Liverpool recorded 63,381 crimes in the 12 months to April 2026, a rate of 106.43 per 1,000 people, about 1.6 times the England rate of 67.79 and 25 per cent above the Merseyside average of 84.86. The total rose 3.3 per cent on the previous year (61,368). Two features set Liverpool apart from other big cities: an unusually high number of drug offences, which mostly reflects police enforcement, and very little pickpocketing. The figures describe recorded incidents, not the people who live in the city.
Data: police-recorded crime, 12 months to April 2026, counts and rates from CrimeRate’s analysis of data.police.uk (Merseyside Police, Liverpool); neighbourhood counts from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026; resident population from the ONS Census 2021 (486,100). Shares and ratios are our own arithmetic on those figures. Updated 4 October 2026.
Is Liverpool safe compared with other UK cities?
Liverpool sits in a tight group of big English cities with rates between 104 and 108 crimes per 1,000 people: Nottingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol are separated by less than 3 per cent. Leicester is 8 per cent lower, and Sheffield, Newcastle and Cardiff are 21 to 25 per cent lower, according to CrimeRate. Westminster, with its huge daytime crowds, is 17 per cent higher.
| Area | Per 1,000, 12 months to April 2026 | Compared with Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
| Westminster | 125.00 | 17% higher |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 1.2% higher |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 0.6% higher |
| Liverpool | 106.43 | – |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 1.3% lower |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 1.7% lower |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 8% lower |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 21% lower |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 22% lower |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 25% lower |
| Merseyside (whole force area) | 84.86 | 20% lower |
| England | 67.79 | 36% lower |
All the city rates come from the comparison table on CrimeRate’s Liverpool page, checked on 4 October 2026, so they share one method and one population base. Figures for the same city can differ by a few hundredths between CrimeRate pages because of rounding. For the cities nearest to Liverpool in the table, read is Nottingham safe?, is Birmingham safe? and is Bristol safe?
Why is Liverpool’s rate higher than the rest of Merseyside?
Because the city is the centre of the county. Liverpool’s 63,381 offences are 46 per cent of the 137,948 recorded across the whole Merseyside Police area, and its rate of 106.43 is 25 per cent above the force average of 84.86. Shopping, nightlife, two football grounds, the universities, the waterfront and Lime Street station all draw people from Sefton, Knowsley, Wirral and St Helens, and from much further away. Among the other towns CrimeRate lists in Merseyside, St Helens records 100.28 per 1,000 and Birkenhead 92.36. Against the 486,100 residents counted in the ONS Census 2021, Liverpool’s total works out at about 130 offences per 1,000 residents, higher than CrimeRate’s 106.43 because CrimeRate divides by a larger daytime population. The daytime rate is fairer for comparing cities; the resident rate shows the load on the city itself.
What kind of crime is recorded in Liverpool?
Violence and sexual offences make up 40 per cent of the total: 25,431 offences, 42.71 per 1,000 people. The headline 63,381 excludes anti-social behaviour. The 13 categories below add up to exactly 63,381, and 5,957 anti-social behaviour reports come on top, 69,338 incidents in all.
| Category | Liverpool, 12 months to April 2026 | Per 1,000 | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 25,431 | 42.71 | 40.1% |
| Drugs | 7,762 | 13.04 | 12.2% |
| Public order | 6,692 | 11.23 | 10.6% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 5,196 | 8.73 | 8.2% |
| Shoplifting | 5,185 | 8.70 | 8.2% |
| Other theft | 3,971 | 6.66 | 6.3% |
| Vehicle crime | 2,732 | 4.58 | 4.3% |
| Burglary | 1,858 | 3.12 | 2.9% |
| Other crime | 1,783 | 3.01 | 2.8% |
| Robbery | 830 | 1.39 | 1.3% |
| Possession of weapons | 696 | 1.17 | 1.1% |
| Bicycle theft | 627 | 1.05 | 1.0% |
| Theft from the person | 618 | 1.04 | 1.0% |
Three points stand out. First, drug offences are the second-largest category, at 13.04 per 1,000, about 4.6 times Bristol’s 2.83 and 4.22 times the national level by CrimeRate’s own index. Drug offences are almost always recorded because police found them, through stop and search or targeted operations, not because someone reported them, so the high figure says as much about where Merseyside Police concentrates enforcement as about drug use. Second, theft from the person (pickpocketing and snatch theft) is rare: 618 offences in a year, against 4,296 in Hackney alone. Third, anti-social behaviour is recorded at 10.01 per 1,000, about half Bristol’s 19.08, and it is only 8.6 per cent of all incidents. That difference is more likely to reflect how forces log anti-social behaviour than a calmer street life, so compare it with care. Burglary, at 2.9 per cent, is a smaller share than in most cities we have analysed.
Is crime in Liverpool going up or down?
Up, slightly. CrimeRate records 61,368 offences (103.61 per 1,000) in the 12 months to April 2025 and 63,381 (106.43) in the 12 months to April 2026: 2,013 more, a rise of 3.3 per cent in the count and 2.7 per cent in the rate. Merseyside as a whole rose from 134,669 to 137,948, 2.4 per cent. CrimeRate also reports that Liverpool’s crime risk score is down about 7 per cent over five years. A single year’s rise of 3 per cent is within normal variation for a city this size; watch the next release before calling it a trend.
Which parts of Liverpool record the most crime?
