Harrogate vs Redcar and Cleveland

Harrogate records less crime for its size than Redcar and Cleveland: 56.7 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026, against 137.3. That is 2.4 times the rate. 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.

Harrogate 56.7 crimes per 1,000 residents, North Yorkshire
Redcar and Cleveland 137.3 crimes per 1,000 residents, North Yorkshire

The England and Wales average is 91.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents. Harrogate is about 38% below it. Redcar and Cleveland is about 51% above it.

Side by side

Recorded crime in Harrogate and Redcar and Cleveland
  Harrogate Redcar and Cleveland
Crimes per 1,000 residents 56.7 137.3
Offences in the year to June 2026 9,637 19,111
Residents 170,067 139,228
Change on the previous 12 months -4.8% +1.9%
Rank in England and Wales 282 of 314 23 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. Redcar and Cleveland records about 3.8 times as much other crime, 3.8 times as much criminal damage and arson and 3.1 times as much public order per resident.

Rate per 1,000 residents by offence
Offence, per 1,000 residents Harrogate Redcar and Cleveland
Violence and sexual offences 21.3 43.9
Anti-social behaviour 12.1 26.1
Criminal damage and arson 4.1 15.7
Shoplifting 4.9 13.6
Public order 2.9 9.1
Other theft 3.4 6.4
Burglary 2.4 7.2
Vehicle crime 1.7 4.2
Other crime 1.1 4.2
Drugs 1.5 3.7
Robbery 0.3 1.7
Possession of weapons 0.4 0.9
Bicycle theft 0.4 0.5
Theft from the person 0.1 0.2
All recorded crime 56.7 137.3

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.

Harrogate Redcar and Cleveland
40801201600Covid lockdown57 Harrogate137 Redcar20122014201620182020202220242026
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 Harrogate safer than Redcar and Cleveland?

Harrogate records less crime for its size than Redcar and Cleveland: 56.7 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026, against 137.3. That is 2.4 times the rate. 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 Harrogate or Redcar and Cleveland 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.