Crime and Safety in Ilkley
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Ilkley is the safest small town in West Yorkshire, and is the 22nd safest overall out of West Yorkshire's 118 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Ilkley in 2026 is 41 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to West Yorkshire's overall crime rate, coming in 57% lower than the West Yorkshire rate of 96 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Ilkley is the 105th safest small town, and the 4,470th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2021, Ilkley had the worst crime rate in West Yorkshire for shoplifting, with 22 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.3 per 1,000 daytime population. January 2017 was also a bad month for Ilkley residents, when it was West Yorkshire's most dangerous area for theft from the person, recording 5 crimes at a rate of 0.30 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Ilkley are violence and sexual offences, with 268 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 16. This is 6% lower than 2025's figure of 284 offences and a difference of 0.94 from 2025's crime rate of 17. Ilkley's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 1 offence recorded in 2026, a decrease of 50% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Ilkley 2026 Crime Scorecard
Safest
Small Towns, West Yorkshire
52% lower, regional crime rate
Yorkshire and The Humber
43% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Ilkley is 52% lower than Yorkshire and The Humber and 43% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Ilkley Crime Rate Over Time
| Ilkley | |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Ilkley Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Ilkley 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 Ilkley Compares
You can compare Ilkley'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 Ilkley's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Ilkley up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Ilkley's 530 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 Ilkley? 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
Ilkley • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Ilkley has a crime risk score of 308. This is based on analysis of 530 nearby areas within Ilkley, 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 Ilkley's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Ilkley, crime risk scores are typically around 308, while in West Yorkshire they are average 638.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 382 (666 for West Yorkshire), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 399 (West Yorkshire 702).
Trends in Crime Risk
Ilkley
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 Ilkley's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Ilkley's crime risk score is down by 14%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Over the last year, Ilkley's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 22%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Ilkley
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
Ilkley • 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.
Burglary offences have a crime rate of 4.03 reports per 1,000 people in Ilkley, which is 1.29 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 68 crime reports logged by West Yorkshire Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, West Yorkshire Police recorded 3 reports of Robbery in Ilkley, resulting in a crime rate of 0.18 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.00.
The crime rate for Shoplifting is 0.99 times the national average at 7.05 reports per 1,000. This is from 119 crime reports reported to West Yorkshire Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Ilkley
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
Ilkley
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.17 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.66 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 74% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 1.21 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 73% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.08 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.64 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 34% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Ilkley • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Ilkley | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 85 | 5.03 | 0.36 | 28,357 | 10.30 | 0.73 | 77,875 | 12.35 | 0.87 |
| Bicycle Theft | 1 | 0.06 | 0.86 | 1,587 | 0.59 | 0.81 | 4,306 | 0.68 | 0.93 |
| Burglary | 68 | 4.03 | 1.29 | 14,188 | 5.18 | 1.65 | 27,843 | 4.41 | 1.41 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 56 | 3.33 | 0.57 | 20,740 | 7.54 | 1.20 | 47,570 | 7.55 | 1.20 |
| Drugs | 7 | 0.42 | 0.27 | 10,751 | 3.90 | 1.26 | 19,757 | 3.14 | 1.02 |
| Other Crime | 16 | 0.96 | 0.62 | 9,197 | 3.34 | 1.81 | 18,290 | 2.91 | 1.57 |