The city centre, by a long way. Merseyside Police’s neighbourhood pages on police.uk show 9,147 incidents in City Centre North and 5,290 in City Centre South between September 2025 and August 2026, anti-social behaviour included. These two neighbourhoods take in Lime Street, the main shopping streets, Liverpool ONE, the Ropewalks and much of the nightlife. The densest residential neighbourhoods record far fewer: 3,836 in Kensington and Fairfield and 1,698 in Anfield over the same 12 months.
| Month | City Centre North | City Centre South | Kensington and Fairfield | Anfield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 754 | 427 | 338 | 142 |
| Oct 2025 | 815 | 447 | 327 | 186 |
| Nov 2025 | 854 | 465 | 344 | 130 |
| Dec 2025 | 796 | 466 | 307 | 142 |
| Jan 2026 | 641 | 457 | 302 | 140 |
| Feb 2026 | 646 | 375 | 318 | 114 |
| Mar 2026 | 857 | 549 | 290 | 153 |
| Apr 2026 | 725 | 437 | 270 | 118 |
| May 2026 | 840 | 442 | 307 | 122 |
| Jun 2026 | 715 | 355 | 347 | 144 |
| Jul 2026 | 731 | 387 | 354 | 170 |
| Aug 2026 | 773 | 483 | 332 | 137 |
| 12 months | 9,147 | 5,290 | 3,836 | 1,698 |
Source: police.uk neighbourhood pages, Merseyside Police, monthly counts including anti-social behaviour; 12-month totals are our sums. The mix differs by place. In August 2026 City Centre North’s top categories were violence and sexual offences (230), drugs (146), shoplifting (111) and public order (74); in City Centre South drugs led (188) ahead of violence (132), which points to proactive policing in the Ropewalks and around the nightlife. In Kensington and Fairfield violence led with 143 of 332. The two city-centre neighbourhoods together recorded 14,437 incidents in a year, roughly a fifth of the city’s total, although the police.uk period runs four months later than CrimeRate’s, so the share is approximate. For all 64 wards measured the same way, see our Liverpool crime by ward ranking; the quietest wards are in the south of the city, around Grassendale, Allerton and Woolton.
Is Liverpool safe for visitors and at night?
For most visitors, yes; most visits pass without incident, and the crimes that worry tourists most are uncommon here. Theft from the person is about 1 per cent of recorded crime and robbery 1.3 per cent. Police street-level data carries no time of day, but violence and public order together are 50.7 per cent of the total, and they concentrate where the bars and clubs are: Concert Square, Seel Street and the Ropewalks, Mathew Street and the Baltic Triangle. Keep to lit, busy routes, plan the way back before you go out, and use licensed taxis from official ranks. On match days crowds around Anfield and Everton’s stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock are large; police data cannot isolate match-day offences, so the neighbourhood totals above cover the whole year.
Is Liverpool a safe place to live?
For most residents, yes; the citywide rate is driven by the centre. Burglary is 2.9 per cent of recorded crime and vehicle crime 4.3 per cent, so the risks most people face at home are modest by big-city standards. Recorded crime varies a lot between neighbourhoods, from the quiet southern suburbs to busier inner areas in the north and east of the city; our safest areas in Liverpool guide covers the quieter end. Compare two postcodes before you decide where to live, and read how to check crime in your area for the limits of any single number. This page describes what was recorded, not the people who live here.
How do I check a specific street or postcode in Liverpool?
- Enter your postcode in the postcode checker to see 12 months of police-recorded crime and the trend by month.
- Add a second postcode, for example one in Aigburth or West Derby, to compare two areas side by side.
- Zoom into the UK crime map to see what was recorded near a street.
- For a step-by-step guide to reading the map in Liverpool, with the quietest and busiest wards and how the city compares with the rest of Merseyside, see our Liverpool crime map guide.
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. Rates from different websites use different population estimates and are not directly comparable, so the city rates on this page all come from one source.
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Liverpool crime FAQ
What is the crime rate in Liverpool?
Liverpool recorded 106.43 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026 (63,381 offences), against 84.86 for Merseyside and 67.79 for England (CrimeRate). Anti-social behaviour is not included in that figure. Per resident, using the Census 2021 population of 486,100, it is about 130 per 1,000.
Is Liverpool more dangerous than Manchester?
There is no like-for-like answer. Greater Manchester Police has not published street-level crime to data.police.uk since 2019, so CrimeRate has no current Manchester figure. See crime in Manchester for what the force-level data can and cannot tell you.
Is Liverpool safer than Birmingham?
They are almost level. Liverpool’s 106.43 per 1,000 is 1.3 per cent above Birmingham’s 105.05; Leeds (107.10) and Nottingham (107.74) are slightly higher, and Sheffield (84.09) is about 21 per cent lower.
Why are drug offences so high in Liverpool?
Mostly because of policing. Drug offences are recorded when officers find drugs, through stop and search or targeted operations. Liverpool’s 7,762 drug offences (13.04 per 1,000) show where enforcement is concentrated, not only how common drugs are.
Where does this data come from?
Police-recorded crime published on data.police.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0, analysed by CrimeRate for counts and rates, with Merseyside Police neighbourhood pages on police.uk and the ONS Census 2021 for residents. See where our crime data comes from.
More on Liverpool: crime in Liverpool: what the police data shows, Liverpool crime by ward and safest areas in Liverpool. Other cities: Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Belfast and London. In an emergency call 999.