Crime and Safety in Rainford
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Rainford is the second safest small town in Merseyside, and is among the top 5 safest overall out of Merseyside's 39 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Rainford in 2026 is 31 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Merseyside's overall crime rate, coming in 63% lower than the Merseyside rate of 85 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Rainford is the 61st safest small town, and the 3,430th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2024, Rainford had the worst crime rate in Merseyside for robbery, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.12 per 1,000 daytime population. March 2024 was also a bad month for Rainford residents, when it was Merseyside's most dangerous area for other crime, recording 7 crimes at a rate of 0.84 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Rainford are violence and sexual offences, with 147 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 17. This is 5% higher than 2025's figure of 140 offences and a difference of 0.81 from 2025's crime rate of 16. Rainford's least common crime is theft from the person, with 0 offences recorded in 2026.
Rainford 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Small Towns, Merseyside
28% lower, regional crime rate
North West
57% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Rainford is 28% lower than the North West and 57% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Rainford Crime Rate Over Time
| Rainford | |
| North West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Rainford Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Rainford 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 Rainford Compares
You can compare Rainford'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 Rainford's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Rainford up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Rainford's 291 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 Rainford? 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
Rainford • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Rainford has a crime risk score of 387. This is based on analysis of 291 nearby areas within Rainford, 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 Rainford's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Rainford, crime risk scores are typically around 387, while in Merseyside they are average 565.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 368 (599 for Merseyside), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 352 (Merseyside 607).
Trends in Crime Risk
Rainford
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.
No trend could be found in Rainford's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
The five-year trend may be static; no significant trend was identified in Rainford's crime risk scores during this timeframe.
Over the last year, Rainford's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 10%, 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
Rainford
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
Rainford • 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 0.34 reports per 1,000 people in Rainford, which is 2.43 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 3 crime reports logged by Merseyside Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Merseyside Police recorded 1 report of Robbery in Rainford, resulting in a crime rate of 0.11 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.10.
The crime rate for Criminal Damage and Arson is 0.60 times the national average at 2.86 reports per 1,000. This is from 25 crime reports reported to Merseyside Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Rainford
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.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Rainford
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.46 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.80 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 42% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.23 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.19 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 21% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.38 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 12% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Rainford • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Rainford | Merseyside | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 31 | 3.52 | 0.27 | 14,742 | 9.07 | 0.64 | 68,604 | 7.93 | 0.56 |
| Bicycle Theft | 1 | 0.11 | 1.83 | 1,158 | 0.69 | 0.95 | 2,963 | 0.35 | 0.48 |
| Burglary | 9 | 1.01 | 0.55 | 3,957 | 2.45 | 0.78 | 13,151 | 1.50 | 0.48 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 25 | 2.86 | 0.60 | 12,556 | 7.72 | 1.23 | 34,232 | 3.94 | 0.63 |
| Drugs | 11 | 1.23 | 0.53 | 13,621 | 8.37 | 2.71 | 23,463 | 2.70 | 0.87 |
| Other Crime | 11 | 1.24 | 1.31 | 3,703 | 2.28 | 1.23 | 11,008 | 1.28 | 0.69 |
| Other Theft | 25 | 2.86 | 0.67 | 8,073 | 4.97 | 0.87 | 24,256 | 2.79 | 0.49 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 0.34 | 2.43 | 1,415 | 0.87 | 1.02 | 4,543 | 0.53 | 0.62 |
