Worst areas for drug offences
City of London in Greater London has the highest recorded rate of drug offences of the 306 local authority areas in England and Wales with a full year of data: 30.5 per 1,000 residents in the year to July 2026, against 3.1 nationally. It has 15,111 residents and 92,154 people in it on a working day, so that rate divides a city centre's crime by a village's population. Measured against the people actually there on a weekday, Liverpool comes top instead. On the resident measure, Liverpool, Westminster and Islington come next. The 100 highest are listed below.
This ranks recorded crime, not danger. A high position means the police recorded more drug offences per resident, which is not the same as a place being more dangerous to be in. Somewhere people report readily looks worse than somewhere people do not, and a district that fills with visitors carries their crime against the few who live there. This category especially: offences here are mostly found by officers looking rather than by the public reporting, so this table ranks enforcement at least as much as offending. A force that searches more finds more.
The 100 worst areas for drug offences
Ranked by recorded offences per 1,000 residents over the 12 months to July 2026, across 306 local authority areas: cities, towns and rural districts alike.
| # | Area | County | Relative rate | Per 1,000 | Per 1,000 workday | Offences | Year on year | Share of its crime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City of London | Greater London | 30.5 | 5.0 | 461 | +13.3% | 4.7% | |
| 2 | Liverpool | Merseyside | 14.8 | 14.9 | 7,552 | +6.4% | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Westminster | Greater London | 14.6 | 8.4 | 3,072 | +34.3% | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Islington | Greater London | 8.3 | 7.9 | 1,849 | -0.4% | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Knowsley | Merseyside | 8.1 | 8.5 | 1,324 | +1.5% | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Kensington and Chelsea | Greater London | 7.9 | 6.2 | 1,143 | +17.5% | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Tower Hamlets | Greater London | 7.8 | 7.7 | 2,596 | +3.6% | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Hackney | Greater London | 7.6 | 7.9 | 2,037 | -0.6% | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Brent | Greater London | 7.4 | 8.1 | 2,627 | +18.8% | 6.1% | |
| 10 | Camden | Greater London | 7.4 | 5.6 | 1,597 | +1.9% | 3.4% | |
| 11 | Derby | Derbyshire | 7.3 | 7.4 | 1,989 | +39.4% | 5.5% | |
| 12 | Middlesbrough | North Yorkshire | 7.2 | 7.6 | 1,121 | +2.8% | 3.8% | |
| 13 | St. Helens | Merseyside | 7.0 | 7.7 | 1,316 | +4.4% | 7.3% | |
| 14 | Newham | Greater London | 6.4 | 7.3 | 2,413 | -15.1% | 4.7% | |
| 15 | Hammersmith and Fulham | Greater London | 6.2 | 5.8 | 1,161 | -12.9% | 4.4% | |
| 16 | Nottingham | Nottinghamshire | 6.0 | 5.7 | 1,972 | -6.9% | 3.8% | |
| 17 | Bradford | West Yorkshire | 5.9 | 6.2 | 3,344 | +26.6% | 4.6% | |
