Allerdale vs Carlisle

Allerdale records less crime for its size than Carlisle: 72.6 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026, against 94.1. That is about 30% more. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority, and neither area is uniform: the gap between neighbourhoods inside one of these places is usually wider than the gap between the two of them.

Allerdale 72.6 crimes per 1,000 residents, Cumbria
Carlisle 94.1 crimes per 1,000 residents, Cumbria

The England and Wales average is 91.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents. Allerdale is about 20% below it. Carlisle is close to it.

Side by side

Recorded crime in Allerdale and Carlisle
  Allerdale Carlisle
Crimes per 1,000 residents 72.6 94.1
Offences in the year to June 2026 7,094 10,811
Residents 97,765 114,867
Change on the previous 12 months +2.3% -3.6%
Rank in England and Wales 211 of 314 120 of 314

Rank 1 is the highest recorded rate. Both areas are local authority areas, so the two populations are counted the same way and the rates are directly comparable.

Offence by offence

The mix differs more than the totals do. Carlisle records about 2.2 times as much possession of weapons, 1.9 times as much drugs and 1.6 times as much shoplifting per resident.

Rate per 1,000 residents by offence
Offence, per 1,000 residents Allerdale Carlisle
Violence and sexual offences 34.7 41.8
Public order 7.1 10.6
Criminal damage and arson 7.8 8.9
Shoplifting 4.6 7.4
Other theft 4.1 5.4
Anti-social behaviour 3.9 4.9
Drugs 2.6 5.1
Other crime 2.1 2.9
Burglary 2.4 2.0
Vehicle crime 1.9 1.8
Possession of weapons 0.7 1.6
Bicycle theft 0.3 0.9
Robbery 0.2 0.5
Theft from the person 0.2 0.5
All recorded crime 72.6 94.1

Both places since 2011

Each line is a rolling twelve-month rate per 1,000 residents, so seasonality is taken out and the two areas are on the same scale despite their different sizes.

Allerdale Carlisle
40801201600Covid lockdown73 Allerdale94 Carlisle20122014201620182020202220242026
A line breaks wherever the twelve months behind it include a return the force never filed, because a twelve-month total missing three of its months is not a total.

Questions

Is Allerdale safer than Carlisle?

Allerdale records less crime for its size than Carlisle: 72.6 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026, against 94.1. That is about 30% more. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority, and neither area is uniform: the gap between neighbourhoods inside one of these places is usually wider than the gap between the two of them.

What does this comparison not tell you?

Recorded crime counts what the police wrote down, so a place where people report more looks worse than a place where they report less, whatever actually happened. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority: a town with one busy centre and quiet suburbs carries a rate that describes neither. And the denominator is residents, so somewhere that fills up with commuters, students or shoppers by day records crime against a population it is not credited with. How the figures work sets all of this out.

Where else can I compare?

Pick any other two areas, or start from Allerdale or Carlisle and use the neighbouring areas listed on each. The ranked lists of the safest places and the highest crime rates cover all of them at once.

Figures cover the 12 months to June 2026. Police data is published roughly two months in arrears.