| Public Order | 23 | 2.62 | 0.48 | 15,065 | 9.28 | 1.60 | 36,702 | 4.23 | 0.73 |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.11 | 1.10 | 1,488 | 0.92 | 0.78 | 3,301 | 0.38 | 0.32 |
| Shoplifting | 8 | 0.90 | 0.24 | 10,571 | 6.51 | 0.91 | 27,614 | 3.18 | 0.45 |
| Theft From the Person | - | - | - | 846 | 0.52 | 0.34 | 1,948 | 0.23 | 0.15 |
| Vehicle Crime | 10 | 1.12 | 0.39 | 5,106 | 3.13 | 0.73 | 14,353 | 1.67 | 0.39 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 147 | 16.85 | 0.55 | 60,389 | 37.15 | 1.22 | 178,380 | 20.58 | 0.68 |
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Total Crime by Year
Rainford | Merseyside | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 274 | 31.25 | 0.55 | 137,948 | 84.86 | 1.18 | 375,914 | 43.36 | 0.60 |
| 2025 | 306 | 36.11 | 0.60 | 134,669 | 83.12 | 1.12 | 373,106 | 43.34 | 0.59 |
| 2024 | 367 | 43.71 | 0.71 | 143,136 | 89.04 | 1.18 | 380,165 | 44.52 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 345 | 41.00 | 0.64 | 167,521 | 105.45 | 1.33 | 418,544 | 49.63 | 0.63 |
| 2022 | 319 | 37.82 | 0.60 | 167,243 | 106.55 | 1.39 | 410,255 | 49.27 | 0.64 |
| 2021 | 247 | 29.41 | 0.53 | 131,617 | 84.36 | 1.23 | 363,499 | 44.00 | 0.64 |
| 2020 | 324 | 38.76 | 0.64 | 133,992 | 86.00 | 1.16 | 388,434 | 47.29 | 0.64 |
| 2019 | 311 | 37.30 | 0.59 | 134,221 | 86.18 | 1.13 | 412,412 | 50.39 | 0.66 |
| 2018 | 286 | 34.32 | 0.59 | 125,895 | 81.10 | 1.14 | 361,592 | 44.45 | 0.63 |
| 2017 | 249 | 29.88 | 0.61 | 110,860 | 71.66 | 1.12 | 303,042 | 37.41 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 73 | 8.76 | 0.56 | 32,317 | 20.91 | 1.10 | 87,310 | 10.80 | 0.57 |
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Rainford Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Litherland | 1,691 | 90.18 | 189% more dangerous |
| Whiston | 1,221 | 87.11 | 179% more dangerous |
| Knowsley | 1,062 | 76.77 | 146% more dangerous |
| Newton-le-Willows | 1,913 | 72.37 | 132% more dangerous |
| Haydock | 1,064 | 63.92 | 105% more dangerous |
| Halewood | 1,327 | 61.26 | 96% more dangerous |
| Hoylake | 274 | 50.21 | 61% more dangerous |
| Rainhill | 454 | 40.57 | 30% more dangerous |
| Formby | 937 | 41.72 | 34% more dangerous |
| Maghull | 931 | 41.98 | 34% more dangerous |
| West Kirby | 463 | 35.02 | 12% more dangerous |
| Rainford | 274 | 31.25 | - |
| Eccleston | 309 | 29.07 | 7% safer |
| Greasby | 201 | 22.16 | 29% safer |
Comparing Rainford to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Rainford | 31.25 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 155% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 165% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 169% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 213% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 235% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 236% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 241% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 243% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 245% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 300% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Rainford's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Rainford that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Field | - | 1 | 4 | - | 13 | 5 |
| Linear Park | - | - | 2 | - | 14 | 4 |
| Crank Allotments | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Rainford Junction Allotments | - | 1 | 4 | - | 14 | 7 |
Recent Crimes in Rainford
The 20 most recent crime reports in Rainford.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Rail Close | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Moss Lane | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Longwood Close | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Alder Lane | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Bushey Lane | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Spring Field | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near Mossborough Hall Lane | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Crank Road | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Lakeside Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Park/Open Space | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Ormskirk Road | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Leyland Road | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Garswood Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Junction Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Southern'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Red Delph Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Holly Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Bushey Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Crank Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Parklands |
Methodology & Data Sources
Rainford 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 Rainford 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.
Rainford Data Points
For Rainford, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E04000025.
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 Rainford's daytime - or "workday" - population of 7,343 from the ONS 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 Rainford