Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Worcester sees more crime per resident than 90% of UK towns
At 1.5 per 1,000 residents, bicycle theft in Worcester runs well past the 0.9 of a typical town its size (161 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). It grades D for safety on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. For every 1,000 residents, 44.8 violent and sexual offences and 18.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Worcester
One ward carries much of the rate
Cathedral ward, where 42% of Worcester’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 4,993 of Worcester’s 14,131 violent and sexual offences in three years: 144.8 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Worcester the figure is 32.3. Where in Worcester ↓
About the middle for a city its size
Of 66 UK towns and cities of 74,000 to 142,000 people, Worcester has the 36th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Crewe, Harlow and Birkenhead, higher than Nuneaton, Exeter and Blackburn. 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. 15% of Worcester’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 19% 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.
What sits behind Worcester’s D
A firm grade. Built on 19,858 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Worcester 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 Claines, Lovett and North Claines and Warndon Parish North; highest in Cathedral
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claines | 8,100 | 11.8 | 7.9 | |
| Lovett and North Claines | 740 | 16.7 | 5 | |
| Warndon Parish North | 5,314 | 14.1 | 8.3 | |
| St Clement | 5,732 | 14.8 | 8.8 | |
| St Peter's Parish | 5,323 | 18 | 7.5 | |
| Battenhall | 5,436 | 18.6 | 11.4 | |
| Bedwardine | 8,737 | 25.4 | 11.7 | |
| St Stephen | 5,585 | 23.6 | 16.1 | |
| Arboretum | 6,113 | 27.5 | 18.4 | |
| Warndon Parish South | 6,281 | 36.9 | 10.7 | |
| Nunnery | 8,953 | 37.8 | 16.3 | |
| St John | 8,982 | 42.5 | 19.3 | |
| Norton and Whittington | 1,284 | 53 | 13.2 | |
| Gorse Hill | 5,651 | 49.8 | 20.6 | |
| Rainbow Hill | 5,843 | 51.2 | 21.6 | |
| Warndon | 5,872 | 76.5 | 34.7 | |
| Cathedral | 11,493 | 144.8 | 42.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,866 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,526 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,328 | 31% violent |
| Petrol stations | 925 | 44% violent |
| Nightclubs | 295 | 60% violent |
| Hospitals | 206 | 49% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 156 | 33% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 133 | 29% violent |
| College and university buildings | 72 | 43% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Cathedral records 4.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Worcester. 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 Worcester. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Worcester’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Worcester 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 18 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 22 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, Worcester runs highest on bicycle theft (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9), burglary (4.6 per 1,000 against 3.4) and shoplifting (13.1 per 1,000 against 10.3). Drugs sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,555 | 43.2 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,733 | 16.4 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,383 | 13.1 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 954 | 9 | 7.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 768 | 7.3 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 674 | 6.4 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 513 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 480 | 4.6 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 276 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 227 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 180 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 161 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 132 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 50 | 0.5 | 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.
Police in Worcester identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Worcester’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” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 6,596 crimes.
1 in 7 Worcester residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
34% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 19% 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.
Worcester’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.
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 +11% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -20% (towns its size -2%).
Set against 66 towns its size, Worcester is 36th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrogate North Yorkshire | 75,522 | 27.3 | 10.5 | 13.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Redditch Worcestershire | 81,634 | 37.7 | 14.6 | 14.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 33 | Nuneaton Warwickshire | 88,818 | 42.7 | 18.5 | 15.9 | D |
| 34 | Exeter Devon | 126,181 | 47.6 | 14.5 | 25.3 | D |
| 35 | Blackburn Lancashire | 124,958 | 44.5 | 18.3 | 15.3 | D |
| 36 | Worcester Worcestershire | 105,439 | 44.8 | 18.2 | 22 | D |
| 37 | Maidstone Kent | 109,503 | 46.4 | 17 | 20.1 | D |
| 38 | Eastbourne East Sussex | 99,171 | 46.2 | 17.5 | 33 | D |
| 39 | Bedford Bedfordshire | 97,226 | 44.5 | 20.3 | 23.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | 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 Worcester, and others in Worcestershire.
Six people died in collisions on Worcester’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 393 collisions with injuries inside Worcester in five years, in which six people died (3 were pedestrians). 107 people were killed or seriously injured: 42 on foot and 22 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 Worcester’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Worcester’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Worcester had 20.3 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). 39% 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 Worcester’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Worcester
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester | 105,439 | 44.8 | 18.2 | D |
| Rushwick | 1,195 | 16.2 | 8.1 | B+ |
| Norton (Norton Juxta Kempsey) | 1,592 | 9 | 6.7 | A |
| Fernhill Heath | 3,295 | 17.5 | 7.8 | B+ |
| Lower Broadheath | 1,889 | 10.4 | 5.5 | A |
| Hallow | 1,427 | 11.7 | 6.1 | A |
| Collett's Green | 1,542 | 18.2 | 4.1 | A− |
| Kempsey | 3,753 | 23 | 7.8 | B− |
Worcester records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Rushwick, 2.2 miles away, records 16.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Worcester’s 44.8.
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 206 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Worcester’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 Worcester 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 Worcester
Is Worcester safe?
Police recorded 44.8 violent and sexual offences and 18.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Worcester’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 66 UK towns of 74,000 to 142,000 people, Worcester is 36th from the least crime. 15% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Worcester?
By council ward, Claines, Lovett and North Claines and Warndon Parish North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.8, 16.7 and 14.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 144.8 in Cathedral.
Is crime going up in Worcester?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 11%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 20%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Worcester city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 295 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 60% of them violent, and Cathedral ward records 144.8 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 Worcester?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,555 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,383) and criminal damage & arson (954), with 1,733 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.