Photo: Christopher Hilton · CC BY-SA 2.0Newmarket records bicycle theft at 3.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has more violent crime than 77% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 75%. In sum, crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put Newmarket at C− (#27 of 34 in Suffolk): more crime per resident than 76% of UK towns. Violence and property crime split as 34.6 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Newmarket
One ward carries much of the rate
Newmarket East ward, where 59% of Newmarket’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 1,179 of Newmarket’s 1,955 violent and sexual offences in three years: 73.1 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Newmarket the figure is 19.1. Where in Newmarket ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Newmarket has the 189th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bideford, Wellington and Sudbury, higher than Shepshed, Dereham and Devizes. 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. 11% of Newmarket’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 9% 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.
Newmarket: C− for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,723 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Newmarket against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Newmarket runs highest on bicycle theft (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.3), possession of weapons (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.7) and shoplifting (9 per 1,000 against 6.1). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 599 | 31.8 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 170 | 9 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 145 | 7.7 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 108 | 5.7 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 102 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 78 | 4.1 | 12.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 69 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 58 | 3.1 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 40 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 33 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 28 | 1.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 21 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 12 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
“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.
Lowest recorded crime in Woodditton, Newmarket West and Newmarket North; highest in Newmarket East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodditton | 2,091 | 8.4 | 4.3 | |
| Newmarket West | 5,713 | 21 | 7.4 | |
| Newmarket North | 5,677 | 21.1 | 11.9 | |
| Newmarket East | 5,376 | 73.1 | 25.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 254 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 172 | 42% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 83 | 55% violent |
| Shopping areas | 74 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 57 | 35% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Newmarket East records 3.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Newmarket. 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 Newmarket. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Newmarket’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
1 in 9 Newmarket residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
25% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 9% 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.
Newmarket’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.
Crime in Newmarket 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
189th of 308: Newmarket among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 99 | Felixstowe Suffolk | 24,218 | 28.1 | 7.9 | 10.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 133 | Stowmarket Suffolk | 21,537 | 31.7 | 8.1 | 10.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 186 | Shepshed Leicestershire | 14,873 | 32.1 | 15.5 | 10.4 | C− |
| 187 | Dereham Norfolk | 20,788 | 37.3 | 10.5 | 16 | C− |
| 188 | Devizes Wiltshire | 19,491 | 35.8 | 12.4 | 13.7 | C− |
| 189 | Newmarket Suffolk | 18,857 | 34.6 | 13.6 | 16.9 | C− |
| 190 | Nantwich Cheshire | 18,741 | 39.5 | 8.8 | 14.1 | C− |
| 191 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | 23,683 | 33.5 | 15.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 192 | Retford Nottinghamshire | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | 17.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 195 | Sudbury Suffolk | 23,922 | 37.9 | 11.8 | 12.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Newmarket, and others in Suffolk.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 66% of Newmarket’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% 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. 936 crimes.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +0% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +13% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +12% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -4% (towns its size -4%).
No one died in a collision on Newmarket’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 93 collisions with injuries inside Newmarket in five years. 21 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 2 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 Newmarket’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Newmarket’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Newmarket had 22.3 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).
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 Newmarket’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Newmarket
Newmarket records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Exning, 2 miles away, records 28 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Newmarket’s 34.6.
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 Newmarket 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 Newmarket
Is Newmarket safe?
Police recorded 34.6 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Newmarket’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 24% of UK towns. Among 308 UK towns of 13,000 to 25,000 people, Newmarket is 189th from the least crime. 11% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Newmarket?
By council ward, Woodditton, Newmarket West and Newmarket North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 8.4, 21 and 21.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 73.1 in Newmarket East.
Is crime going up in Newmarket?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 13%, shoplifting and theft rose 12% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Newmarket?
Violence & sexual offences: 599 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (170) and criminal damage & arson (145), with 78 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Newmarket compare with Haverhill?
Haverhill records 37.2 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Newmarket’s 34.6 and 13.6, 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.