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Feeling safe and secure is crucial for enjoying university. See how safe university towns and cities are to help you finalise where to study.

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CONTENTS

  1. City crime stats methodology

  2. England and Wales

  3. Northern Ireland

  4. Scotland

  5. Data sources

City crime stats methodology

The tables below show the crime rates against the general public in UK towns and cities with two or more universities, with a three-year rolling average of crime per population of 1,000.

Each town or city has three categories of crime measured – domestic burglary, robbery of personal property and violence against the person with injury – and a total score and ranking. The data can help you decide if a university is right for you.

We also list crime rates specific to where students live during term time.

England and Wales 2023

Town/City *Domestic burglary Robbery of personal property **Violence against the person – with injury Total Rank
Guildford 1.7 0.4 6.3 8.4 1
Bath 2.2 0.6 5.8 8.7 2
Chichester 1.9 0.3 6.5 8.7 3
Winchester 2.6 0.3 6.7 9.5 4
Cambridge 2.3 1.1 6.6 10.0 5
York 1.6 0.4 8.9 10.9 6
Swansea 2.0 0.4 9.0 11.4 7
Exeter 1.0 0.5 10.2 11.8 8
Bournemouth 2.7 0.8 8.9 12.4 9
Oxford 3.3 0.6 8.6 12.5 10
Colchester 2.1 0.7 9.7 12.6 11
Lancaster 3.0 0.5 9.4 12.9 12
Cardiff 2.9 0.7 9.3 13.0 13
Brighton & Hove 2.1 1.2 9.9 13.2 14
Canterbury 2.4 0.8 10.1 13.3 15
Reading 2.9 1.0 10.3 14.3 16
Plymouth 1.5 0.7 13.1 15.4 17
Bristol 3.8 1.9 9.8 15.5 18
Preston 3.3 1.2 11.1 15.6 19
Newport 3.8 1.0 10.9 15.7 20
Derby 3.1 1.4 12.1 16.6 21
Sheffield 5.3 1.3 10.4 16.9 22
Salford 5.4 1.4 10.6 17.4 23
Stoke-on-Trent 3.0 1.2 13.4 17.6 24
Norwich 2.6 1.2 14.0 17.8 25
Nottingham 3.5 1.6 13.0 18.0 26
Newcastle 3.4 1.1 13.7 18.2 27
Leeds 4.7 1.5 12.1 18.3 28
Bradford 4.2 1.2 12.9 18.4 29
Coventry 4.3 2.4 12.1 18.7 30
Lincoln 3.7 1.1 13.9 18.7 31
Northampton 4.0 1.5 13.4 18.9 32
Liverpool 4.6 1.4 13.3 19.3 33
Wolverhampton 4.0 2.1 14.5 20.6 34
Portsmouth 3.1 1.5 16.2 20.9 35
Leicester 3.5 1.4 17.7 22.6 36
Southampton 5.1 1.4 16.5 23.0 37
Hull 6.0 1.4 15.9 23.2 38
Birmingham 5.7 3.6 15.1 24.5 39
Middlesbrough 7.3 2.3 16.3 25.9 40
Manchester 7.9 4.4 14.4 26.7 41

Northern Ireland 2023

Town/City *Domestic burglary Robbery of personal property **Violence against the person – with injury Total Rank
Belfast 4.2 0.7 12.8 17.7 1

Scotland 2023

Town/City *Domestic burglary Robbery of personal property **Violence against the person – with injury Total Rank
Stirling 1.4 0.2 0.5 2.1 1
Aberdeen 1.7 0.5 0.8 3.0 2
Glasgow 2.0 0.5 1.2 3.7 3
Edinburgh 2.9 0.4 0.5 3.9 4
Dundee 3.0 1.0 1.0 5.1 5

Data sources and notes

Metric England and Wales definition Latest data
Domestic burglary Residential burglary ons.gov.uk
Violence against the person – with Injury Violence with injury ons.gov.uk
Robbery of personal property Robbery ons.gov.uk
  Population ons.gov.uk
 
Metric Northern Ireland definition Latest data
Domestic burglary Burglary psni.police.uk
Violence against the person – with injury Violence with injury psni.police.uk
Robbery of personal property Robbery of personal property psni.police.uk
  Population psni.police.uk
 
Metric Scotland definition Latest data
Domestic burglary Housebreaking statistics.gov.scot
Violence against the person – with injury Serious assault and attempted murder statistics.gov.scot
Robbery of personal property Robbery statistics.gov.scot
  Population statistics.gov.scot

Notes

  • Exeter and Plymouth: Following the implementation of a new IT system in November 2022, Devon and Cornwall Police have been unable to supply data for the quarters October 2022 to June 2023: 2022 data used.
  • Northampton: Data not available for Northampton for 2023: 2022 data used.

Last updated March 2024

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