Every month, UK Police forces submit crime reports to the Home Office. The figures cover everything from vehicle theft and burglary to violence and drugs offences. By aggregating that data across postcode districts, it is possible to rank areas by total recorded crimes per month.
The figures below are drawn from January 2026 Police data available through the official data.police.uk API. Postcode districts with fewer recorded crimes per month are considered lower risk. Context matters too, of course, and a full report for any area also includes crime trends, outcome rates, and a safety score.
The UK's Lowest-Crime Postcode Districts (January 2026)
Here are the postcode districts with the lowest recorded crime counts in the January 2026 dataset:
| Rank | Area | Postcode | Region | Total crimes (Jan 2026) | Most common crime type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Overseal | DE12 | Derbyshire | 4 | Burglary |
| 2 | Branston | DE13 | Staffordshire | 16 | Violence & sexual offences |
| 3 | Swinfen & Packington | WS14 | Staffordshire | 31 | Violence & sexual offences |
| 4 | Wigginton | B79 | Staffordshire | 32 | Anti-social behaviour |
| 5 | Northwood (HA6) | HA6 | Greater London | 53 | Violence & sexual offences |
| 6 | Hillingdon (UB8) | UB8 | Greater London | 330 | Shoplifting |
| 7 | Burton upon Trent | DE14 | Staffordshire | 312 | Vehicle crime |
| 8 | Eltham | SE18 | Greater London | 806 | Violence & sexual offences |
| 9 | Lewisham (SE13) | SE13 | Greater London | 858 | Violence & sexual offences |
Source: data.police.uk, January 2026 data. Figures represent the total crimes recorded across all postcode sectors within each district.
What Makes an Area "Safe"?
Raw crime counts don't tell the whole story. A postcode district that covers a dense city centre will always record more crimes than a small rural village. More people live there. When comparing areas, it is worth considering:
- Crime rate per 1,000 residents. Adjusts for population density.
- Crime trends. Is crime rising or falling over the past 12 to 24 months?
- Outcome rates. What percentage of crimes result in a charge or caution?
- Crime type breakdown. Burglary and vehicle crime tend to affect homeowners most directly.
Areas like Overseal in Derbyshire and Branston in Staffordshire appear at the top of the list partly because they are rural postcode districts with small populations. The low absolute crime count reflects both genuine safety and lower population density.
Rural vs. Urban: The Context Problem
Most of the lowest-crime postcode districts in absolute terms are rural. Swinfen and Packington (WS14) and Wigginton (B79) in Staffordshire are both semi-rural districts on the edge of larger towns. They benefit from lower footfall and fewer commercial premises to attract opportunistic crime.
In London, Northwood (HA6) stands out as one of the lowest-crime districts in the capital. This affluent suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon recorded just 53 crimes in January 2026, putting it on a par with many small market towns in crime volume despite being within Greater London.
How to Check Your Area
Rankings are a starting point. If you are buying a house or moving to a new area, a full postcode-level report gives far more detail. A CrimeSafe report includes:
- 24 months of crime trends (is your area getting safer or more dangerous?)
- Ward-level breakdowns so you can see which streets within a district carry the most crime
- Crime type breakdown for burglary, vehicle crime, violence, and more
- Outcome rates: how often do the police actually catch the offender?
- A safety score that accounts for population density