Choosing where to study
Crime rates in university cities and towns
Student safety is important. Here are the rates for crimes most likely to affect students in the areas they live during university term time.
Joe Wood
13 Aug 2020
CONTENTS
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Crime statistics: England and Wales 2020
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How we compile the crime table
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Notes
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Police.uk glossary of terms
Crime statistics: England and Wales 2020
Incidents per 1,000 residents
| Institution | Robbery | Burglary | Violence and sexual offences | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harper Adams | 0.1 | 3.7 | 17.3 | 21.0 |
| Falmouth | 0.2 | 2.0 | 21.3 | 23.5 |
| Royal Agricultural University | 0.7 | 5.4 | 18.6 | 24.7 |
| York | 0.3 | 3.9 | 21.3 | 25.5 |
| Buckingham | 0.6 | 3.1 | 21.9 | 25.7 |
| Rose Bruford College | 1.2 | 6.2 | 18.3 | 25.8 |
| Bath | 1.0 | 5.3 | 20.7 | 27.0 |
| Royal Holloway | 1.2 | 6.1 | 20.8 | 28.0 |
| St Mary's | 2.0 | 6.2 | 20.9 | 29.1 |
| Warwick | 1.1 | 5.4 | 22.7 | 29.2 |
| Surrey | 0.4 | 3.9 | 26.5 | 30.9 |
| Oxford Brookes | 0.9 | 4.6 | 25.4 | 31.0 |
| Edge Hill | 0.6 | 5.3 | 26.6 | 32.4 |
| Loughborough | 0.8 | 6.3 | 25.8 | 32.9 |
| Reading | 1.3 | 5.4 | 27.3 | 34.0 |
| Keele | 1.0 | 4.6 | 28.5 | 34.1 |
| Bath Spa | 1.1 | 5.6 | 27.5 | 34.2 |
| St George's, University of London | 2.9 | 7.0 | 25.2 | 35.0 |
| Royal Central School of Speech and Drama | 4.0 | 8.5 | 22.7 | 35.3 |
| Kingston | 2.8 | 6.9 | 25.6 | 35.3 |
| Winchester | 0.6 | 5.2 | 29.7 | 35.6 |
| Hertfordshire | 1.8 | 5.0 | 29.4 | 36.2 |
| Royal College of Music | 3.7 | 8.4 | 24.2 | 36.3 |
| Exeter | 0.8 | 3.2 | 32.4 | 36.4 |
| Aberystwyth | 0.2 | 3.4 | 33.0 | 36.7 |
| Bucks New | 1.8 | 5.4 | 29.6 | 36.7 |
| Lancaster | 0.5 | 7.4 | 28.8 | 36.8 |
| Royal Veterinary College | 3.4 | 7.1 | 26.4 | 36.9 |
| Roehampton | 2.6 | 7.4 | 27.0 | 37.0 |
| East Anglia | 0.7 | 4.3 | 32.2 | 37.2 |
| Chichester | 0.8 | 5.5 | 31.4 | 37.6 |
| Plymouth Marjon | 0.7 | 3.7 | 33.3 | 37.7 |
| Middlesex | 3.9 | 7.8 | 26.1 | 37.7 |
| West London | 3.0 | 7.7 | 28.0 | 38.7 |
| Worcester | 0.8 | 5.5 | 32.5 | 38.8 |
| Writtle University College | 0.9 | 5.8 | 32.1 | 38.9 |
| East London | 3.8 | 7.2 | 28.5 | 39.5 |
| West of England, Bristol | 1.9 | 5.5 | 32.2 | 39.5 |
| Sheffield | 1.9 | 11.7 | 26.3 | 39.9 |
| University of Wales Trinity Saint David | 0.9 | 4.8 | 34.3 | 40.0 |
| Brunel | 3.0 | 8.3 | 29.7 | 41.0 |
| Ravensbourne | 3.9 | 7.9 | 29.2 | 41.0 |
| London Metropolitan University | 4.7 | 8.1 | 28.6 | 41.4 |
| Durham | 0.3 | 5.9 | 35.2 | 41.5 |
| Suffolk | 1.1 | 4.7 | 35.9 | 41.7 |
| Swansea | 0.9 | 5.7 | 35.3 | 41.9 |
| Trinity Laban | 4.7 | 9.0 | 28.6 | 42.3 |
| Liverpool Hope | 1.4 | 6.9 | 34.4 | 42.6 |
| Westminster | 5.1 | 8.8 | 28.7 | 42.7 |
| Guildhall School of Music and Drama | 5.9 | 9.9 | 27.2 | 43.0 |
| Anglia Ruskin | 2.0 | 6.3 | 34.7 | 43.0 |
