Photo: Bill Nicholls · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Wantage has a higher rate per resident than 74% of UK towns
Measured on crimes police recorded inside Wantage’s built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026, it earns a Safety Grade of C: #36 of 38 in Oxfordshire. Annual rates stand at 33.2 violent and sexual offences and 10.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents. Violence recorded locally dropped 19% in a year. With 38 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, drugs reaches 2.9 per 1,000 residents locally, well above the typical 1.9.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wantage
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 19% less violent crime per resident in Wantage than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 15% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Wantage has the 223rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Skipton, Middlewich and Cirencester, higher than Connah's Quay, Market Drayton and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Wantage’s C for safety
A firm grade. Built on 1,733 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wantage 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, Wantage runs highest on drugs (2.9 per 1,000 against 1.9), other theft (5.4 per 1,000 against 4.4) and public order (6.6 per 1,000 against 5.4). Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 384 | 29.3 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 129 | 9.8 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 87 | 6.6 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 71 | 5.4 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 71 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 38 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 31 | 2.4 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 30 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 24 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 22 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
“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.
How Wantage’s neighbourhoods rank in England
59% 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.
Wantage’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 crime in Wantage has moved
“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 -19% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -15% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -30% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -16% (towns its size -4%).
Police in Wantage identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 55% of Wantage’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” (57% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 11% 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. 594 crimes.
Crime in Wantage 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 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Of 397 towns its size, Wantage is 223rd from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 36 | Thame Oxfordshire | 12,952 | 19.4 | 7.2 | 11.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Carterton Oxfordshire | 17,951 | 22.9 | 6.2 | 5.9 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 86 | Kidlington Oxfordshire | 14,640 | 22.1 | 8.9 | 13.4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 186 | Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire | 11,786 | 25.8 | 14.5 | 15.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 220 | Connah's Quay Clwyd | 16,768 | 33.3 | 10.6 | 12 | C |
| 221 | Market Drayton Shropshire | 12,062 | 33.2 | 10.8 | 12.5 | C |
| 222 | Ashby-de-la-Zouch Leicestershire | 15,121 | 28.4 | 15.7 | 9.4 | C |
| 223 | Wantage Oxfordshire | 13,100 | 33.2 | 10.9 | 10.8 | C |
| 224 | Hexham Northumberland | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 14.9 | C |
| 225 | Monmouth Gwent | 10,330 | 32.9 | 11.3 | 19.2 | C |
| 226 | Cleveleys Lancashire | 11,121 | 32.5 | 11.9 | 11.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 397 | 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 Wantage, and others in Oxfordshire.
Where in Wantage police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 265 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 56 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 23 | 39% 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 Wantage. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on Wantage’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 42 collisions with injuries inside Wantage in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 1 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 Wantage’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wantage’s own rate (3.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Wantage’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 16 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Wantage had 7.
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 Wantage’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wantage
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wantage | 13,100 | 33.2 | 10.9 | C |
| Grove | 7,942 | 29.6 | 7.1 | C+ |
| East Challow | 1,031 | 20.1 | 7.1 | B |
| East Hanney | 1,233 | 23.8 | 7 | B− |
| East Hendred | 1,367 | 11.7 | 4.2 | A |
| Steventon | 2,211 | 17.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| Stanford in the Vale | 2,302 | 24 | 5.5 | B |
| Chilton | 1,378 | 15 | 9.2 | B+ |
Wantage records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Grove, 1 miles away, records 29.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wantage’s 33.2.
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 Wantage 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 Wantage
Is Wantage safe?
Police recorded 33.2 violent and sexual offences and 10.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wantage’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 29% of UK towns. Among 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Wantage is 223rd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wantage?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 19%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 15%, shoplifting and theft fell 30% and anti-social behaviour fell 16%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wantage?
Violence & sexual offences: 384 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (87) and criminal damage & arson (71), with 129 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wantage compare with Didcot?
Didcot records 30.6 violent and sexual offences and 8.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wantage’s 33.2 and 10.9, 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.