Photo: TCExplorer · CC BY-SA 2.0For violent crime, Shrewsbury trails 81% of UK towns per resident
Violence and property crime split as 37.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Its Safety Grade is C−, on crimes police recorded inside Shrewsbury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #17 of 19 in Shropshire. Compared with the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it records less crime per resident than 76%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Shrewsbury
One ward carries much of the rate
Quarry and Coton Hill ward recorded 1,906 of Shrewsbury’s 8,517 violent and sexual offences in three years: 148.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Shrewsbury the figure is 30.6. Where in Shrewsbury ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 92 UK towns and cities of 53,000 to 103,000 people, Shrewsbury has the 22nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Aylesbury, Huyton with Roby and Redditch, higher than Weymouth, Bognor Regis and Cannock. 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. 14% of Shrewsbury’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 17% 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.
The C− for Shrewsbury, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 11,387 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Shrewsbury against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Radbrook, Bagley and Porthill; highest in Quarry and Coton Hill
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radbrook | 5,117 | 13.9 | 5 | |
| Bagley | 4,784 | 16.1 | 7.1 | |
| Porthill | 4,696 | 19.4 | 8.2 | |
| Belle Vue | 4,399 | 21.9 | 10.2 | |
| Copthorne | 4,131 | 27.4 | 8.1 | |
| Bowbrook | 4,155 | 28 | 11.2 | |
| Abbey | 4,242 | 28.1 | 11.4 | |
| Underdale | 4,304 | 30.1 | 10.4 | |
| Bayston Hill, Column and Sutton | 7,027 | 30.8 | 10.6 | |
| Meole | 4,389 | 32.2 | 11.1 | |
| Sundorne | 4,119 | 39.2 | 10.8 | |
| Battlefield | 5,904 | 38.7 | 14 | |
| Monkmoor | 4,356 | 43.5 | 13.7 | |
| Harlescott | 5,071 | 40 | 18.8 | |
| Castlefields and Ditherington | 4,684 | 49.7 | 16.4 | |
| Quarry and Coton Hill | 4,270 | 148.8 | 35.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 1,472 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,330 | 39% violent |
| Supermarkets | 1,169 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 361 | 60% violent |
| Hospitals | 241 | 53% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 191 | 43% anti-social behaviour |
| Police stations | 170 | 42% violent |
| Petrol stations | 130 | 25% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 46 | 87% anti-social behaviour |
| Bus and coach stations | 46 | 48% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Quarry and Coton Hill records 4.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Shrewsbury. 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 Shrewsbury. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Shrewsbury’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Shrewsbury runs highest on bicycle theft (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.9). Other theft and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,727 | 35.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 885 | 11.6 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 688 | 9.1 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 599 | 7.9 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 404 | 5.3 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 328 | 4.3 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 252 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 183 | 2.4 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 147 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 98 | 1.3 | 4.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 83 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 71 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 53 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 38 | 0.5 | 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.
Shrewsbury is 22nd of 92 UK towns of 53,000 to 103,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Weymouth Dorset | 55,540 | 37.7 | 11.7 | 14.5 | C− |
| 20 | Bognor Regis West Sussex | 68,443 | 33.6 | 16.3 | 16.6 | C− |
| 21 | Cannock Staffordshire | 63,057 | 39.1 | 10.9 | 12.8 | C− |
| 22 | Shrewsbury Shropshire | 76,013 | 37.4 | 12.6 | 19.1 | C− |
| 23 | Wallasey Merseyside | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | 7 | C− |
| 24 | Macclesfield Cheshire | 54,352 | 40.2 | 10.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| 25 | Tamworth Staffordshire | 76,074 | 36.8 | 14.7 | 13.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 92 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Shrewsbury, and others in Shropshire.
Crime in Shrewsbury 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 12 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.
Police in Shrewsbury identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Shrewsbury’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 18% 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 5% of violent and 3% 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. 3,934 crimes.
1 in 7 Shrewsbury residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
36% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Shrewsbury’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.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -22% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -31% (towns its size -2%).
Two people died in collisions on Shrewsbury’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 320 collisions with injuries inside Shrewsbury in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 69 people were killed or seriously injured: 19 on foot and 17 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 Shrewsbury’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Shrewsbury’s own rate (0.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Shrewsbury had 18.2 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). 28% 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 Shrewsbury’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Shrewsbury
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 76,013 | 37.4 | 12.6 | C− |
| Bayston Hill | 5,221 | 10.9 | 2.6 | A+ |
| Hanwood | 1,257 | 33.5 | 8.8 | C |
| Bomere Heath | 1,364 | 31 | 7.8 | C+ |
| Shawbury | 1,962 | 24 | 6.3 | B |
| Baschurch | 2,007 | 18.6 | 4.5 | A− |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 25.4 | 5.4 | B− |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 27 | 8.7 | C+ |
Shrewsbury records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bayston Hill, 3 miles away, records 10.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Shrewsbury’s 37.4.
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 241 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Shrewsbury’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 Shrewsbury 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 Shrewsbury
Is Shrewsbury safe?
Police recorded 37.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Shrewsbury’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 21% of UK towns. Among 92 UK towns of 53,000 to 103,000 people, Shrewsbury is 22nd from the least crime. 14% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Shrewsbury?
By council ward, Radbrook, Bagley and Porthill record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.9, 16.1 and 19.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 148.8 in Quarry and Coton Hill.
Is crime going up in Shrewsbury?
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 22% and anti-social behaviour fell 31%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Shrewsbury town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 361 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 60% of them violent, and Quarry and Coton Hill ward records 148.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in September.
What is the most common crime in Shrewsbury?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,727 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (688) and criminal damage & arson (599), with 885 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Shrewsbury compare with Telford?
Telford records 44.8 violent and sexual offences and 13 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Shrewsbury’s 37.4 and 12.6, 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.