Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0Lichfield records vehicle crime at 2.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has more violent crime than 76% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 79%. Across all the graded crimes, Lichfield lands on C− (#35 of 46 in Staffordshire): more crime per resident than 77% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally climbed 20% in a year. Out of every 1,000 residents, 34.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Lichfield
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 20% more violent crime per resident in Lichfield 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 196 UK towns of 23,000 to 44,000 people, Lichfield has the 99th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Rugeley, Neath and Haverhill, higher than Congleton, Kendal and Hucknall. 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. 19% of Lichfield’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% 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.
Lichfield: C− for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 4,753 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Lichfield against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 5 Lichfield residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
50% 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.
Lichfield’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 Lichfield 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 +20% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -5% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +2% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +35% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Lichfield runs highest on vehicle crime (6.8 per 1,000 against 2.8), public order (8.6 per 1,000 against 5.4) and shoplifting (8.9 per 1,000 against 6.1). Criminal damage & arson sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,143 | 35.1 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 525 | 16.1 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 291 | 8.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 279 | 8.6 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 222 | 6.8 | 2.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 169 | 5.2 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 152 | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 90 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 85 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 52 | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 31 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 30 | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 16 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 15 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
“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.
Crime in Lichfield 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 15 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Boley Park, Chadsmead and St John's; highest in Stowe
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boley Park | 3,852 | 7 | 5.5 | |
| Chadsmead | 4,621 | 29.8 | 9.8 | |
| St John's | 5,922 | 30.5 | 14.4 | |
| Leomansley | 7,282 | 35.1 | 13.8 | |
| Curborough | 4,277 | 44.7 | 12.1 | |
| Stowe | 6,632 | 47.6 | 25.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 360 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 288 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 213 | 30% homes & vehicles |
| Petrol stations | 110 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Stowe records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Lichfield. 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 Lichfield. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Lichfield’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 72% of Lichfield’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 1,556 crimes.
Among 196 towns its size, Lichfield ranks 99th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 50 | Burntwood Staffordshire | 27,891 | 27.5 | 10.5 | 10 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 96 | Congleton Cheshire | 30,001 | 38.6 | 9.2 | 10 | C− |
| 97 | Kendal Cumbria | 28,939 | 37.6 | 10.8 | 13 | C− |
| 98 | Hucknall Nottinghamshire | 35,848 | 34.4 | 14.3 | 23.4 | C− |
| 99 | Lichfield Staffordshire | 32,586 | 34.1 | 14.7 | 15.1 | C− |
| 100 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | 23,683 | 33.5 | 15.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 101 | Retford Nottinghamshire | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | 17.1 | C− |
| 102 | Daventry Northamptonshire | 27,783 | 35.5 | 13.8 | 9.2 | C− |
| 103 | Rugeley Staffordshire | 26,149 | 37 | 12.3 | 12.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 196 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Lichfield, and others in Staffordshire.
Three people died in collisions on Lichfield’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 76 collisions with injuries inside Lichfield in five years, in which three people died (1 was a pedestrian). 15 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 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 Lichfield’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lichfield’s own rate (1.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Lichfield had 9.2 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).
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 Lichfield’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Lichfield
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lichfield | 32,586 | 34.1 | 14.7 | C− |
| Streethay | 2,166 | 37.3 | 10.6 | C− |
| Whittington | 2,477 | 10.9 | 8.9 | A− |
| Shenstone | 2,196 | 21 | 23.4 | C |
| Fradley | 3,609 | 26.6 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Burntwood | 27,891 | 27.5 | 10.5 | C+ |
| Handsacre and Armitage | 4,837 | 23.8 | 8.8 | B− |
| King's Bromley | 1,031 | 13.9 | 4.2 | A |
Lichfield records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Streethay, 1.3 miles away, records 37.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Lichfield’s 34.1.
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 Lichfield 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 Lichfield
Is Lichfield safe?
Police recorded 34.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Lichfield’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 23% of UK towns. Among 196 UK towns of 23,000 to 44,000 people, Lichfield is 99th from the least crime. 19% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Lichfield?
By council ward, Boley Park, Chadsmead and St John's record the least violent and household crime per resident: 7, 29.8 and 30.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 47.6 in Stowe.
Is crime going up in Lichfield?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 20%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 35%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Lichfield?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,143 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (291) and public order (279), with 525 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.