| 18 | Southwark | Greater London | 5.9 | 5.8 | 1,842 | -9.6% | 3.8% | |
| 19 | Haringey | Greater London | 5.8 | 6.2 | 1,528 | -15.7% | 4.4% | |
| 20 | Waltham Forest | Greater London | 5.8 | 6.2 | 1,608 | -3.3% | 5.5% | |
| 21 | Barking and Dagenham | Greater London | 5.7 | 6.7 | 1,329 | -7.1% | 5.5% | |
| 22 | Enfield | Greater London | 5.7 | 5.8 | 1,849 | -6.8% | 5.0% | |
| 23 | Harlow | Essex | 5.6 | 6.1 | 551 | -5.0% | 5.2% | |
| 24 | Lambeth | Greater London | 5.6 | 5.5 | 1,774 | -5.8% | 3.7% | |
| 25 | Lewisham | Greater London | 5.6 | 6.1 | 1,686 | -16.3% | 4.6% | |
| 26 | Greenwich | Greater London | 5.5 | 6.0 | 1,642 | -12.2% | 4.8% | |
| 27 | Southend-on-Sea | Essex | 5.4 | 5.7 | 1,007 | +14.7% | 4.8% | |
| 28 | Sefton | Merseyside | 5.4 | 5.8 | 1,545 | -9.3% | 6.3% | |
| 29 | Peterborough | Cambridgeshire | 5.4 | 5.4 | 1,203 | +85.9% | 4.3% | |
| 30 | Carlisle | Cumbria | 5.3 | 5.5 | 607 | +10.4% | 5.5% | |
| 31 | Crawley | West Sussex | 5.2 | 5.3 | 650 | -2.8% | 4.0% | |
| 32 | Hartlepool | County Durham | 5.2 | 5.8 | 512 | +8.9% | 3.2% | |
| 33 | Croydon | Greater London | 5.2 | 5.9 | 2,130 | -16.7% | 5.0% | |
| 34 | Southampton | Hampshire | 5.1 | 5.5 | 1,334 | +4.5% | 3.9% | |
| 35 | Eastbourne | East Sussex | 5.1 | 5.2 | 528 | +51.7% | 3.7% | |
| 36 | Halton | Cheshire | 5.1 | 5.3 | 665 | +4.6% | 5.6% | |
| 37 | Blackpool | Lancashire | 5.0 | 5.0 | 721 | +1.4% | 2.7% | |
| 38 | Brighton and Hove | East Sussex | 4.8 | 4.9 | 1,364 | -2.4% | 3.9% | |
| 39 | Thanet | Kent | 4.8 | 5.0 | 685 | +8.9% | 4.2% | |
| 40 | Thurrock | Essex | 4.7 | 4.9 | 850 | +27.1% | 4.7% | |
| 41 | Leicester | Leicestershire | 4.7 | 4.9 | 1,812 | -2.6% | 3.8% | |
| 42 | Cambridge | Cambridgeshire | 4.7 | 4.1 | 696 | +104.7% | 4.2% | |
| 43 | Portsmouth | Hampshire | 4.6 | 4.6 | 984 | -4.4% | 3.7% | |
| 44 | Hillingdon | Greater London | 4.6 | 4.6 | 1,507 | +21.0% | 3.8% | |
| 45 | Luton | Bedfordshire | 4.6 | 5.1 | 1,091 | +15.1% | 5.0% | |
| 46 | Ealing | Greater London | 4.5 | 5.0 | 1,753 | +3.8% | 4.0% | |
| 47 | Eden | Cumbria | 4.5 | 4.6 | 254 | -24.9% | 7.4% | |
| 48 | Basildon | Essex | 4.5 | 4.6 | 874 | +40.1% | 4.6% | |
| 49 | Havering | Greater London | 4.5 | 4.9 | 1,229 | -5.0% | 5.0% | |
| 50 | Wirral | Merseyside | 4.5 | 4.8 | 1,463 | -12.6% | 5.6% | |
| 51 | Watford | Hertfordshire | 4.4 | 4.6 | 475 | +79.3% | 4.0% | |
| 52 | Leeds | West Yorkshire | 4.4 | 4.5 | 3,708 | +18.4% | 3.5% | |
| 53 | Calderdale | West Yorkshire | 4.3 | 4.5 | 915 | -3.0% | 3.7% | |
| 54 | Hounslow | Greater London | 4.3 | 4.6 | 1,284 | +3.1% | 3.9% | |
| 55 | Barrow-in-Furness | Cumbria | 4.3 | 4.2 | 289 | +5.1% | 4.2% | |
| 56 | Stevenage | Hertfordshire | 4.2 | 4.3 | 388 | +63.0% | 3.6% | |
| 57 | Hertsmere | Hertfordshire | 4.2 | 4.2 | 461 | +29.5% | 4.7% | |
| 58 | Kingston upon Thames | Greater London | 4.2 | 4.3 | 717 | +17.4% | 4.8% | |
| 59 | Preston | Lancashire | 4.2 | 4.3 | 676 | +19.7% | 3.2% | |
| 60 | Oxford | Oxfordshire | 4.1 | 3.8 | 683 | -18.5% | 3.9% | |
| 61 | Birmingham | West Midlands | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4,841 | +5.3% | 3.3% | |
