Preston crime rate Interactive maps and visualisation

Overview of Preston crime rate

Essential tools against vehicle theft.

Preston is marked by a high crime rating,

securing the 2nd spot among 25 adjacent districts for its crime rate. In the year 2023, the area reported 23,091 crimes. Given its population of 147,835, the crime rate was 156.19 per 1,000 people, showing a 9.0% decrease from the prior year.

In Preston, the most frequent crime types were Violence and sexual offences (29.8%), Anti-social behaviour (29.3%), and Criminal damage and arson (7.8%), with the least common being Bicycle theft (1.2%), Robbery (0.8%), Theft from the person (0.5%).

Among the 16 wards in Preston, those with the highest crime rates include City Centre (486.1), St Matthew’s (Preston) (217.4), Plungington (200.1). The safest wards are Preston Rural North (62.2), Preston Rural East (56.1), Greyfriars (Preston) (52.6).

In terms of Postcode districts within Preston, the highest crime rates are found in PR1 (197.4), PR2 (109.3), PR4 (65.5). The safest postcode districts are PR4 (65.5), PR5 (60.8), PR3 (58.8).

In Preston, Anti-social behaviour experienced a significant increase of 27.32% in 2020, followed by decreases of 10.20% in 2021, 15.86% in 2022, and 5.13% in 2023. Violence and sexual offences decreased by 2.07% in 2020, increased by 4.46% in 2021 and 2.34% in 2022, but then decreased by 4.83% in 2023. Burglary rates dropped by 2.29% in 2020. Criminal damage and arson rose by 1.96% in 2021 but fell by 2.14% in 2023. Other theft saw a decrease of 3.34% in 2020. Public order offenses decreased by 1.84% in 2020. Shoplifting saw a decrease of 3.74% in 2020 but increased by 2.04% in 2022. Vehicle crime decreased by 2.46% in 2020 and 1.57% in 2023, but increased by 1.75% in 2022. Bicycle theft saw an increase of 1.57% in 2022.

Preston crime incidents by crime type

A total of 23091 crime incidents were reported in 2023. Below is the breakdown by crime type.

Violence and sexual offences – 6890 (29.8)%
Anti-social behaviour – 6775 (29.3)%
Criminal damage and arson – 1807 (7.8)%
Other theft – 1471 (6.4)%
Shoplifting – 1345 (5.8)%
Public order – 1123 (4.9)%
Burglary – 999 (4.3)%
Vehicle crime – 990 (4.3)%
Drugs – 456 (2.0)%
Other crime – 351 (1.5)%
Possession of weapons – 301 (1.3)%
Bicycle theft – 266 (1.2)%
Robbery – 194 (0.8)%
Theft from the person – 123 (0.5)%

How does Preston compare against nearby areas ?

Preston ranks 2nd when compared against 25 nearby boroughs/local administrative districts.

List of nearby boroughs/local administrative districts from high crime rate to low (2023):

Heat map for all nearby areas Preston is compared against

Crime rates in Preston wards

There are 16 wards within Preston. City Centre, St Matthew’s (Preston), Plungington has highest crime rate (crime per 1000 residents). Below map shows 2023 crime rates broken down by crime types.

get-ward-map/preston/

List of all 16 wards from high crime rate to low.