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Thorne Brae, Johnstone, looking towards High StreetPhoto: Nigel Thompson · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
Safety in Johnstone · Scottish Government, SIMD

Recorded crime in the Renfrewshire council area is 7% below Scotland’s rate

Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Johnstone has no Safety Grade and no overall grade until the 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation brings neighbourhood crime figures. What Scotland does publish: crime for the whole Renfrewshire council area (532 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Johnstone’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.

Crimes, Renfrewshire
532
per 10,000 people, 2025-26
Scotland 569
Violence
121
non-sexual violent crimes per 10,000
Scotland 136
Cleared up
60%
of recorded crimes, 2025-26
Scotland 57%
SIMD crimes in Johnstone
271
per 10,000 residents, 2017/18
Scotland 276
What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Johnstone

Crime about level over ten years

Recorded crime across the Renfrewshire council area went from 530 to 532 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓

A mix of neighbourhoods

26% of Johnstone’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 5% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 271 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is about the same as Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

Written from the Scottish Government’s recorded crime and SIMD figures on this page.

By type

What police recorded in the Renfrewshire council area in 2025-26

Common assault101
Shoplifting83
Vandalism52
Fraud26
Housebreaking10
Drug supply9
Car theft8
Serious assault6
Robbery4
Domestic abuse3
Violent & sexualHomes, cars & damageOtherScotland

Against Scotland, the Renfrewshire council area runs highest on robbery (4 per 10,000 against 3). Housebreaking and domestic abuse sit below Scotland’s rate.

Show every crime group as a table
GroupRecordedPer 10,000Scotland
Non-sexual crimes of violence2,284121136
Sexual crimes4892630
Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud)3,628192213
Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising)1,1746269
Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice)2,496132121
Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour)1,98910593

Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crimes and offences by council area. Groups 1 to 5 are crimes; group 6, antisocial offences, is offences.

Per 10,000 people. The tick on each bar is Scotland’s rate. Every town in the council area shares these figures.

Neighbourhoods · Scotland-wide rank

26% of Johnstone residents live in one of Scotland’s highest-crime neighbourhoods

6%1
20%2
0%3
14%4
13%5
26%6
5%7
11%8
5%9
0%10
Higher crimeLower crime

17% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 26% in the highest-crime 20%. Johnstone counted 271 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, about the same as Scotland’s 276; three years before, 405 (-33%, Scotland -9%).

Scottish Government, SIMD 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (crimes of violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault, 2014/15 and 2017/18). Residents from Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.

Johnstone’s residents by the crime decile of their small area (2011 data zone, about 800 people) in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Scotland’s 6,976 data zones and 10 the lowest.

Towns its size

Johnstone is 56th of 93 Scottish towns of 8,278 to 31,185

#TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000In the most crime-deprived fifth
1Westhill Aberdeenshire11,778520%
2Bishopton Renfrewshire10,048690%
…
53Tullibody Clackmannanshire8,51526415%
54Barrhead East Renfrewshire17,60826624%
55Gorebridge Midlothian8,90026717%
56Johnstone Renfrewshire16,47727126%
57Elgin Moray24,61727114%
58Armadale West Lothian12,59027216%
59Hawick Scottish Borders10,71527329%
…
92Methil Fife10,71250957%
93Stranraer Dumfries and Galloway9,72956545%

SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, counting from the fewest: the towns either side of Johnstone, and the ends of the list. Described, not graded.

Cleared up

60% of crimes in the Renfrewshire council area were cleared up, more than Scotland’s 57%

All crimes60%
Violence72%
Sexual crimes55%
Dishonesty39%
Damage30%
Against society94%
Violent & sexualHomes, cars & damageOtherScotland

Violence and drugs crimes are cleared up most often, because they are usually recorded with a suspect in view; housebreaking, theft and vandalism least.

Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crime clear-up rates by council area.

Share of crimes recorded in 2025-26 that were cleared up: a suspect identified and enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal. The tick is Scotland.

