The crime rate rankings order postcode districts by published street-crime records per 1,000 residents. Each page shows the highest and the lowest rates, with the records and residents beside every rate. This article explains what goes into the tables and what they cannot tell you.
What is ranked
A ranking works out each rate as the area’s own page does, over the 12 published months it states. Rankings are rebuilt after each data update, and until a rebuild succeeds they can lag the area pages. The England and Wales page ranks postcode districts. Each police force in England and Wales has its own page, which ranks its districts and its postcode sectors. Each table shows up to 20 areas.
Four category views rank one kind of record: burglary, vehicle crime, violence and sexual offences, and anti-social behaviour. An area with no published records in a category is ranked at 0.0, not left out.
Each area belongs to the force that published most of its records, and keeps that force in every category view.
Which areas are left out
An area is ranked only when it has a published page, at least 5,000 residents, and a main force in England and Wales. A sector also needs at least 50 published records in the last 12 months. We set the 5,000 floor so that city-centre districts with a few hundred residents and thousands of visitors do not fill the top of the table. Their rates measure footfall more than residents.
Areas inside a publication gap are left out, because the gap would make them look like the lowest rates. So is any area whose own page withholds its rate, for example one without a full 12 months of records, or with more than 10% of its records at postcodes created after the census.
Why it is not a safety ranking
The rankings order published rates. They do not say where is safe.
- The rate counts residents, not visitors. Expect city centres, stations, and big shopping areas near the top, even with the 5,000 floor.
- The records are published police records, not all crime. Reporting, recording, and publication all vary between offences and between forces.
- Locations are approximate. Records are snapped to anonymous map points before release, and then assigned to areas by nearest postcode, so records near a boundary can fall in the next area.
A high rate can come from a busy shopping street as easily as from burglary on residential roads. Open the area’s own page and read its category mix before you draw a conclusion.
Counts beside every rate
Every row shows the area’s records and residents beside its rate, so you can see how much sits behind each number. Three more records raise a rate built on 60 records by 5%, and a rate built on 6,000 records by 0.05%.