Belfast City policing district recorded 31,420 crimes in the 12 months to June 2026, about one third (33.6%) of the 93,560 recorded across Northern Ireland, and that count fell 0.7% on the year before. That makes it by far the busiest of the 11 PSNI policing districts, but it is also the capital, the main shopping, hospitality and hospital centre, and the place where many people from other districts work and spend their evenings. A large total is not the same as a high chance of something happening to you.
Data: Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Police Recorded Crime bulletin, 12 months to June 2026, published 30 July 2026; category counts for Belfast City from CrimeRate analysis of police data, 12 months to April 2026. Shares and ratios are our own arithmetic on those figures. Updated 1 October 2026.
Is Belfast safe compared with the rest of Northern Ireland?
Belfast City is the largest policing district by recorded crime: 31,420 offences in July 2025 to June 2026, down from 31,653 the year before (-233, -0.7%), according to the PSNI recorded crime statistics. Northern Ireland as a whole fell 1.3%, from 94,751 to 93,560, and PSNI puts the national rate at 49 recorded crimes per 1,000 population. Belfast’s total is about 3.5 times that of the next district, Derry City & Strabane (9,054). A total is mostly a function of how many people live in, visit and work in a place, so it should not be read as a risk score. For the same exercise in a large English city see is Birmingham safe?
How does Belfast compare with the other 10 policing districts?
Eight of the 11 districts recorded fewer crimes than a year earlier, and three recorded more: Lisburn & Castlereagh City (+5.8%), Causeway Coast & Glens (+3.1%) and Ards & North Down (+2.5%). Derry City & Strabane had the largest fall (-660, -6.8%). Belfast’s small decline therefore sits in the middle of the pack: not the improvement seen in Derry or Mid & East Antrim (-5.5%), and not the rise seen in Lisburn.
| PSNI district | Jul 2024 – Jun 2025 | Jul 2025 – Jun 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast City | 31,653 | 31,420 | -0.7% |
| Derry City & Strabane | 9,714 | 9,054 | -6.8% |
| Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon | 8,954 | 8,634 | -3.6% |
| Newry, Mourne & Down | 7,758 | 7,729 | -0.4% |
| Antrim & Newtownabbey | 6,417 | 6,320 | -1.5% |
| Mid & East Antrim | 6,029 | 5,699 | -5.5% |
| Ards & North Down | 5,560 | 5,697 | +2.5% |
| Lisburn & Castlereagh City | 5,159 | 5,458 | +5.8% |
| Causeway Coast & Glens | 5,282 | 5,446 | +3.1% |
| Mid Ulster | 4,491 | 4,447 | -1.0% |
| Fermanagh & Omagh | 3,734 | 3,645 | -2.4% |
The table is ordered by this year’s count, so the five highest are at the top and the five lowest at the bottom. The district counts add up to 93,549; the Northern Ireland total of 93,560 is the figure PSNI publishes. These are counts, not rates, and the districts differ greatly in population, so the ranking says which areas record most crimes, not which are most dangerous.
What kind of crime is recorded in Belfast?
In CrimeRate’s analysis of police data for Belfast City, 28,062 crimes were recorded in the 12 months to April 2026, a rate it gives as 51.08 per 1,000 people, down from 29,581 (53.90) a year earlier, a fall of 5.1%. That headline excludes anti-social behaviour (ASB): the 14 categories add up to 41,008 once the 12,946 ASB reports are included. CrimeRate’s period and population basis are different from PSNI’s, so the 51.08 should not be compared directly with PSNI’s 49 for Northern Ireland, and neither should the two totals (28,062 against 31,420).
