Photo: Andrew Tryon · CC BY-SA 2.0Sheffield sees more crime per resident than 91% of UK towns
Of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 33% record more crime per resident. Graded on crimes police recorded inside Sheffield’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores D for safety: #42 of 63 in South Yorkshire. Violence recorded locally climbed 6% in a year. Behind the grade sit 42.4 violent and sexual offences and 23.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Sheffield
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% more violent crime per resident in Sheffield 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 fell 8% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 27 UK towns and cities of 280,000 to 845,000 people, Sheffield has the 18th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Leicester, Liverpool and Nottingham, higher than Southwark, Cardiff and Belfast. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
35% of Sheffield’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 20% 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 Sheffield’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 99,066 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Sheffield 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 Fulwood, Ecclesall and Crookes and Crosspool; highest in City
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulwood | 17,468 | 8.1 | 8.5 | |
| Ecclesall | 20,558 | 11.9 | 11.2 | |
| Crookes and Crosspool | 17,189 | 12 | 11.9 | |
| Dore and Totley | 18,178 | 14.4 | 11.5 | |
| Aughton & Swallownest | 772 | 14.2 | 16.8 | |
| Stannington | 15,354 | 21.7 | 10.6 | |
| Graves Park | 17,047 | 25.2 | 17.3 | |
| Mosborough | 16,924 | 31.1 | 17.2 | |
| Walkley | 22,456 | 31.5 | 18.6 | |
| Beighton | 16,694 | 30.5 | 21.1 | |
| Hillsborough | 19,146 | 32.2 | 21 | |
| Birley | 16,683 | 32.5 | 21.2 | |
| Broomhill and Sharrow Vale | 21,927 | 31.3 | 23.3 | |
| Nether Edge and Sharrow | 23,836 | 35.7 | 20.4 | |
| Richmond | 18,547 | 36.2 | 23.3 | |
| East Ecclesfield | 4,217 | 42.4 | 17.5 | |
| Beauchief and Greenhill | 19,450 | 43.9 | 18.6 | |
| Shiregreen and Brightside | 20,606 | 45.6 | 23.1 | |
| Woodhouse | 17,657 | 48 | 28.2 | |
| Gleadless Valley | 20,569 | 49.1 | 31 | |
| Darnall | 22,019 | 51.9 | 30.4 | |
| Park and Arbourthorne | 18,766 | 53.5 | 29 | |
| Southey | 20,640 | 62.2 | 26.8 | |
| Firth Park | 22,354 | 62.7 | 28.1 | |
| Burngreave | 27,289 | 63.2 | 32.5 | |
| Manor Castle | 22,701 | 59.6 | 43.1 | |
| City | 21,473 | 125.1 | 47 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 8,954 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 8,085 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 4,992 | 32% violent |
| Petrol stations | 4,875 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 1,757 | 29% violent |
| Nightclubs | 1,445 | 45% violent |
| Police stations | 961 | 87% drugs, public order & other |
| College and university buildings | 555 | 34% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 405 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Parks and open spaces | 159 | 30% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so City records 3.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Sheffield. 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 Sheffield. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Sheffield’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
35% of Sheffield residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
20% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 35% 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.
Sheffield’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.
Police in Sheffield identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 79% of Sheffield’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 21% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 4% 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. 33,741 crimes.
Crime in Sheffield 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 21 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Sheffield runs highest on burglary (5.1 per 1,000 against 3.4), other crime (3.1 per 1,000 against 2.1) and possession of weapons (1.5 per 1,000 against 1.1).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 20,488 | 40.9 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 10,106 | 20.2 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 6,271 | 12.5 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 4,951 | 9.9 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 4,496 | 9 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 3,200 | 6.4 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3,188 | 6.4 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 2,559 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,958 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 1,533 | 3.1 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 815 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 755 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 466 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 378 | 0.8 | 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.
Of 27 towns its size, Sheffield is 18th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 25.3 | 21 | 18.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Southwark London | 307,076 | 40 | 22.1 | 54.3 | D |
| 16 | Cardiff South Glamorgan | 348,511 | 40 | 22.4 | 26.6 | D |
| 17 | Belfast Belfast | 293,298 | 45.1 | 19 | 22.6 | D |
| 18 | Sheffield South Yorkshire | 500,520 | 42.4 | 23.7 | 20.9 | D |
| 19 | Tower Hamlets London | 311,072 | 43.3 | 23 | 39.6 | D |
| 20 | Coventry West Midlands | 344,289 | 47.6 | 23.7 | 20.2 | D |
| 21 | Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear | 286,472 | 47.8 | 24.2 | 29.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | 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 Sheffield, and others in South Yorkshire.
How crime in Sheffield 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 +6% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -8% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +4% (towns its size -2%).
38 people died in collisions on Sheffield’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 3,386 collisions with injuries inside Sheffield in five years, in which 38 people died (14 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists). 1,163 people were killed or seriously injured: 345 on foot and 181 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, Sheffield had 46.5 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 Sheffield’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Sheffield
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | 500,520 | 42.4 | 23.7 | D |
| Waverley and Catcliffe | 5,342 | 32.8 | 19.9 | C− |
| Brinsworth | 8,764 | 18.3 | 13.7 | B− |
| Treeton | 3,272 | 23.6 | 13.1 | C+ |
| Ecclesfield and Grenoside | 8,187 | 21 | 18.5 | C+ |
| Worrall | 1,320 | 15.2 | 6.1 | A− |
| Dronfield | 21,161 | 15.9 | 8.5 | B+ |
| Oughtibridge | 3,128 | 16.3 | 12.4 | B |
Sheffield records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Waverley and Catcliffe, 3.7 miles away, records 32.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Sheffield’s 42.4.
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 148 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Sheffield’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 Sheffield 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 Sheffield
Is Sheffield safe?
Police recorded 42.4 violent and sexual offences and 23.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Sheffield’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 27 UK towns of 280,000 to 845,000 people, Sheffield is 18th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Sheffield?
By council ward, Fulwood, Ecclesall and Crookes and Crosspool record the least violent and household crime per resident: 8.1, 11.9 and 12 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 125.1 in City.
Is crime going up in Sheffield?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 8%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Sheffield city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,445 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 45% of them violent, and City ward records 125.1 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 February.
What is the most common crime in Sheffield?
Violence & sexual offences: 20,488 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (6,271) and criminal damage & arson (4,951), with 10,106 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.