Is Peterborough safe? For most residents and visitors, yes, but it records more crime per head than almost anywhere else in Cambridgeshire: Peterborough recorded 17,640 crimes in the 12 months to April 2026, a crime rate of 103.76 per 1,000 people. That is about 65 per cent above the Cambridgeshire average of 63.06 and 69 per cent above the East of England (61.53), and about 39 per cent above Cambridge (74.53). Peterborough is a busy cathedral city and regional shopping centre on the East Coast Main Line, and those things concentrate crime in a small area. Its rate is close to Bristol, Birmingham and Liverpool rather than to a typical market town. The figures describe recorded incidents, not the people who live here.
Data: police-recorded crime, 12 months to April 2026, counts and rates from CrimeRate’s analysis of data.police.uk (Cambridgeshire Constabulary; Cambridgeshire page updated 7 June 2026, checked 31 October 2026); rates for other cities from the same CrimeRate release (Bristol and Hampshire pages checked 31 October 2026, Oxford 30 October 2026); neighbourhood teams and data gaps from data.police.uk, whose latest month is August 2026; partnership priorities from Peterborough City Council (Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan 2024–2027, scrutiny report of 24 September 2024). Percentages and shares are our own arithmetic. CrimeRate’s own Peterborough page still shows its 2020 version, so Peterborough’s category breakdown and ten-year series are not available for the current release; the current category and trend tables below are for Cambridgeshire and say so. Updated 31 October 2026.
What is the crime rate in Peterborough?
Peterborough’s crime rate was 103.76 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, according to CrimeRate, from 17,640 recorded offences. That is about 1.6 times the Cambridgeshire rate (63.06) and 69 per cent above the East of England (61.53). Cambridgeshire as a whole recorded 68,126 offences, so Peterborough alone accounts for 25.9 per cent of the county’s crime (our arithmetic).
CrimeRate also gives each place an index where 1.0 is the national average: Peterborough scores 1.44 and Cambridgeshire 0.88. A city rate well above its county is normal. Peterborough is the main shopping, work and transport centre for a wide area of the Fens, north Cambridgeshire and south Lincolnshire, so many offences involve people who do not live in the city. CrimeRate’s rate also uses its own population base, so rates from different websites are not directly comparable. All the rates on this page come from one source and method unless a table says otherwise.
Is Peterborough the most dangerous place in Cambridgeshire?
No, not on CrimeRate’s list. Peterborough is third of the 19 Cambridgeshire places CrimeRate lists, at 103.76 per 1,000 in the 12 months to April 2026, behind Bretton (116.27) and Wisbech (113.81). It records by far the most crime in the county, though: 17,640 offences, more than Cambridge (13,793) and more than the next five towns combined.
| Place (Cambridgeshire) | Crimes, 12 months to April 2026 | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Bretton | 1,725 | 116.27 |
| Wisbech | 3,020 | 113.81 |
| Peterborough | 17,640 | 103.76 |
| Huntingdon | 2,637 | 85.28 |
| Hampton Hargate and Vale | 1,127 | 81.86 |
| March | 1,844 | 75.33 |
| Cambridge | 13,793 | 74.53 |
| Orton Longueville | 862 | 72.94 |
| Yaxley | 551 | 57.26 |
| St Neots | 2,040 | 56.62 |
| Whittlesey | 997 | 50.34 |
| Orton Waterville | 954 | 45.93 |
| Cambridgeshire | 68,126 | 63.06 |
Source: CrimeRate Cambridgeshire, 12 months to April 2026; a selection of the 19 places it lists. Peterborough’s 17,640 offences are more than Wisbech, Huntingdon, St Neots, March and Ely combined (10,807, our arithmetic). For the county’s other city, read is Cambridge safe?
Which parts of Peterborough record more crime?
Crime in Peterborough varies a lot by area: CrimeRate lists four Peterborough suburbs as separate places, and their rates in the 12 months to April 2026 range from 116.27 per 1,000 in Bretton, about 12 per cent above the city figure, to 45.93 in Orton Waterville, less than half of it. Hampton Hargate and Vale (81.86) and Orton Longueville (72.94) sit in between.
| Area (CrimeRate) | Crimes, 12 months to April 2026 | Per 1,000 | Compared with Peterborough (103.76) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bretton (west) | 1,725 | 116.27 | 12% higher |
| Hampton Hargate and Vale (south) | 1,127 | 81.86 | 21% lower |
| Orton Longueville (south-west) | 862 | 72.94 | 30% lower |
| Orton Waterville (south-west) | 954 | 45.93 | 56% lower |
Source: CrimeRate Cambridgeshire, 12 months to April 2026; comparison column is our arithmetic. CrimeRate does not say whether its Peterborough figure includes these suburbs, so we do not add them together. The pattern is the useful part: the two Ortons, next to each other, differ by more than a third, which is why a single city-wide number says little about any one street. Bretton includes a large shopping centre, which pulls shoplifting and theft into a small resident population.
Is Peterborough safe compared with other UK cities?