| Category | Belfast City, 12 months to April 2026 | Share of 28,062 |
|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 11,929 | 42.5% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 3,655 | 13.0% |
| Shoplifting | 3,286 | 11.7% |
| Other theft | 2,942 | 10.5% |
| Drugs | 2,597 | 9.3% |
| Other crime | 760 | 2.7% |
| Burglary | 718 | 2.6% |
| Vehicle crime | 708 | 2.5% |
| Possession of weapons | 455 | 1.6% |
| Robbery | 315 | 1.1% |
| Public order | 269 | 1.0% |
| Bicycle theft | 255 | 0.9% |
| Theft from the person | 173 | 0.6% |
Four things stand out. Violence and sexual offences is 11,929, about 42 per cent of the total, but it is a broad police category that includes harassment, threats and offences with no injury, so it does not mean that four in ten incidents are attacks on strangers. Second, all the theft categories together (shoplifting, other theft, vehicle crime, bicycle theft and theft from the person) come to 7,364, about 26 per cent; theft from the person is only 173, 0.6 per cent. Third, anti-social behaviour is the largest single line when it is counted, 12,946 or about 32 per cent of the 41,008 incidents, which points to noise, nuisance and disorder around busy areas as much as crime. Fourth, drugs and weapons possession (3,052, about 11 per cent) are offences police mostly record when they look for them, so they follow police activity as much as underlying behaviour. For the national picture, PSNI’s 12 months to June 2026 shows violence against the person at 39,845 offences, robbery at 497 (up 13.2%) and burglary at 2,575 (down 6.1%) across Northern Ireland.
Is Belfast safe at night and for visitors?
Police street-level data has no time of day, so it cannot say whether Belfast is riskier after dark. What the mix shows is typical of a capital with a busy centre, late-opening venues and a large day-time population: violence, criminal damage and ASB are the biggest lines, while robbery (315) and theft from the person (173) are small in absolute terms. Visitors usually face the ordinary risks of any city centre: phones and bags left on tables, crowded bars and late taxis. Use busy, lit streets, keep valuables out of sight around the station and bus hubs, and check the streets you will use in the postcode checker rather than relying on a city figure.
Is Belfast safe to live in?
What matters for a home is the rate for your own streets, not the district total, because a city-centre area with shops, venues and hospitals records many offences with few people sleeping there. Do not read this page as a verdict on any community or neighbourhood; it describes what was recorded, nothing more. Compare two postcodes in the checker before deciding, and read how to check crime in your area for the limits of any single number. Other cities are covered in is Nottingham safe? and is London safe?
How do I check a specific street or postcode in Belfast?
- Enter your postcode in the postcode checker to see the police-recorded crime near it.
- Add a second postcode to compare two areas side by side.
- Zoom into the UK crime map to see what was recorded near a street.
These figures describe areas, not addresses. Police data covers reported crime only, and each crime is shown at a nearby anonymised point. Read where our crime data comes from for the limits. Northern Ireland data is published by PSNI, and counts from different websites use different periods and population estimates, so use rates from one source when you compare areas.
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Belfast crime FAQ
How many crimes are recorded in Belfast?
PSNI recorded 31,420 crimes in the Belfast City policing district in the 12 months to June 2026, 0.7% fewer than the previous year and about one third of the 93,560 recorded in Northern Ireland.
Is Belfast the most dangerous place in Northern Ireland?
It records the most crimes, but that mostly reflects its size and its role as the capital. The counts are not rates, so they do not show which district carries the highest risk per resident.
Is Belfast getting safer?
Recorded crime fell slightly: PSNI shows 31,653 falling to 31,420, and CrimeRate shows 29,581 falling to 28,062 (excluding ASB, to April 2026). Recording practice also changes, so this is not a clean measure of danger.
Is Belfast safe for tourists?
Theft from the person is 173 offences and robbery 315 in CrimeRate’s 12 months to April 2026, small against 11,929 violence and sexual offences, which are mostly not stranger attacks. Standard city-centre precautions apply.
Where does this data come from?
The PSNI Police Recorded Crime bulletin published on 30 July 2026, plus police-recorded crime analysed by CrimeRate. See where our crime data comes from.
More on other places: is Birmingham safe?, crime in Manchester and crime in Liverpool. In an emergency call 999.