| 62 | Barnet | Greater London | 4.0 | 4.4 | 1,631 | -9.8% | 4.3% | |
| 63 | Mansfield | Nottinghamshire | 4.0 | 4.5 | 453 | +13.8% | 3.4% | |
| 64 | Stoke-on-Trent | Staffordshire | 4.0 | 4.1 | 1,077 | +13.5% | 2.9% | |
| 65 | Folkestone and Hythe | Kent | 4.0 | 4.2 | 446 | +19.3% | 4.7% | |
| 66 | Hastings | East Sussex | 4.0 | 4.1 | 362 | +21.1% | 2.8% | |
| 67 | North East Lincolnshire | Lincolnshire | 3.9 | 4.0 | 625 | +26.3% | 2.8% | |
| 68 | Chelmsford | Essex | 3.9 | 3.9 | 735 | +5.0% | 4.7% | |
| 69 | Stockton-on-Tees | County Durham | 3.9 | 4.1 | 804 | -10.0% | 2.7% | |
| 70 | Norwich | Norfolk | 3.9 | 3.7 | 566 | +6.0% | 3.1% | |
| 71 | Wandsworth | Greater London | 3.8 | 4.0 | 1,298 | +11.7% | 3.9% | |
| 72 | Slough | Berkshire | 3.8 | 4.1 | 641 | +14.7% | 3.7% | |
| 73 | Kirklees | West Yorkshire | 3.8 | 4.1 | 1,697 | +7.6% | 3.9% | |
| 74 | Sandwell | West Midlands | 3.8 | 4.0 | 1,341 | +31.1% | 3.7% | |
| 75 | Ceredigion | Dyfed | 3.8 | 3.8 | 274 | -28.3% | 4.1% | |
| 76 | Epping Forest | Essex | 3.8 | 3.9 | 518 | +6.2% | 5.0% | |
| 77 | Canterbury | Kent | 3.8 | 3.8 | 608 | -6.8% | 3.5% | |
| 78 | Harrow | Greater London | 3.7 | 4.3 | 1,009 | +29.5% | 4.6% | |
| 79 | Brentwood | Essex | 3.7 | 3.8 | 292 | -4.6% | 5.0% | |
| 80 | Runnymede | Surrey | 3.7 | 3.7 | 337 | -32.2% | 4.3% | |
| 81 | Redcar and Cleveland | North Yorkshire | 3.7 | 4.0 | 508 | +0.2% | 2.7% | |
| 82 | Bedford | Bedfordshire | 3.6 | 3.9 | 709 | +22.2% | 3.9% | |
| 83 | Bromley | Greater London | 3.6 | 3.8 | 1,220 | +8.0% | 4.2% | |
| 84 | Redbridge | Greater London | 3.6 | 4.1 | 1,170 | -3.9% | 3.8% | |
| 85 | Sheffield | South Yorkshire | 3.6 | 3.7 | 2,120 | -6.8% | 3.2% | |
| 86 | Warrington | Cheshire | 3.6 | 3.5 | 775 | -11.6% | 4.8% | |
| 87 | Medway | Kent | 3.5 | 3.9 | 1,032 | -5.8% | 3.5% | |
| 88 | Welwyn Hatfield | Hertfordshire | 3.5 | 3.4 | 434 | +54.5% | 3.6% | |
| 89 | Dartford | Kent | 3.5 | 3.6 | 436 | -15.3% | 3.2% | |
| 90 | Bexley | Greater London | 3.5 | 3.8 | 890 | -3.7% | 4.4% | |
| 91 | Swansea | West Glamorgan | 3.5 | 3.6 | 869 | -9.1% | 4.0% | |
| 92 | Wakefield | West Yorkshire | 3.4 | 3.5 | 1,253 | -1.9% | 2.9% | |
| 93 | Burnley | Lancashire | 3.4 | 3.5 | 336 | +2.1% | 2.4% | |
| 94 | Kingston upon Hull | East Riding of Yorkshire | 3.4 | 3.5 | 928 | +20.5% | 2.5% | |
| 95 | Blackburn with Darwen | Lancashire | 3.3 | 3.4 | 543 | +23.1% | 3.0% | |
| 96 | Epsom and Ewell | Surrey | 3.3 | 3.5 | 278 | +67.5% | 3.9% | |
| 97 | Newport | Gwent | 3.3 | 3.4 | 553 | -13.9% | 2.4% | |
| 98 | Gravesham | Kent | 3.3 | 3.7 | 362 | -50.4% | 3.5% | |
| 99 | Cheshire East | Cheshire | 3.3 | 3.4 | 1,368 | +32.9% | 4.9% | |
| 100 | Maidstone | Kent | 3.2 | 3.5 | 608 | -1.8% | 3.8% |
The table stops at 100, by which point the rate has fallen from 30.5 per 1,000 to 3.2. The other 206 areas carry the same figure for drug offences on their own pages: search for a place by name, or see all 306 areas ranked by overall crime.