Where in Johnstone

Fewest SIMD crimes in Johnstone South West, Johnstone South East and Johnstone North West; most in Johnstone North East

AreaResidentsPer 10,000
Johnstone South West5,756202
Johnstone South East3,842224
Johnstone North West3,343339
Johnstone North East2,964344
Below Scotland’s rateAt or above it

2 of Johnstone’s 4 areas are at or above Scotland’s rate of 276 (orange bars). SIMD counts crimes where they were recorded, so an area with a town centre, a station or a hospital records more than its own residents suffer.

SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, by small area (2011 data zones, grouped by the names the Scottish Government gives them), fewest first.

Ten years · yearly

Recorded crime about level since 2016-17

Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2016-17 to the newest year. Since April 2019 violence includes the new crime of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.

Per 10,000 people each year, the Renfrewshire council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes +0% (Scotland +3%), violence +8%.

1,000 people · one year

For every 1,000 people in the Renfrewshire council area, about 15 violent or sexual crimes in 2025-26

Violent & sexualHousebreaking, car theft & damageOther theft & fraud
2,773
violent and sexual crimes, Renfrewshire, 2025-26
1,519
housebreaking, car theft & damage
3,283
other theft & fraud
40
of the three, per 1,000

A crime isn’t a victim: one person can suffer several, and crimes in a city centre often involve visitors rather than residents.

And about 8 housebreakings, car thefts or acts of vandalism and fire-raising, plus 17 other thefts and frauds. Each dot is one person; each coloured dot is one recorded crime. These are council-wide figures: every town in the Renfrewshire council area shares them.

On the roads

Three people died in collisions on Johnstone’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 46 collisions with injuries inside Johnstone in five years, in which three people died (2 were pedestrians). 19 people were killed or seriously injured: 11 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 Johnstone’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Johnstone’s own rate (3.6) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, Johnstone had 23.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).

3
people killed, 2021–2025
19
killed or seriously injured
11
of them on foot
0
of them on a bicycle

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; the towns its size are England and Wales’s. There’s no national rate here: more than two thirds of Scotland’s road deaths (70%) happen outside every town’s locality boundary. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.

Collisions police recorded inside Johnstone’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Johnstone

Fewest quarterSecondThirdMost SIMD crime
TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000Most crime-deprived fifth
Johnstone16,47727126%
Elderslie5,6321553%
Kilbarchan3,3671240%
Linwood8,40824613%
Houston6,206740%
Bridge of Weir4,927710%
Paisley79,35139535%
Neilston5,45926727%

Johnstone counted more SIMD crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Paisley counted more. Elderslie, 1.2 miles away, counted 155 per 10,000, against Johnstone’s 271.

SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18. The map colours each town by the quarter of Scotland’s towns it falls in; they are not grades. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Council areas, not towns. Recorded crime and clear-up rates are published for each of Scotland’s 32 council areas, so every town in the Renfrewshire council area shares them. A city centre and a quiet village in the same council show the same figures.
  • SIMD crime is town-level, but old. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counts selected crimes (violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault) in each small area. SIMD 2020 uses crimes from 2017/18; SIMD 2026, due at the end of 2026, will bring newer figures; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
  • Not a grade. Nothing on this page is graded. The towns-its-size ranking and the neighbours’ colours describe SIMD crime rates; they aren’t a Safety Grade and don’t feed one.
  • Recorded, not experienced. Recorded crime is what the police record. It moves with reporting and policing as well as with crime; the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey asks people directly, for Scotland as a whole.

Questions about safety in Johnstone

Is Johnstone safe?

Police Scotland recorded 532 crimes per 10,000 people across the Renfrewshire council area in 2025-26, 7% below Scotland’s 569. Within Johnstone, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 271 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 26% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Johnstone has no Safety Grade.

How many crimes are solved in the Renfrewshire council area?

60% of crimes recorded in 2025-26 were cleared up (someone was identified and there was enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal), against 57% across Scotland.

Why doesn’t Johnstone have a Safety Grade?

Our Safety Grade counts crimes inside each town’s boundary. Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes by location for reuse, so Scottish towns can’t be measured the same way. The 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation will bring newer neighbourhood crime figures.

Sources: Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland (crimes, offences and clear-up rates by council area, 2016-17 to 2025-26); Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (2014/15, 2017/18), 2011 data zones with Census 2022 residents · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the NRS 2022 locality 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.