Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Hexham has more crime per resident than 72% of UK towns
For its size, it sits below 52% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people on crime per resident. Even so, on crimes police recorded inside Hexham’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades C for safety: #8 of 20 in Northumberland. Per 1,000 residents a year, 31.9 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hexham
About the middle for a town its size
Of 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Hexham has the 228th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Berwick-upon-Tweed, Barwell and Whittlesey, higher than Market Drayton, Wantage and Stakeford. 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. 13% of Hexham’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.
What sits behind Hexham’s C
A firm grade. Built on 1,394 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hexham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 7 Hexham residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
39% 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.
Hexham’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, Hexham runs highest on other crime (2.7 per 1,000 against 1.8), anti-social behaviour (16.4 per 1,000 against 12.4) and public order (6.9 per 1,000 against 5.4). Drugs and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 320 | 29.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 179 | 16.4 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 78 | 7.1 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 75 | 6.9 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 66 | 6 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 43 | 3.9 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 32 | 2.9 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 30 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 19 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 14 | 1.3 | 1.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 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 of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Crime in Hexham 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 11 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.
Police in Hexham identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 74% of Hexham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 31% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (0% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% of violent and 6% 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. 438 crimes.
Hexham against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Ponteland Northumberland | 10,149 | 20.4 | 6.2 | 9.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 208 | Prudhoe Northumberland | 10,285 | 28.4 | 13.6 | 9.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 216 | Seaton Delaval Northumberland | 8,012 | 30 | 12.9 | 19.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 225 | Market Drayton Shropshire | 12,062 | 33.2 | 10.8 | 12.5 | C |
| 226 | Wantage Oxfordshire | 13,100 | 33.2 | 10.9 | 10.8 | C |
| 227 | Stakeford Northumberland | 8,197 | 30.7 | 13.4 | 18.2 | C |
| 228 | Hexham Northumberland | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 14.9 | C |
| 229 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| 230 | Cleveleys Lancashire | 11,121 | 32.5 | 11.9 | 11.1 | C |
| 231 | Middlewich Cheshire | 14,428 | 35.5 | 9 | 7.8 | C |
| 232 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | 13,181 | 32.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 393 | 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 Hexham, and others in Northumberland.
Violent crime held steady over the year
Northumbria Police published two months short or not at all (Jan 2026 and Feb 2026), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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 -5% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -15% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +19% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Hexham West, Hexham East and Hexham Central with Acomb; highest in Hexham Central with Acomb
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hexham West | 3,467 | 7.4 | 4.9 | |
| Hexham East | 4,312 | 30.5 | 11.8 | |
| Hexham Central with Acomb | 3,166 | 32.2 | 17.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Bus and coach stations | 32 | 53% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 26 | 35% violent |
| Police stations | 26 | 42% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Hexham Central with Acomb records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Hexham. 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 Hexham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hexham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Hexham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 40 collisions with injuries inside Hexham in five years. 10 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 0 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 Hexham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hexham’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hexham had 18.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below 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 Hexham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hexham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hexham | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | C |
| Acomb | 1,155 | 13.1 | 7 | A− |
| Corbridge | 2,888 | 10.8 | 4.2 | A |
| Haydon Bridge | 1,229 | 17.2 | 4.9 | A− |
| Stocksfield | 1,944 | 5.5 | 2.9 | A+ |
| Ovingham | 1,155 | 26 | 8.6 | B− |
| Prudhoe | 10,285 | 28.4 | 13.6 | C |
| Wylam | 1,661 | 7.4 | 6 | A+ |
Hexham records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Acomb, 1.6 miles away, records 13.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hexham’s 31.9.
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
- Some months are short. Northumbria Police published January 2026 and February 2026 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Hexham 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 Hexham
Is Hexham safe?
Police recorded 31.9 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hexham’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Hexham is 228th from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Hexham?
By council ward, Hexham West, Hexham East and Hexham Central with Acomb record the least violent and household crime per resident: 7.4, 30.5 and 32.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 32.2 in Hexham Central with Acomb.
Is crime going up in Hexham?
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 fell 15% and anti-social behaviour rose 19%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hexham?
Violence & sexual offences: 320 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (78) and public order (75), with 179 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hexham compare with Consett?
Consett records 33.8 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hexham’s 31.9 and 12.3, 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.