than 90% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally dropped 12% in a year. Still, it has more violent crime than 93% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 77%. On the record of crimes police recorded inside Kettering’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D for safety: #29 of 31 in Northamptonshire. Behind the grade sit 49.6 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Kettering
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 12% less violent crime per resident in Kettering 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 114 UK towns and cities of 44,000 to 85,000 people, Kettering has the 71st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than King's Lynn, Folkestone and Batley, higher than Lancaster, Yeovil and Banbury. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
26% of Kettering’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 35% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Kettering’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 12,060 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Kettering 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 Kettering identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Kettering’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% 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. 4,254 crimes.
How crime in Kettering 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 -12% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -12% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +1% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Kettering 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 15 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Kettering runs highest on possession of weapons (1.8 per 1,000 against 1.1), anti-social behaviour (26.6 per 1,000 against 17.5) and robbery (1.8 per 1,000 against 1.4). Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,589 | 41 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,679 | 26.6 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 508 | 8 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 480 | 7.6 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 435 | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 418 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 266 | 4.2 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 246 | 3.9 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 185 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 116 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 114 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 112 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 25 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 18 | 0.3 | 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.
26% of Kettering residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 26% 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.
Kettering’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Ise, Wicksteed and Clover Hill; highest in Northall
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ise | 8,998 | 22 | 5.8 | |
| Wicksteed | 13,714 | 37 | 11 | |
| Clover Hill | 12,723 | 41.1 | 12.5 | |
| Windmill | 12,477 | 54 | 12.9 | |
| Northall | 15,237 | 80.1 | 23.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 1,180 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 609 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 436 | 59% violent |
| Shopping areas | 434 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 336 | 33% violent |
| Nightclubs | 159 | 58% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 63 | 40% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 61 | 43% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 25 | 28% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Northall records 2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Kettering. 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 Kettering. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Kettering’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Set against 114 towns its size, Kettering is 71st
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Corby Northamptonshire | 68,164 | 41.1 | 13.2 | 16.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 68 | Lancaster Lancashire | 52,646 | 39.3 | 22.6 | 17.2 | D |
| 69 | Yeovil Somerset | 50,170 | 49.2 | 12.8 | 24.4 | D |
| 70 | Banbury Oxfordshire | 52,041 | 47 | 15.4 | 18.8 | D |
| 71 | Kettering Northamptonshire | 63,149 | 49.6 | 14.2 | 16.5 | D |
| 72 | Bletchley Buckinghamshire | 45,018 | 46.1 | 18.2 | 20.3 | D |
| 73 | Dartford Kent | 69,131 | 43.5 | 20.8 | 17.4 | D |
| 74 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | Wellingborough Northamptonshire | 54,421 | 48.9 | 19.1 | 21.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 114 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Kettering, and others in Northamptonshire.
Six people died in collisions on Kettering’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 353 collisions with injuries inside Kettering in five years, in which six people died (2 were pedestrians). 80 people were killed or seriously injured: 23 on foot and 6 on a bicycle.
That is about what 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 Kettering’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kettering’s own rate (1.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Kettering had 25.2 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 29% 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 Kettering’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Kettering
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kettering | 63,149 | 49.6 | 14.2 | D |
| Burton Latimer | 10,440 | 25 | 6.9 | B− |
| Geddington | 1,525 | 10.9 | 5.9 | A |
| Broughton | 1,982 | 22.9 | 8.6 | B− |
| Rothwell | 8,623 | 37 | 12.4 | C− |
| Mawsley Village | 2,487 | 15.7 | 2.6 | A |
| Finedon | 4,554 | 28.2 | 12.4 | C |
| Desborough | 11,899 | 25.6 | 11 | C+ |
Kettering records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Burton Latimer, 2.9 miles away, records 25 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kettering’s 49.6.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 436 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Kettering’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 Kettering 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 Kettering
Is Kettering safe?
Police recorded 49.6 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Kettering’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 114 UK towns of 44,000 to 85,000 people, Kettering is 71st from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Kettering?
By council ward, Ise, Wicksteed and Clover Hill record the least violent and household crime per resident: 22, 37 and 41.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 80.1 in Northall.
Is crime going up in Kettering?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 12%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 12% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Kettering town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 159 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 58% of them violent, and Northall ward records 80.1 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 February.
What is the most common crime in Kettering?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,589 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (508) and public order (480), with 1,679 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Kettering compare with Corby?
Corby records 41.1 violent and sexual offences and 13.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Kettering’s 49.6 and 14.2, 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.