Durham Crime Statistics
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The overall crime rate in Durham as of April 2026 is 93 crimes per 1,000 people, and the most common crimes are violence and sexual offences, with reports coming from roughly every 38 out of 1,000 daytime population.
Comparing Durham's larger towns and cities, and using Crime Risk Scores - which are calculated by taking severity of each crime type into account - Ferryhill is the most dangerous. The next most dangerous is Peterlee, and Shildon comes in as third most dangerous. There are safer parts of Durham, identified using the same Crime Risk measurement, starting with Egglescliffe which ranks as the safest area in Durham, followed up by Durham in second place, and Chester-le-Street in third place.
Durham Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Durham 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.
Introduction to Durham's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Durham up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Durham's 33,094 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.
Crime Risk Scores
Durham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Durham has a crime risk score of 597. This is based on analysis of 33,094 nearby areas within Durham, 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 Durham's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Durham, crime risk scores are typically around 597, while in North East they are average 562.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 620 (595 for North East), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 654 (North East 624).
Trends in Crime Risk
Durham
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 18% in Durham'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 Durham's crime risk score is down by 2.0%. 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, Durham's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 3.3%, 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
Durham
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
Durham • 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.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences have a crime rate of 12 reports per 1,000 people in Durham, which is 1.99 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 12,150 crime reports logged by Durham Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Durham Police recorded 11,443 reports of Shoplifting in Durham, resulting in a crime rate of 12 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.65.
The crime rate for Burglary is 1.42 times the national average at 4.45 reports per 1,000. This is from 4,323 crime reports reported to Durham Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Durham
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.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.00 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.44 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 127% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Durham
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.91 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.14 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 20% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.64 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.92 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 15% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Durham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Durham | North East | Durham Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 21,236 | 21.77 | 1.54 | 60,647 | 19.76 | 1.40 | 15,107 | 21.25 | 1.50 |
| Bicycle Theft | 442 | 0.45 | 0.62 | 1,566 | 0.51 | 0.70 | 241 | 0.35 | 0.48 |
| Burglary | 4,323 | 4.45 | 1.42 | 12,568 | 4.10 | 1.31 | 2,816 | 3.95 | 1.26 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 12,150 | 12.48 | 1.99 | 31,671 | 10.32 | 1.64 | 8,948 | 12.60 | 2.01 |
| Drugs | 2,604 | 2.67 | 0.86 | 7,960 | 2.59 | 0.84 | 1,435 | 2.04 | 0.66 |
