Blackpool is among the most dangerous places to live in England, according to a new map showing the areas where residents are most likely to be plagued by crime.
Last year, more than 5.3 million non-fraud crimes were recorded by the 43 domestic police forces in England and Wales. That includes 132,000 crimes in Lancashire, which was about 3,000 fewer than in 2023, a 3% rise.
Crime rates - the number of crimes in each area for every 1,000 people living there - allow for a fair comparison of the threats to law and order in places with widely different population sizes. They show that in Lancashire, the risk of being a victim of crime is greatest in Blackpool.
In 2024, there were 22,104 crimes reported in Blackpool. That was a rate of 156 crimes for every 1,000 residents, easily the highest crime rate in Lancashire and the fifth highest of more than 300 community safety partnership areas (which are broadly the same as council areas) in England and Wales.
That’s also the equivalent of one crime for every three people who live in Blackpool. Burnley was next with a rate of 108 crimes per 1,000 residents, and then Preston (107).
Using our interactive map, you can check the crime rate where you live, whether crime is rising or falling, and how it compares nationally.
As usual, the Met Police had the largest caseload, with 948,000 crimes reported in London last year. Of smaller community safety partnership areas, which broadly match local authority areas, Birmingham saw the most crime with more than 136,000 offences in 2024, including robbery, rape, burglary and murder.
However, crime rates - the number of crimes in each area for every 1,000 people living there - show that the risk of being preyed on by a criminal is probably greatest in Middlesbrough. These figures allow for a fairer comparison of the threats to law and order in places with widely different population sizes.
After Middlesbrough, affluent Kensington and Chelsea in London has the highest crime rate (157 crimes per 1,000 people), then Blackpool (156), Manchester (156), and Hartlepool (141).
The newly published crime figures come as the results of the latest Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) are also published. This annual poll, based on face-to-face interviews, seeks to measure the amount and impact of crime, including offences which may not have been reported to police.
The latest survey estimates that 9.6 million incidents of “headline” crime - which includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury - occurred in 2024. That was about 8.4m more incidents than in the previous year, because of rises in fraud and theft.
Fraud, for example, increased by 33%, with an estimated 4.1m people falling victim to scammers, while theft increased by 13% to around 2.9m crimes. However, the CSEW shows that crime against individuals and households has generally fallen over the last decade, but with some significant exceptions, such as sexual assault.
It estimated that around 2.0m people over the age of 16 experienced domestic abuse in the last year, around 1.5m people were targeted by a stalker, and around one million suffered a sexual assault. Crimes involving knives increased by 2% to just under 55,000 offences, while crimes involving firearms fell by 20% (to around 5,000 incidents).
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