Guest, Sign inJoin
Family Shopper, Main Street, High BlantyrePhoto: Leslie Barrie · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
Safety in Blantyre · Scottish Government, SIMD

Recorded crime in the South Lanarkshire council area is 12% below Scotland’s rate

Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Blantyre 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 South Lanarkshire council area (501 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Blantyre’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.

Crimes, South Lanarkshire
501
per 10,000 people, 2025-26
Scotland 569
Violence
123
non-sexual violent crimes per 10,000
Scotland 136
Cleared up
59%
of recorded crimes, 2025-26
Scotland 57%
SIMD crimes in Blantyre
335
per 10,000 residents, 2017/18
Scotland 276
What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Blantyre

Crime about level over ten years

Recorded crime across the South Lanarkshire council area went from 480 to 501 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓

A mix of neighbourhoods

25% of Blantyre’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 12% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 335 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is 21% above Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

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

Towns its size

Blantyre is 77th of 94 Scottish towns of 8,278 to 33,021

#TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000In the most crime-deprived fifth
1Westhill Aberdeenshire11,778520%
2Bishopton Renfrewshire10,048690%
…
74Bathgate West Lothian22,22931814%
75Forfar Angus13,77432125%
76Annan Dumfries and Galloway8,69733426%
77Blantyre South Lanarkshire16,53433525%
78Dalkeith Midlothian15,12534043%
79Bellshill North Lanarkshire19,48834637%
80Mayfield Midlothian14,25935321%
…
93Methil Fife10,71250957%
94Stranraer Dumfries and Galloway9,72956545%

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

Where in Blantyre

Fewest SIMD crimes in Nerston and EK Landward Area; most in Burnbank North

AreaResidentsPer 10,000
Nerston and EK Landward Area72746
Low Blantyre and Bardykes3,072120
Blantytre North and Coatshill2,924342
High Blantyre3,513377
Blantyre South and Wheatlands4,084414
Burnbank North2,214510
Below Scotland’s rateAt or above it

4 of Blantyre’s 6 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.

By type

What police recorded in the South Lanarkshire council area in 2025-26

Common assault101
Shoplifting76
Vandalism56
Fraud24
Housebreaking10
Car theft8
Drug supply7
Serious assault6
Domestic abuse5
Robbery3
Violent & sexualHomes, cars & damageOtherScotland

Drug supply and housebreaking sit below Scotland’s rate.

Show every crime group as a table
GroupRecordedPer 10,000Scotland
Non-sexual crimes of violence4,103123136
Sexual crimes9963030
Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud)5,575167213
Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising)2,2186669
Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice)3,845115121
Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour)3,62910993

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

How Blantyre’s neighbourhoods rank in Scotland

13%1
12%2
19%3
15%4
9%5
7%6
4%7
10%8
6%9
6%10
Higher crimeLower crime

21% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 25% in the highest-crime 20%. Blantyre counted 335 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, 21% above Scotland’s 276; three years before, 345 (-3%, 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.

Blantyre’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.

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 South Lanarkshire council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes +4% (Scotland +3%), violence +32%.

Cleared up

Police in the South Lanarkshire council area clear up crime about as often as across Scotland

All crimes59%
Violence68%
Sexual crimes58%
Dishonesty40%
Damage34%
Against society90%
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.

1,000 people · one year

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

Violent & sexualHousebreaking, car theft & damageOther theft & fraud
5,099
violent and sexual crimes, South Lanarkshire, 2025-26
2,826
housebreaking, car theft & damage
4,967
other theft & fraud
38
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 15 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 South Lanarkshire council area shares them.

On the roads

One person died in collisions on Blantyre’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 38 collisions with injuries inside Blantyre in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 14 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 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 Blantyre’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Blantyre’s own rate (1.2) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, Blantyre had 16.9 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).

1
people killed, 2021–2025
14
killed or seriously injured
4
of them on foot
1
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 Blantyre’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Blantyre

Fewest quarterSecondThirdMost SIMD crime
TownPeopleSIMD crimes per 10,000Most crime-deprived fifth
Blantyre16,53433525%
Bothwell7,0021230%
Uddingston6,18121810%
Hamilton55,17133228%
Viewpark15,83222915%
Cambuslang33,25021515%
Bellshill19,48834637%
East Kilbride76,62621411%

Blantyre counted more SIMD crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Bellshill counted more. Bothwell, 1.3 miles away, counted 123 per 10,000, against Blantyre’s 335.

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 South Lanarkshire 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 Blantyre

Is Blantyre safe?

Police Scotland recorded 501 crimes per 10,000 people across the South Lanarkshire council area in 2025-26, 12% below Scotland’s 569. Within Blantyre, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 335 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 25% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Blantyre has no Safety Grade.

How many crimes are solved in the South Lanarkshire council area?

59% 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 Blantyre 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.