Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Salisbury records bicycle theft at 4.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
More crime per resident is recorded in 40% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Salisbury’s police logs show 34.3 violent and sexual offences and 15.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Taking everything together, Salisbury scores C−: more crime per resident than 78% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Salisbury
One ward carries much of the rate
Salisbury St Edmund's ward, where 39% of Salisbury’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 1,271 of Salisbury’s 4,897 violent and sexual offences in three years: 90.6 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Salisbury the figure is 27.8. Where in Salisbury ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 148 UK towns of 33,000 to 64,000 people, Salisbury has the 64th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Macclesfield, Royal Leamington Spa and Rowley Regis, higher than Hucknall, Stourbridge and Neath. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Salisbury’s C−
A firm grade. Built on 7,039 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Salisbury 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, Salisbury runs highest on bicycle theft (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.3), anti-social behaviour (20.8 per 1,000 against 12.4) and public order (8.7 per 1,000 against 5.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,621 | 34 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 993 | 20.8 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 451 | 9.5 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 417 | 8.7 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 394 | 8.3 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 263 | 5.5 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 175 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 130 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 98 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 88 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 65 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 31 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 28 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 17 | 0.4 | 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 Laverstock, Salisbury Harnham West and Salisbury St Francis & Stratford; highest in Salisbury St Edmund's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laverstock | 5,871 | 13.7 | 7 | |
| Salisbury Harnham West | 3,868 | 14.6 | 6.9 | |
| Salisbury St Francis & Stratford | 5,500 | 20.5 | 8.1 | |
| Salisbury Milford | 6,014 | 25.6 | 12.3 | |
| Salisbury Fisherton & Bemerton Village | 5,882 | 26.8 | 17 | |
| Salisbury Harnham East | 5,880 | 38.5 | 13.9 | |
| Salisbury St Paul's | 5,490 | 37.7 | 18.5 | |
| Salisbury Bemerton Heath | 4,508 | 44.1 | 17.1 | |
| Salisbury St Edmund's | 4,677 | 90.6 | 34.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 741 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 341 | 63% violent |
| Petrol stations | 327 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 292 | 30% violent |
| Hospitals | 209 | 64% violent |
| Shopping areas | 170 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 138 | 43% violent |
| Police stations | 125 | 38% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 44 | 45% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Salisbury St Edmund's records 3.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Salisbury. 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 Salisbury. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Salisbury’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Salisbury 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 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Salisbury’s neighbourhoods rank in England
33% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 15% 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.
Salisbury’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.
Salisbury against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 20 | Chippenham Wiltshire | 36,084 | 27.1 | 8.7 | 11.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 51 | Trowbridge Wiltshire | 43,753 | 33.5 | 12 | 15.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 61 | Hucknall Nottinghamshire | 35,848 | 34.4 | 14.3 | 23.4 | C− |
| 62 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 33 | 16.1 | 16.3 | C− |
| 63 | Neath West Glamorgan | 40,738 | 39.5 | 9.9 | 9.1 | C− |
| 64 | Salisbury Wiltshire | 47,690 | 34.3 | 15.1 | 16.4 | C− |
| 65 | Weymouth Dorset | 55,540 | 37.7 | 11.7 | 14.5 | C− |
| 66 | Long Eaton Derbyshire | 37,815 | 37.6 | 12.1 | 20.3 | C− |
| 67 | Cannock Staffordshire | 63,057 | 39.1 | 10.9 | 12.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 148 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Salisbury, and others in Wiltshire.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Salisbury’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% 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. 2,370 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 +1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +8% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -5% (towns its size -4%).
Four people died in collisions on Salisbury’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 312 collisions with injuries inside Salisbury in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 61 people were killed or seriously injured: 18 on foot and 11 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 Salisbury’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Salisbury’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Salisbury had 25.6 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). 30% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Salisbury’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Salisbury
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury | 47,690 | 34.3 | 15.1 | C− |
| Old Sarum | 4,013 | 39 | 11.6 | C− |
| Wilton | 4,300 | 22.8 | 11.8 | B− |
| Whaddon | 2,283 | 11.8 | 6.4 | A |
| Downton | 2,952 | 13.6 | 14.6 | B |
| Amesbury | 12,676 | 30.5 | 9.9 | C |
| Middle Winterslow | 1,563 | 4.1 | 4.5 | A+ |
| Redlynch and Woodfalls | 2,446 | 8.7 | 7.1 | A |
Salisbury records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Old Sarum records more. Wilton, 2.7 miles away, records 22.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Salisbury’s 34.3.
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 209 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Salisbury’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 Salisbury 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 Salisbury
Is Salisbury safe?
Police recorded 34.3 violent and sexual offences and 15.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Salisbury’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 22% of UK towns. Among 148 UK towns of 33,000 to 64,000 people, Salisbury is 64th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Salisbury?
By council ward, Laverstock, Salisbury Harnham West and Salisbury St Francis & Stratford record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.7, 14.6 and 20.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 90.6 in Salisbury St Edmund's.
Is crime going up in Salisbury?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 8%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is Salisbury town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 341 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 63% of them violent, and Salisbury St Edmund's ward records 90.6 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 November.
What is the most common crime in Salisbury?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,621 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (451) and public order (417), with 993 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.