Photo: Malcolm Neal · CC BY-SA 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Nottingham than in 96% of UK towns
It has more violent crime than 94% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 95%. Add to that, its Safety Grade is D−, on crimes police recorded inside Nottingham’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime was up 16% in a year. Annual rates stand at 53.3 violent and sexual offences and 23.3 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 Nottingham
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% more violent crime per resident in Nottingham 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 rose 13% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
46% of Nottingham’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 10% 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 Nottingham’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 68,834 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Nottingham 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, Nottingham runs highest on theft from the person (2.3 per 1,000 against 0.7), robbery (3.6 per 1,000 against 1.4) and other crime (4.6 per 1,000 against 2.1).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 15,781 | 52.6 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 7,047 | 23.5 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 5,383 | 18 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 3,709 | 12.4 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 3,331 | 11.1 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 3,254 | 10.9 | 7.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2,460 | 8.2 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,886 | 6.3 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,519 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 1,373 | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1,094 | 3.6 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 702 | 2.3 | 0.7 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 674 | 2.2 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 542 | 1.8 | 0.9 |
“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.
46% of Nottingham residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
10% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 46% 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.
Nottingham’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.
How Nottingham compares with UK towns of 210,000 to 405,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 16 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear | 286,472 | 47.8 | 24.2 | 29.9 | D |
| 35 | Wolverhampton West Midlands | 234,029 | 50.6 | 21.7 | 20.1 | D |
| 36 | Derby Derbyshire | 275,561 | 57 | 17.8 | 20.5 | D |
| 37 | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | 299,786 | 53.3 | 23.3 | 31.9 | D− |
| 38 | Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire | 260,560 | 55.1 | 23.4 | 19.4 | D− |
| 39 | Southampton Hampshire | 249,633 | 58.3 | 22.2 | 25.5 | D− |
| 40 | Kingston upon Hull East Riding of Yorkshire | 270,816 | 60.7 | 24 | 25.6 | D− |
| 41 | Bradford West Yorkshire | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | 19.3 | 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 Nottingham, and others in Nottinghamshire.
Lowest recorded crime in Wollaton West, Bestwood St Albans and Leen Valley; highest in Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wollaton West | 15,168 | 17 | 8.8 | |
| Bestwood St Albans | 3,209 | 27.8 | 11.9 | |
| Leen Valley | 9,911 | 25.7 | 14.5 | |
| Lenton & Wollaton East | 21,817 | 34.6 | 19.6 | |
| Daybrook | 1,595 | 37.2 | 17.8 | |
| Nuthall East & Strelley | 835 | 31.1 | 24.8 | |
| Mapperley | 16,211 | 40.8 | 15.9 | |
| Bulwell Forest | 13,997 | 42.1 | 15 | |
| Sherwood | 13,993 | 43.8 | 18.8 | |
| Dales | 16,615 | 44.4 | 19.7 | |
| Radford | 16,650 | 39.5 | 25 | |
| Bestwood | 17,065 | 47 | 18.8 | |
| Basford | 16,367 | 46 | 20.9 | |
| Aspley | 18,797 | 50.6 | 21.1 | |
| Berridge | 17,914 | 49.8 | 24.2 | |
| Bilborough | 16,923 | 54.7 | 22.3 | |
| Bulwell | 16,219 | 62.5 | 24.3 | |
| Hyson Green & Arboretum | 23,340 | 69 | 32.4 | |
| St. Ann's | 20,684 | 74.9 | 30.8 | |
| Meadows | 11,015 | 105.3 | 37.7 | |
| Castle | 10,870 | 145.4 | 57.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 6,919 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 4,959 | 26% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 4,383 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 3,130 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 2,063 | 41% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 1,087 | 38% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,064 | 44% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 1,038 | 31% violent |
| College and university buildings | 790 | 33% homes & vehicles |
| Prisons | 482 | 76% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Castle records 2.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Nottingham. 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 Nottingham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Nottingham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Nottingham 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 +16% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +13% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +8% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -13% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Nottingham 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 26 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 33 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 70% of Nottingham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 20% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (58% 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. 21,636 crimes.
23 people died in collisions on Nottingham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 3,413 collisions with injuries inside Nottingham in five years, in which 23 people died (10 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 816 people were killed or seriously injured: 243 on foot and 149 on a bicycle.
That is 1.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Nottingham had 54.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 30% 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 Nottingham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Nottingham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nottingham | 299,786 | 53.3 | 23.3 | D− |
| Arnold | 40,016 | 26.6 | 10.1 | C+ |
| Nuthall and Watnall | 9,581 | 14.7 | 9.9 | B+ |
| Wilford | 4,849 | 19.3 | 11.6 | B− |
| Carlton | 53,555 | 23.2 | 9.4 | B− |
| Bestwood Village | 2,151 | 32.4 | 13.5 | C |
| West Bridgford | 36,489 | 16.6 | 9 | B+ |
| Gamston (Rushcliffe) | 2,171 | 9.8 | 5.2 | A |
Nottingham records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Arnold, 3 miles away, records 26.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Nottingham’s 53.3.
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
- A prison inside the boundary. police.uk counted 482 at or near a prison (76% violent) and 1,064 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Nottingham’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 Nottingham 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 Nottingham
Is Nottingham safe?
Police recorded 53.3 violent and sexual offences and 23.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Nottingham’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 4% of UK towns. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Nottingham has less crime per resident than 16%.
What are the safest areas of Nottingham?
By council ward, Wollaton West, Bestwood St Albans and Leen Valley record the least violent and household crime per resident: 17, 27.8 and 25.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 145.4 in Castle.
Is crime going up in Nottingham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 13%, shoplifting and theft rose 8% and anti-social behaviour fell 13%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Nottingham city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 2,063 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 41% of them violent, and Castle ward records 145.4 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 September.
What is the most common crime in Nottingham?
Violence & sexual offences: 15,781 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (5,383) and criminal damage & arson (3,709), with 7,047 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.