Photo: G-Man at English Wikipedia · Public domainPer resident, Rugby sees less crime than 87% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more
It has more violent crime than 72% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 67%. Recorded violent and sexual offences ran at 32.0 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle crime and damage at 12.1. Violent crime barely moved in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Rugby
Less crime than most places its size
Of 88 UK towns and cities of 55,000 to 105,000 people, Rugby has the 12th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Southport, Stourbridge and Weymouth, higher than Woking, Craigavon and Brentwood. 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 Rugby’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 12% 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.
Rugby’s Safety Grade is C
A firm grade. Built on 10,314 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Rugby against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Among 88 towns its size, Rugby ranks 12th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Woking Surrey | 75,655 | 31.9 | 11 | 14.4 | C |
| 10 | Craigavon Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 72,301 | 30.9 | 12.3 | 11.4 | C |
| 11 | Brentwood Essex | 55,339 | 26.9 | 17 | 17.8 | C |
| 12 | Rugby Warwickshire | 78,130 | 32 | 12.1 | 11.9 | C |
| 13 | Royal Sutton Coldfield West Midlands | 93,392 | 26.6 | 17.5 | 17.8 | C |
| 14 | Farnborough Hampshire | 60,665 | 32 | 12.8 | 16.7 | C |
| 15 | Bracknell Berkshire | 78,662 | 31.9 | 13.5 | 18.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Nuneaton Warwickshire | 88,818 | 42.7 | 18.5 | 15.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 88 | 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 Rugby, and others in Warwickshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Rugby runs highest on possession of weapons (1.4 per 1,000 against 1.1). Drugs and other theft sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,389 | 30.6 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,542 | 19.7 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 555 | 7.1 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 485 | 6.2 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 434 | 5.6 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 288 | 3.7 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 247 | 3.2 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 208 | 2.7 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 169 | 2.2 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 125 | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 106 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 55 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 49 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 23 | 0.3 | 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.
1 in 7 Rugby residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 12% 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.
Rugby’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Paddox, Bilton and Coton and Boughton; highest in Benn
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paddox | 7,359 | 13.1 | 4.5 | |
| Bilton | 6,548 | 11.8 | 6.2 | |
| Coton and Boughton | 8,103 | 15.1 | 8.2 | |
| Hillmorton | 7,750 | 29.8 | 8.5 | |
| Admirals and Cawston | 4,655 | 31.5 | 10 | |
| Rokeby and Overslade | 7,704 | 34 | 11.2 | |
| Clifton, Newton and Churchover | 1,137 | 37.2 | 9.4 | |
| New Bilton | 8,170 | 36.4 | 13.8 | |
| Eastlands | 8,424 | 42.5 | 10.1 | |
| Newbold and Brownsover | 8,933 | 40 | 17.8 | |
| Benn | 9,347 | 52.3 | 20.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 1,248 | 55% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 834 | 25% violent |
| Supermarkets | 648 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 255 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 118 | 74% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 103 | 44% violent |
| College and university buildings | 35 | 31% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Benn records 1.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Rugby. 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 Rugby. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Rugby’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Rugby 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 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
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 +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +8% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +24% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Rugby’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” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 5% 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. 3,478 crimes.
Three people died in collisions on Rugby’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 383 collisions with injuries inside Rugby in five years, in which three people died (1 was a cyclist). 83 people were killed or seriously injured: 27 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 Rugby’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Rugby’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Rugby had 21.3 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). 33% 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 Rugby’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Rugby
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rugby | 78,130 | 32 | 12.1 | C |
| Clifton upon Dunsmore | 1,216 | 9.9 | 5.8 | A |
| Long Lawford | 4,369 | 26.3 | 5.7 | B− |
| Cawston | 6,475 | 19.4 | 6.3 | B+ |
| Dunchurch | 2,603 | 25.4 | 8.2 | B− |
| Onley | 1,667 | 60.6 | 3 | D |
| Kilsby | 1,341 | 19.1 | 8.7 | B |
| Crick | 2,245 | 13.5 | 15.1 | B |
Rugby records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Onley records more. Clifton upon Dunsmore, 1.4 miles away, records 9.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Rugby’s 32.
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 Rugby 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 Rugby
Is Rugby safe?
Police recorded 32 violent and sexual offences and 12.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Rugby’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 29% of UK towns. Among 88 UK towns of 55,000 to 105,000 people, Rugby is 12th from the least crime. 14% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Rugby?
By council ward, Paddox, Bilton and Coton and Boughton record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.1, 11.8 and 15.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 52.3 in Benn.
Is crime going up in Rugby?
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 rose 8% and anti-social behaviour rose 24%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Rugby town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 118 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 74% of them violent, and Benn ward records 52.3 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 Rugby?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,389 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (555) and criminal damage & arson (485), with 1,542 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.