Crime in North West

The safest and worst parts of North West

The safest part of North West is Cheshire, with 72.7 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, about 20% below the England and Wales average. At the other end, Lancashire recorded 104.5 per 1,000, about 15% above the national rate.

Counties inside North West, by recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the year to June 2026, shaded against the England and Wales average.

Neighbourhoods here are Middle Layer Super Output Areas of around 7,000 residents. Each figure is an average over the whole neighbourhood, and the ones holding a town centre run high wherever daily visitors outnumber residents. How the figures work explains why these areas are used rather than electoral wards.

By type of offence

Recorded offences in the 12 months to June 2026, with the change on the 12 months before.

Set against the national mix of offences, drugs stands out in North West: it makes up about 54% more of recorded crime here than it does nationally. In the other direction, theft from the person, and vehicle crime all make up well under their national share.

Home Office recorded crime, data.police.uk. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates (7,737,414 residents). Categories are the Home Office crime types as published; they are not comparable with court or conviction figures.

What happened to those crimes

Police recorded 377,945 offences other than anti-social behaviour in North West in the year to June 2026. By the time this data was published, about 26% had been closed with no suspect identified and 41% closed because a prosecution was not possible or not pursued. Around 17% had led to a charge, caution or other formal action, and 15% were still open.

Outcomes describe where each investigation stood when the data was published, so recent offences are naturally still open and the closed shares will edge up as cases conclude. Anti-social behaviour is left out entirely: police record no outcomes for it, and counting it would quietly flatter every percentage here. "Formal action" spans charges, summonses, cautions, penalty notices and community resolutions.

Outcomes by offence in North West

The share of cases ending in a charge, caution or other formal action, against the same figure for England and Wales. Offences with fewer than 30 recorded cases here are left out: a percentage of twelve cases moves several points on one decision.

"Charged or dealt with" counts every outcome that is a formal action: charged, summonsed, cautioned, penalty notice, community resolution. Anti-social behaviour is excluded from both columns because it carries no outcome by design. A low rate is not necessarily a failing of the force here: some offences are far harder to detect anywhere, which is why every row is shown against the national figure for the same offence rather than against the other rows.

Over time

Recorded crime in North West peaked at 920,680 offences in 2018; the latest 12 months, at 442,290, are about 52% below that peak. That works out at roughly 1,212 a day.

Download every month as CSV, including which months each force filed.

Compared with nearby areas

Counties in North West

• Cheshire
• Cumbria
• Greater Manchester
• Lancashire
• Merseyside

Against the rest of the country

In the national table, where 1st is the highest recorded crime rate, North West was 3rd of 9 in December 2010 and is 9th of 9 today.

Time of year

Recorded crime here peaks in May, about 21% above its quietest month, December.

Crime in context

How tightly packed it is

546 people per square kilometre, across 14,164 km². England and Wales averages about 400 people per square kilometre. Density is the usual explanation for a high position in the national crime table: a rate divides the crime of everyone who passes through by the number who sleep there.

What a home costs

The median home sold in North West in 2025 went for £230,000, across 89,389 sales, up 4.5% on 2024.

The night-time economy

North West had 26,441 premises licensed to sell alcohol, 34.2 per 10,000 residents, against 35.9 per 10,000 across England and Wales on the same count. A concentration of licensed premises is the other half of why compact centres sit high in the national crime table: much recorded violence and public order happens where the night-time economy is, and it is counted against the people who live there rather than the people who go there.

Licensed premises are as at 31 March 2022, the last count the Home Office published by licensing authority; it has reported national totals only since, and a pub estate changes slowly enough for the count to stay worth carrying. The date is shown so nobody reads it as current. Nothing in this section causes anything on this page: a correlation is not a cause.

When searches happen in North West

Of the 261,396 searches in North West that could be placed and timed from July 2023 to June 2026, the busiest hour was 11pm and the quietest 7am. 37% of them fell between 10pm and 4am, against 29% across England and Wales: 8 points more of its searching happens at night.

North West England and Wales, for comparison. Both drawn as each one's own share of its searches, so a small area and the country can be put side by side.

Counted on the hour the search happened, in local time. Only searches carrying coordinates can be placed, which is roughly seven in eight, so the number above is smaller than this area's true total and is a sample of it rather than a count. Three years are used rather than one because a single year of one area is too thin to show a shape. Forces filing a date with no time are excluded entirely. Stop and search by time of day sets out the national picture and the method.

Questions

Is North West safe?

In the year to June 2026, the recorded crime rate in North West was 57.2 per 1,000 residents. That is 37% lower than the England and Wales average. A recorded crime rate measures what the police recorded, across a whole region. It says nothing about any particular street, and areas with busy town centres, shopping areas or nightlife record more crime per resident because far more people are present than live there.

What are the worst areas of North West for crime?

Going by recorded crime rates in the year to June 2026, the highest are in Lancashire (104.5 per 1,000), Merseyside (103.1 per 1,000) and Cumbria (76.7 per 1,000). The top of the list usually marks the town centre, where daily visitors outnumber residents many times over.

What are the safest areas of North West?

The lowest recorded crime rates in North West are in Cheshire (72.7 per 1,000), Cumbria (76.7 per 1,000) and Merseyside (103.1 per 1,000). Full figures for every neighbourhood are in the table above.

Is crime in North West going up or down?

In North West, the latest 12 months are 2.6% lower than the 12 before. Over the full series, recorded crime here peaked at 920,680 offences in 2018 and the current total is about 52% below it.

What is the most common crime in North West?

The most commonly recorded offence in North West is violence and sexual offences, with 179,724 offences in the 12 months to June 2026 (41% of all recorded crime). The next most common is anti-social behaviour, with 64,345.

Where does this come from?

Police recorded crime open data, published at data.police.uk by the Home Office under the Open Government Licence. It covers offences the police recorded, which is not the same as offences committed: crimes that are never reported never appear. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates. How the figures work sets out the calculation, the reporting lag and every known gap.