| Other Crime | 3,366 | 3.45 | 1.86 | 10,427 | 3.40 | 1.84 | 2,250 | 3.17 | 1.71 |
| Other Theft | 5,251 | 5.39 | 0.95 | 16,082 | 5.24 | 0.92 | 3,522 | 4.95 | 0.87 |
| Possession of Weapons | 865 | 0.89 | 1.05 | 2,627 | 0.84 | 0.99 | 562 | 0.77 | 0.91 |
| Public Order | 7,032 | 7.21 | 1.24 | 22,100 | 7.21 | 1.24 | 4,677 | 6.58 | 1.13 |
| Robbery | 956 | 0.99 | 0.84 | 3,786 | 1.23 | 1.04 | 385 | 0.53 | 0.45 |
| Shoplifting | 11,443 | 11.74 | 1.65 | 33,748 | 10.99 | 1.54 | 7,338 | 10.32 | 1.45 |
| Theft From the Person | 367 | 0.36 | 0.23 | 1,449 | 0.47 | 0.30 | 242 | 0.32 | 0.21 |
| Vehicle Crime | 3,887 | 3.99 | 0.93 | 11,617 | 3.77 | 0.88 | 2,479 | 3.48 | 0.81 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 37,505 | 38.47 | 1.27 | 104,999 | 34.22 | 1.13 | 25,728 | 36.21 | 1.19 |
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Total Crime by Year
Durham | North East | Durham Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 90,191 | 92.54 | 1.29 | 260,600 | 84.89 | 1.18 | 60,623 | 85.27 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 88,066 | 90.91 | 1.23 | 272,201 | 89.21 | 1.21 | 59,058 | 83.70 | 1.13 |
| 2024 | 94,185 | 98.24 | 1.30 | 285,067 | 94.47 | 1.25 | 63,309 | 90.49 | 1.20 |
| 2023 | 98,214 | 103.45 | 1.31 | 295,603 | 99.04 | 1.25 | 64,564 | 93.11 | 1.18 |
| 2022 | 87,295 | 93.37 | 1.22 | 273,599 | 93.03 | 1.21 | 59,082 | 86.38 | 1.12 |
| 2021 | 81,877 | 88.29 | 1.29 | 250,848 | 85.95 | 1.25 | 56,551 | 83.29 | 1.21 |
| 2020 | 88,443 | 95.52 | 1.29 | 276,026 | 94.68 | 1.28 | 61,440 | 90.91 | 1.23 |
| 2019 | 91,887 | 99.51 | 1.31 | 298,335 | 102.44 | 1.34 | 64,145 | 95.24 | 1.25 |
| 2018 | 84,427 | 91.51 | 1.29 | 280,195 | 96.33 | 1.35 | 61,005 | 90.72 | 1.28 |
| 2017 | 67,067 | 72.65 | 1.14 | 226,807 | 78.00 | 1.22 | 46,559 | 69.15 | 1.08 |
| 2016 | 19,601 | 21.18 | 1.11 | 66,798 | 22.96 | 1.20 | 13,234 | 19.61 | 1.03 |
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The Durham Streets With The Highest Crime Counts
Each police crime report that CrimeRate receives has a street name automatically assigned to it by the police data team, and this table uses the coordinates to count crimes, rather than the street name alone. That way, if Durham has multiple identical street names - which is not unusual - they will be treated separately by CrimeRate's systems.
| Street | Crime Count | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redhill Road Shops Stockton-on-Tees | 237 | ||||||||
| Murray Street Hartlepool | 197 | ||||||||
| Hardwick Street Horden | 133 | ||||||||
| East Row Darlington | 129 | ||||||||
| Station Bank Durham | 123 | ||||||||
| Stanley Bus Station Stanley | 100 | ||||||||
| Meadowfield Avenue Spennymoor | 91 | ||||||||
| Parking Area Morton Palms | 87 | ||||||||
| Anthony Street Easington Colliery | 66 | ||||||||
| Boyd Street Consett | 57 | ||||||||
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Town and City Comparison
| Town / City | Crime Count | Crime Rate | CrimeRate Index | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murton | 1,208 | 157.78 | 2.31 | ||||||
| Ferryhill | 1,486 | 149.78 | 2.17 | ||||||
| Hartlepool | 12,826 | 136.45 | 1.90 | ||||||
| Shildon | 1,431 | 135.14 | 1.94 | ||||||
| Bishop Auckland | 2,446 | 134.08 | 1.89 | ||||||
| Stockton-on-Tees | 12,318 | 123.21 | 1.71 | ||||||
| Peterlee | 2,499 | 116.58 | 1.67 | ||||||
| Stanley | 3,613 | 101.44 | 1.44 | ||||||
| Crook | 997 | 99.78 | 1.47 | ||||||
| Spennymoor | 2,498 | 98.79 | 1.40 | ||||||
| Great Aycliffe | 2,600 | 89.02 | 1.27 | ||||||
| Darlington | 9,299 | 87.63 | 1.22 | ||||||
| Seaham | 2,062 | 87.01 | 1.24 | ||||||
| Chester-le-Street | 2,189 | 86.97 | 1.25 | ||||||
| Durham | 4,940 | 84.59 | 1.18 | ||||||
| Billingham | 3,116 | 79.62 | 1.12 | ||||||
| Belmont | 835 | 78.73 | 1.16 | ||||||
| Brandon and Byshottles | 1,684 | 75.14 | 1.10 | ||||||
| Consett | 1,840 | 70.63 | 1.02 | ||||||
| Egglescliffe | 427 | 44.17 | 0.71 | ||||||
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