The first rate divides recorded offences by resident population, which is what the Office for National Statistics publishes. The second divides the same offences by the Census 2021 working-day population, which counts the people who are actually there on a weekday rather than the ones who sleep there. In this top ten, City of London and Westminster each fall by more than a third once the same offences are divided by the working-day population instead of the resident one, which is the signature of a place that fills up by day and empties at night.
The last column is this category's share of all crime recorded in that same area. A high rate with an ordinary share is a busy place; a high rate with an unusually high share is a place with a particular problem, and the two are worth telling apart.
What counts as drug offences
The Home Office publishes this as a single category, Drugs, covering possession, supply and production. This is the clearest example on the site of a category that measures policing: drug offences are mostly found by officers looking, so a high figure can mean more enforcement rather than more drugs. It is what most people mean by drug crime.
Across England and Wales, police recorded 191,558 of them in the year to July 2026: 3.4% of all recorded crime, little changed on the year before.
Areas are local authority districts, the level England and Wales actually publishes boundaries and populations for. A further 24 districts are left out because their police force has not filed a full year of returns; shown with a partial year, they would sit near the bottom of the table looking safe. How the figures work sets out the method, data sources lists where the numbers come from.
Where each offence peaks
City of London tops 9 of the 13 categories, and between them the 13 are led by only 4 different areas. That is what dividing by residents does: a place whose daytime crowds dwarf the people who live there wins almost everything, whatever the offence. Ordered by how much of all recorded crime each one accounts for, so the largest categories come first.
| Offence | Led by | Rate there | England and Wales | Share of all crime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence | City of London | 99.3 | 32.4 | 35.5% |
| Anti-social behaviour | Westminster | 64.2 | 14.5 | 15.9% |
| Shoplifting | City of London | 108.1 | 7.8 | 8.6% |
| Criminal damage | City of London | 19.8 | 6.4 | 7.0% |
| Public order | City of London | 41.6 | 6.3 | 6.9% |
| Other theft | City of London | 158.5 | 6.1 | 6.6% |
| Vehicle crime | Kensington and Chelsea | 14.4 | 4.7 | 5.1% |
| Burglary | City of London | 31.4 | 3.3 | 3.7% |
| Drug offences (this page) | City of London | 30.5 | 3.1 | 3.4% |
| Theft from the person | Westminster | 85.0 | 1.6 | 1.8% |
| Robbery | City of London | 20.2 | 1.3 | 1.4% |
| Weapons | Crawley | 6.1 | 0.9 | 1.0% |
| Bicycle theft | City of London | 24.1 | 0.8 | 0.9% |
Rates are per 1,000 residents over the 12 months to July 2026, across the same 306 areas. For crime as a whole rather than one category, see highest crime rates and safest places to live.