Crime and Safety in Holywood
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Holywood is the second safest small town in Down, and is among the top 20 most dangerous overall out of Down's 48 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Holywood in 2026 is 23 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Down's overall crime rate, coming in 21% lower than the Down rate of 29 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Holywood is the 117th safest small town, and the 4,639th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In June 2024, Holywood had the worst crime rate in Down for robbery, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.07 per 1,000 daytime population. October 2023 was also a bad month for Holywood residents, when it was Down's most dangerous area for vehicle crime, recording 23 crimes at a rate of 1.7 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Holywood are violence and sexual offences, with 143 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 10. This is 9% lower than 2025's figure of 157 offences and a difference of 1.02 from 2025's crime rate of 11. Holywood's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 0 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 0% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Holywood 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Small Towns, Down
36% lower, regional crime rate
Northern Ireland
68% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Holywood is 36% lower than Northern Ireland and 68% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Holywood Crime Rate Over Time
| Holywood | |
| Northern Ireland | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Holywood Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Holywood represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How Holywood Compares
You can compare Holywood's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Holywood's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Holywood up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Holywood's 325 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Holywood? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Holywood • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Holywood has a crime risk score of 194. This is based on analysis of 325 nearby areas within Holywood, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Holywood's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Holywood, crime risk scores are typically around 194, while in Down they are average 311.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 192 (292 for Down), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 198 (Down 266).
Trends in Crime Risk
Holywood
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 36% in Holywood's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Holywood's crime risk score is down by 11%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Holywood's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 2.3%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Holywood
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Holywood • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Possession of Weapons offences have a crime rate of 0.28 reports per 1,000 people in Holywood, which is 1.00 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 4 crime reports logged by Police Service of Northern Ireland during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded 21 reports of Drugs in Holywood, resulting in a crime rate of 1.54 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.67.
The crime rate for Criminal Damage and Arson is 0.65 times the national average at 4.11 reports per 1,000. This is from 56 crime reports reported to Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Holywood
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
No significant increases identified.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Holywood
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.36 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.80 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 55% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.16 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.65 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.71 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 8% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Holywood • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Holywood | Down | Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 158 | 11.56 | 0.82 | 11,076 | 15.08 | 1.07 | 43,885 | 17.62 | 1.25 |
| Bicycle Theft | - | - | - | 78 | 0.10 | 0.14 | 428 | 0.15 | 0.21 |
| Burglary | 14 | 1.03 | 0.50 | 633 | 0.86 | 0.27 | 2,573 | 1.02 | 0.33 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 56 | 4.11 | 0.65 | 3,022 | 4.13 | 0.66 | 12,926 | 5.19 | 0.83 |
| Drugs | 21 | 1.54 | 0.67 | 1,611 | 2.18 | 0.71 | 7,582 | 3.03 | 0.98 |
| Other Crime | 10 | 0.73 | 0.78 | 680 | 0.93 | 0.50 | 3,080 | 1.23 | 0.66 |
| Other Theft | 29 | 2.11 | 0.37 | 1,872 | 2.56 | 0.45 | 7,842 | 3.15 | 0.55 |
| Possession of Weapons | 4 | 0.28 | 1.00 | 297 | 0.39 | 0.46 | 1,231 | 0.52 | 0.61 |
| Public Order | 1 | 0.07 | 0.14 | 216 | 0.29 | 0.05 | 869 | 0.36 | 0.06 |
| Robbery | - | - | - | 70 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 468 | 0.19 | 0.16 |
| Shoplifting | 28 | 2.05 | 0.31 | 2,134 | 2.91 | 0.41 | 8,273 | 3.32 | 0.47 |
| Theft From the Person | - | - | - | 37 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 295 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
| Vehicle Crime | 7 | 0.51 | 0.47 | 425 | 0.57 | 0.13 | 2,067 | 0.83 | 0.19 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 143 | 10.47 | 0.34 | 10,199 | 13.90 | 0.46 | 41,940 | 16.83 | 0.55 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
Holywood | Down | Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 313 | 22.90 | 0.41 | 21,274 | 28.96 | 0.40 | 89,574 | 35.94 | 0.50 |
| 2025 | 340 | 24.85 | 0.42 | 22,178 | 30.15 | 0.41 | 93,985 | 37.72 | 0.51 |
| 2024 | 557 | 40.75 | 0.64 | 23,563 | 32.06 | 0.43 | 100,335 | 40.25 | 0.53 |
| 2023 | 494 | 35.79 | 0.57 | 25,967 | 35.20 | 0.45 | 107,639 | 42.99 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 391 | 28.34 | 0.50 | 24,546 | 33.06 | 0.43 | 103,005 | 40.88 | 0.53 |
| 2021 | 369 | 26.59 | 0.49 | 21,959 | 29.44 | 0.43 | 91,280 | 36.14 | 0.53 |
| 2020 | 472 | 33.74 | 0.55 | 22,837 | 30.63 | 0.41 | 97,350 | 38.54 | 0.52 |
| 2019 | 480 | 34.01 | 0.55 | 23,217 | 31.06 | 0.41 | 96,251 | 38.09 | 0.50 |
| 2018 | 460 | 32.32 | 0.57 | 23,835 | 31.82 | 0.45 | 93,560 | 37.05 | 0.52 |
| 2017 | 544 | 38.04 | 0.71 | 24,097 | 32.15 | 0.50 | 95,010 | 37.52 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 120 | 8.40 | 0.53 | 8,042 | 10.71 | 0.56 | 31,832 | 12.57 | 0.66 |
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Holywood Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle | 548 | 57.85 | 153% more dangerous |
| Downpatrick | 853 | 56.44 | 146% more dangerous |
| Banbridge | 1,011 | 46.39 | 103% more dangerous |
| Warrenpoint and Burren | 308 | 30.87 | 35% more dangerous |
| Comber | 235 | 21.04 | 8% safer |
| Holywood | 313 | 22.90 | - |
Comparing Holywood to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Holywood | 22.90 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 247% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 261% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 267% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 327% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 357% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 359% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 365% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 368% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 370% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 446% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Recent Crimes in Holywood
The 20 most recent crime reports in Holywood.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Strathearn Court | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Rannoch Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Ean Hill | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Ean Hill | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Clarehill Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Maple Court | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Abbey Ring | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Woodlands | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Wood End | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near East Link | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Wood End | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Belfast Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near East Link | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near Brown'S Park | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Woodlands | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Belfast Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Hibernia Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Clarehill Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Clarehill Lane |
Methodology & Data Sources
Holywood Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Holywood during July 2026 will typically become available in September 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Holywood Data Points
For Holywood, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in the 2015 release of their Settlements dataset, using the SA2015CD column value N11000570.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Holywood's daytime - or "workday" - population of 11,859 from NISRA's 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Holywood