Peterborough’s crime rate of 103.76 per 1,000 in the 12 months to April 2026 is within 1 to 4 per cent of Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Southampton, Leeds and Nottingham, and about 5 to 6 per cent above Portsmouth and Leicester. It is between 23 and 30 per cent above Sheffield, Newcastle, Oxford and Cardiff, and 39 per cent above Cambridge (our arithmetic).
| Place | Per 1,000, 12 months to April 2026 | Compared with Peterborough |
|---|---|---|
| Westminster (London) | 125.00 | 20% higher |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 4% higher |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 3% higher |
| Southampton | 106.50 | 3% higher |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 3% higher |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 1% higher |
| Bristol | 104.63 | 1% higher |
| Peterborough | 103.76 | – |
| Portsmouth | 98.85 | 5% lower |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 6% lower |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 19% lower |
| Newcastle | 82.69 | 20% lower |
| Oxford | 80.69 | 22% lower |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 23% lower |
| Cambridge | 74.53 | 28% lower |
| Cambridgeshire | 63.06 | 39% lower |
| East of England | 61.53 | 41% lower |
Source: CrimeRate, 12 months to April 2026 (Peterborough, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and the East of England from the Cambridgeshire page; the big-city list from the Bristol page and Portsmouth and Southampton from the Hampshire page, checked 31 October 2026; Oxford checked 30 October 2026, same release). Peterborough is a smaller city than most on this list, but its rate puts it in the big-city group. For nearby comparisons, see Leicester crime rate, is Nottingham safe?, is Milton Keynes safe? and Luton crime rate.
What kind of crime is recorded in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough?
Violence and sexual offences made up 42.8 per cent of crime recorded in Cambridgeshire in the 12 months to April 2026: 29,175 of 68,126 offences, a rate of 27.01 per 1,000, slightly below the East of England (27.65). The county stands out instead for bicycle theft (about double the regional rate), possession of weapons (+28%), theft from the person (+25%) and burglary (+20%). CrimeRate does not publish Peterborough’s own category mix for this release, so the table is for the county.
| Category | Cambridgeshire, 12 months to April 2026 | Share of total | Cambridgeshire per 1,000 | East of England per 1,000 | Cambridgeshire vs region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 29,175 | 42.8% | 27.01 | 27.65 | −2% |
| Shoplifting | 6,993 | 10.3% | 6.49 | 5.94 | +9% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 6,344 | 9.3% | 5.88 | 5.51 | +7% |
| Other theft | 4,998 | 7.3% | 4.63 | 4.78 | −3% |
| Public order | 4,510 | 6.6% | 4.17 | 4.42 | −6% |
| Vehicle crime | 3,742 | 5.5% | 3.45 | 3.84 | −10% |
| Burglary | 3,146 | 4.6% | 2.90 | 2.42 | +20% |
| Drugs | 3,061 | 4.5% | 2.83 | 2.59 | +9% |
| Other crime | 2,223 | 3.3% | 2.06 | 1.70 | +21% |
| Bicycle theft | 1,531 | 2.2% | 1.42 | 0.72 | +97% |
| Possession of weapons | 1,146 | 1.7% | 1.06 | 0.83 | +28% |
| Theft from the person | 698 | 1.0% | 0.65 | 0.52 | +25% |
| Robbery | 559 | 0.8% | 0.51 | 0.61 | −16% |
| Anti-social behaviour (not in total) | 14,438 | – | 13.36 | 10.23 | +31% |
Source: CrimeRate Cambridgeshire, 12 months to April 2026. The 13 crime categories add up to exactly 68,126. Much of the county’s bicycle theft is in Cambridge, which records about half of it, so that line says more about Cambridge than Peterborough.
The last full Peterborough breakdown CrimeRate shows is for calendar year 2020. It is old and should be read as a pattern, not a current figure: that year violence and sexual offences were about 42 per cent of Peterborough’s recorded crime, and the city was above the county rate in most categories, most clearly for robbery, possession of weapons, shoplifting and drugs. The current county table points the same way for weapons, but a city-level check will only be possible when CrimeRate updates its Peterborough page.
Is crime in Peterborough going up or down?
Across Cambridgeshire, recorded crime rose 2.3 per cent in the latest year, to 68,126 offences in the 12 months to April 2026 (from 66,617), but it is still 4.0 per cent below the 2023 peak of 70,997 (our arithmetic). CrimeRate does not yet publish a current ten-year series for Peterborough itself, so the table shows the county.
| Year (12 months to April) | Cambridgeshire crimes | Cambridgeshire per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 58,616 | 58.91 |
| 2018 | 65,185 | 65.00 |
| 2019 | 63,505 | 62.98 |
| 2020 | 64,534 | 63.52 |
| 2021 | 59,363 | 57.95 |
| 2022 | 66,531 | 64.15 |
| 2023 | 70,997 | 67.53 |
| 2024 | 67,906 | 63.71 |
| 2025 | 66,617 | 61.99 |
| 2026 | 68,126 | 63.06 |
Source: CrimeRate Cambridgeshire, yearly rows to April 2026 (the partial 2016 row is left out). Over ten years the county’s count rose 16.2 per cent but its rate only 7.0 per cent, because the population grew too; the rate today is lower than in 2018, 2022 and 2023 (our arithmetic). Within the county the latest year was mixed: Cambridge fell 5.4 per cent, so the county’s rise came from elsewhere, but the published figures do not show how much of it was in Peterborough.