| Goldsmiths | 5.1 | 8.9 | 29.2 | 43.2 |
| Queen Mary | 4.7 | 9.1 | 29.7 | 43.6 |
| University for the Creative Arts | 1.2 | 5.8 | 36.8 | 43.8 |
| Gloucestershire | 1.2 | 6.6 | 36.3 | 44.1 |
| Nottingham | 2.0 | 9.0 | 33.4 | 44.3 |
| Brighton | 1.7 | 5.7 | 37.0 | 44.4 |
| London South Bank | 5.3 | 8.6 | 30.6 | 44.6 |
| Royal Academy of Music | 6.9 | 12.3 | 25.6 | 44.8 |
| York St John | 0.9 | 5.8 | 38.3 | 45.1 |
| Bournemouth | 1.2 | 6.5 | 37.3 | 45.1 |
| Greenwich | 3.4 | 7.5 | 34.7 | 45.7 |
| City, University of London | 6.0 | 9.8 | 30.4 | 46.2 |
| Imperial College London | 6.7 | 11.7 | 28.0 | 46.4 |
| Sussex | 1.9 | 5.9 | 38.7 | 46.5 |
| Cumbria | 0.8 | 5.5 | 40.6 | 46.9 |
| Conservatoire for Dance and Drama | 4.7 | 8.7 | 33.8 | 47.3 |
| Oxford | 1.6 | 4.3 | 41.4 | 47.3 |
| Birmingham | 3.3 | 10.9 | 33.2 | 47.5 |
| Chester | 0.8 | 4.1 | 42.7 | 47.7 |
| South Wales | 0.8 | 5.4 | 41.6 | 47.8 |
| SOAS University of London | 7.0 | 10.6 | 30.4 | 48.0 |
| Leeds Trinity University | 1.3 | 9.3 | 37.7 | 48.3 |
| Staffordshire | 1.3 | 5.7 | 41.4 | 48.4 |
| Newman | 2.8 | 8.2 | 37.7 | 48.7 |
| University of the Arts London | 6.8 | 10.2 | 31.8 | 48.8 |
| Cardiff Metropolitan | 1.1 | 7.3 | 40.5 | 48.9 |
| Coventry | 4.1 | 7.6 | 37.9 | 49.6 |
| Bedfordshire | 2.5 | 8.4 | 39.0 | 49.9 |
| Southampton | 1.4 | 8.0 | 40.9 | 50.2 |
| Cambridge | 1.8 | 6.1 | 42.3 | 50.2 |
| Wolverhampton | 2.5 | 7.3 | 40.6 | 50.4 |
| Bristol | 3.0 | 7.5 | 40.0 | 50.5 |
| Sunderland | 1.7 | 8.3 | 41.6 | 51.5 |
| Wrexham Glyndŵr | 0.6 | 5.8 | 46.0 | 52.4 |
| Essex | 1.3 | 5.2 | 46.5 | 53.0 |
| Bishop Grosseteste | 1.0 | 8.2 | 44.2 | 53.4 |
| Northumbria | 1.3 | 6.2 | 46.6 | 54.1 |
| Bangor | 0.5 | 5.5 | 48.6 | 54.5 |
| King's College London | 8.1 | 11.3 | 35.3 | 54.7 |
| Arts University Bournemouth | 1.8 | 7.7 | 45.3 | 54.7 |
| Kent | 1.7 | 5.8 | 47.2 | 54.7 |
| Newcastle | 1.7 | 6.5 | 46.9 | 55.0 |
| University College London | 9.7 | 13.3 | 32.7 | 55.6 |
| Hull | 1.1 | 9.4 | 45.2 | 55.7 |
| Birmingham City | 4.9 | 8.2 | 43.1 | 56.1 |
| Canterbury Christ Church | 1.7 | 5.3 | 49.6 | 56.5 |
| Hartpury University | 1.8 | 6.5 | 48.3 | 56.6 |
| Plymouth | 1.4 | 5.9 | 49.4 | 56.7 |
| Sheffield Hallam | 3.0 | 11.6 | 43.1 | 57.7 |
| Norwich University of the Arts | 2.1 | 5.8 | 50.3 | 58.2 |
| Portsmouth | 1.5 | 6.1 | 50.7 | 58.3 |
| Leicester | 2.8 | 9.3 | 46.7 | 58.8 |
| Liverpool | 2.7 | 8.7 | 47.7 | 59.1 |
| Nottingham Trent | 2.8 | 9.0 | 47.6 | 59.4 |
| Salford | 3.6 | 10.6 | 46.6 | 60.8 |
| Manchester Metropolitan | 6.0 | 13.3 | 41.8 | 61.0 |
| Aston | 6.2 | 8.2 | 46.9 | 61.2 |
| Cardiff | 1.5 | 9.1 | 50.9 | 61.6 |
| De Montfort | 2.7 | 9.5 | 50.7 | 62.9 |
| Derby | 2.5 | 7.8 | 53.1 | 63.4 |
| Huddersfield | 1.9 | 8.1 | 53.4 | 63.4 |
| Liverpool John Moores | 2.8 | 8.7 | 52.0 | 63.5 |
| Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts | 3.0 | 7.3 | 53.3 | 63.6 |
| Central Lancashire | 2.0 | 9.7 | 52.9 | 64.6 |
| Bolton | 2.9 | 11.5 | 51.9 | 66.2 |
| Leeds Beckett | 2.9 | 11.4 | 52.1 | 66.4 |
| Northampton | 2.6 | 8.1 | 57.4 | 68.1 |