| Other Theft | 60 | 3.57 | 0.63 | 18,533 | 6.75 | 1.19 | 36,443 | 5.78 | 1.02 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 0.18 | 0.82 | 2,561 | 0.93 | 1.09 | 5,827 | 0.93 | 1.09 |
| Public Order | 50 | 2.98 | 0.51 | 23,622 | 8.57 | 1.48 | 47,514 | 7.55 | 1.30 |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.18 | 1.00 | 3,718 | 1.35 | 1.14 | 7,156 | 1.13 | 0.96 |
| Shoplifting | 119 | 7.05 | 0.99 | 20,448 | 7.41 | 1.04 | 48,695 | 7.71 | 1.08 |
| Theft From the Person | 3 | 0.18 | 0.47 | 2,229 | 0.81 | 0.52 | 3,568 | 0.57 | 0.37 |
| Vehicle Crime | 42 | 2.50 | 0.70 | 15,694 | 5.69 | 1.32 | 30,637 | 4.87 | 1.13 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 268 | 15.89 | 0.52 | 122,302 | 44.42 | 1.46 | 239,898 | 38.04 | 1.25 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
Ilkley | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 696 | 41.33 | 0.63 | 265,570 | 96.48 | 1.34 | 537,504 | 85.27 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 820 | 48.80 | 0.71 | 277,491 | 101.23 | 1.37 | 553,826 | 88.44 | 1.19 |
| 2024 | 900 | 52.98 | 0.74 | 287,194 | 105.62 | 1.40 | 576,330 | 93.00 | 1.23 |
| 2023 | 977 | 57.27 | 0.77 | 312,915 | 116.19 | 1.47 | 611,034 | 99.55 | 1.26 |
| 2022 | 936 | 54.76 | 0.76 | 294,530 | 110.60 | 1.44 | 574,808 | 94.84 | 1.23 |
| 2021 | 717 | 42.29 | 0.65 | 250,751 | 94.53 | 1.38 | 501,180 | 83.02 | 1.21 |
| 2020 | 917 | 54.10 | 0.77 | 275,554 | 104.15 | 1.40 | 549,148 | 91.15 | 1.23 |
| 2019 | 911 | 54.31 | 0.75 | 287,851 | 109.31 | 1.43 | 568,297 | 94.66 | 1.24 |
| 2018 | 1,038 | 61.69 | 0.93 | 256,214 | 97.73 | 1.37 | 514,090 | 85.73 | 1.21 |
| 2017 | 767 | 45.33 | 0.76 | 226,333 | 86.57 | 1.35 | 456,998 | 76.46 | 1.20 |
| 2016 | 187 | 11.06 | 0.63 | 67,845 | 26.03 | 1.36 | 133,274 | 22.31 | 1.17 |
Download | |||||||||
Ilkley Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silsden | 554 | 57.16 | 38% more dangerous |
| Kippax | 543 | 53.61 | 30% more dangerous |
| Wetherby | 812 | 57.32 | 39% more dangerous |
| Ackworth | 428 | 50.77 | 23% more dangerous |
| Crigglestone | 660 | 49.15 | 19% more dangerous |
| Garforth | 775 | 48.16 | 17% more dangerous |
| Denby Dale | 761 | 42.62 | 3.1% more dangerous |
| Ilkley | 696 | 41.33 | - |
| Alwoodley | 321 | 34.32 | 17% safer |
Comparing Ilkley to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Ilkley | 41.33 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 92% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 100% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 103% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 137% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 153% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 154% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 158% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 159% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 161% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 202% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Ilkley's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Ilkley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge Lane Allotment Gardens | 2 | - | 1 | - | 5 | 6 |
| Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club | 1 | - | - | - | 3 | 1 |
| Middleton Sports Ground | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| King's Hall | 4 | - | 1 | - | 13 | 19 |
| Riverside Gardens | 8 | 1 | 1 | - | 11 | 10 |
| Spence's Garden | 1 | - | - | - | 4 | 4 |
| Mill Ghyll Recreation Ground | 3 | - | - | - | 7 | 14 |
| West View Park | 3 | - | 2 | - | 1 | 0 |
Recent Crimes in Ilkley
The 20 most recent crime reports in Ilkley.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Sports/Recreation Area | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Booths Yard | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near A65 | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Keighley Road | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near Tivoli Place | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Dale Croft Walk | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Weston Road | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Brook Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Whitton Croft Road | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Brook Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Brook Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Brook Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Brook Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Craiglands Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Dean Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near St John'S Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Low Beck |
Methodology & Data Sources
Ilkley 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 Ilkley during June 2026 will typically become available in August 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.
Ilkley Data Points
For Ilkley, 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 E04000160.
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 Ilkley's daytime - or "workday" - population of 14,486 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 Ilkley