Which police teams cover Peterborough?
Cambridgeshire Constabulary covers Peterborough through five neighbourhood teams listed on data.police.uk: Peterborough City Centre, Central, North, East and South. The City Centre team lists Thorpe Wood Police Station (Thorpe Wood, Peterborough, PE3 6SD) as its base.
| Neighbourhood team (data.police.uk) | ID | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peterborough City Centre | Peterborough_City_Centre | Thorpe Wood Police Station, PE3 6SD |
| Peterborough Central | Peterborough_Central | – |
| Peterborough North | Peterborough_Northern | – |
| Peterborough East | Peterborough_Eastern | – |
| Peterborough South | Peterborough_Southern | – |
Source: data.police.uk neighbourhoods API for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, checked 31 October 2026. The police.uk team pages with 12-month counts could not be read on the day of writing, so this page does not give per-team counts. You can contact any team through 101, the non-emergency number.
The city’s community safety partnership sets the local priorities. Peterborough City Council’s report on the Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan 2024–2027 lists five: reducing anti-social behaviour and improving quality of life, tackling serious organised crime, safety in the night-time economy, reducing drug and alcohol-related crime, and sex working and exploitation. That anti-social behaviour leads the list fits the county figures, where anti-social behaviour runs 31 per cent above the regional rate.
When is crime most likely in Peterborough?
Police street-level data for Peterborough carries no time of day, so it cannot show when crime happens on a given street. What the partnership’s choice of priorities shows is that the night-time economy is one of the five areas the city is working on for 2024–2027. For the national picture by hour, day and season, see when crime is most likely in the UK.
Is Peterborough safe at night?
Peterborough is generally safe at night with ordinary care, but the city’s own partnership treats it as a priority: safety in the night-time economy is one of the five aims in the Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan 2024–2027. Keep to lit, busy routes between the city centre, Cathedral Square, the Queensgate area and the station, plan your way home before a night out, and use licensed taxis. Check the streets you will use in the postcode checker.
One gap matters at the station. Crimes on the railway are recorded by British Transport Police, and data.police.uk lists BTP crime data as not provided for every month from March 2025 to August 2026. Incidents inside Peterborough station, a major stop on the East Coast Main Line, are therefore missing from recent police maps, including ours. Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s own entries for September 2025 to August 2026 concern stop and search only, so its street crime data is complete. Read how the police crime map works for the other limits.
Is Peterborough a safe place to live?
For most residents, yes. Peterborough’s high city-wide rate reflects a busy centre that serves a wide area, and the area figures show how much it varies: Orton Waterville’s 45.93 per 1,000 is below the Cambridgeshire average, while Bretton’s 116.27 is above the city’s. Across the county, burglary is 4.6 per cent of recorded crime and vehicle crime 5.5 per cent, so most recorded crime does not happen at home. Compare two postcodes before you choose, and read how to check crime in your area for the limits of any single number. The figures describe recorded incidents, not the people who live here.
How do I check a specific street or postcode in Peterborough?
- 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 Orton and one in Bretton, to compare two areas side by side.
- Zoom into the UK crime map to see what was recorded near a street, shopping centre or station.
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.
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Peterborough crime FAQ
Is Peterborough safe?
Broadly, yes. Peterborough’s crime rate of 103.76 per 1,000 in the 12 months to April 2026 is about 65 per cent above Cambridgeshire’s (63.06) and similar to Bristol and Birmingham, but it varies widely by area, from 45.93 in Orton Waterville to 116.27 in Bretton.
What is the crime rate in Peterborough?
Peterborough recorded 17,640 crimes in the 12 months to April 2026, a rate of 103.76 per 1,000 people (CrimeRate). That is about 65 per cent above the Cambridgeshire average and 69 per cent above the East of England (61.53).
Is Peterborough safer than Cambridge?
No. Cambridge’s rate of 74.53 per 1,000 in the 12 months to April 2026 is about 28 per cent below Peterborough’s 103.76, and Cambridge records fewer crimes (13,793 against 17,640).
Is Peterborough safe at night?
Mostly, with ordinary city-centre care. Safety in the night-time economy is one of the five Safer Peterborough Partnership priorities for 2024–2027, and crimes inside Peterborough station are missing from police data for March 2025 to August 2026.
Is crime in Peterborough going up?
Current city figures are not published as a series. Across Cambridgeshire, recorded crime rose 2.3 per cent to 68,126 offences in the 12 months to April 2026, still 4.0 per cent below the 2023 peak.
Other towns and cities: Cambridge, Leicester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Luton, Portsmouth and London. In an emergency call 999.