Crime in Cambridge: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (4,790), anti-social behaviour (2,506) and shoplifting (2,421) made up 59% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 68th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

Recorded crime in Cambridge peaked in the year to August 2019 (18,387 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2021 (14,796). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 9%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Cambridge recorded notably more bicycle theft (7.6 times the national rate), shoplifting (92% above the national rate) and possession of weapons (51% above the national rate). On the year before, drugs rose from 369 to 677 and other crime rose from 262 to 318.

What each category covers: crime categories.

13,699 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Cambridge in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 91.7 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 7% on the year ending March 2025 (14,720), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Cambridge had the 76th highest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Cambridgeshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.5% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Cambridge is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Cambridge, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was shoplifting, with 2,298 offences (17% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for bicycle theft (6.2 times the national rate), trafficking of drugs (2.4 times the national rate) and shoplifting (1.9 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for arson (0.51 times), stalking and harassment (0.64 times) and possession of drugs (0.74 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (from 76 to 429) and possession of weapons (+20%). The largest falls were in arson (−48%) and bicycle theft (−31%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Cambridge since the year ending March 2019

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2019 to 2026. Cambridge's rate was above the England and Wales rate in every one of those 8 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2019 because the share of crimes in the Cambridgeshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.2% in the year ending March 2018 to 2.0% in the year ending March 2019, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Cambridgeshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 6 districts in the Cambridgeshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Cambridge had the 2nd highest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

1 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Cambridge; the highest is Stevenage district (118.8 per 1,000) and the lowest South Cambridgeshire (59.1).

Of the 15 areas within Cambridge, Market had the highest crime rate (368.7 per 1,000) and Castle the lowest (40.1), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 27% of the crime recorded in Cambridge over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,325).

Of the 14,091 crimes in Cambridge with a recorded outcome, 41% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 8.2% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,506 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Cambridge has an estimated population of 149,352 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more students (25.7%, against 7.9%), more residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (56%, against 34%) and more private renting (31%, against 20%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Cambridge average decile 7.6 (1 = most deprived), less deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.