| Royal Northern College of Music | 9.1 | 13.2 | 46.2 | 68.6 |
| Leeds | 3.7 | 12.4 | 53.4 | 69.5 |
| Manchester | 7.7 | 18.5 | 44.2 | 70.3 |
| Leeds Arts University | 3.6 | 12.6 | 57.4 | 73.7 |
| London School of Economics | 13.5 | 16.7 | 43.9 | 74.1 |
| Lincoln | 1.4 | 10.2 | 63.2 | 74.7 |
| Solent University | 3.5 | 11.1 | 63.3 | 77.9 |
| Teesside | 2.3 | 12.4 | 63.9 | 78.5 |
| Courtauld Institute of Art | 13.5 | 15.5 | 49.7 | 78.7 |
| Bradford | 3.5 | 10.4 | 76.3 | 90.2 |
How we compile the crime table
Following professional advice, the data presented is of the crimes most relevant to students: robbery, burglary, and violence and sexual crimes. The universities are ranked on the combined rate of all three crimes occurring in the past 12 months in areas where students live during term time.
The official data for crime specifically against students isn’t available – these figures are based on all the victims in the vicinity, not just students.
This data aims to helps students with their university decision process when their prospective universities can’t provide the relevant information.
The Complete University Guide has carried out work around crime reporting.
Notes
- These statistics are derived from data produced by police.uk, Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics, and used under Open Government Licence v3. Student term-time accommodation data, HESA 2018–19
- The ranking is based on the relative levels of crimes of relevance to students – it doesn’t record crimes where students are themselves involved
- We calculated the annual reported incidents per thousand residents for the period June 2019–May 2020 (July 2018 to June 2019 for Greater Manchester Police Force Area) by each ward or electoral division in England and Wales – for each institution, these crime rates were then combined using a weighting derived from the proportion of the institution's students who lived in each ward
- Where universities have multiple campuses, the figures relate to the aggregate for the institution – crime heat maps around universities can be found in the university profiles on the Living Here tab
- Because they’re based on resident populations and take no account of short-stay visitors and commuters, the figures may over-represent crime levels – however, this reporting problem is a common issue and the relative crime rates remain valid
- Comparable data for Scotland and Northern Ireland isn’t available – rankings for cities and towns in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales with two or more universities are available
Police.uk glossary of terms
- Burglary includes offences where a person enters a house or other building with the intention of stealing
- Robbery includes offences where a person uses force or threat of force to steal
- Violence & Sexual Crime includes offences against a person such as common assault, Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) and sexual offences
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