Crime in Great Yarmouth district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (4,906), anti-social behaviour (1,641) and criminal damage and arson (1,071) made up 67% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 61st of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

Recorded crime in Great Yarmouth district peaked in the year to August 2022 (13,149 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2024 (10,980). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 8%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Great Yarmouth district recorded notably more possession of weapons (90% above the national rate), criminal damage and arson (58% above the national rate) and violence and sexual offences (43% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (55% below) and vehicle crime (47% below). On the year before, possession of weapons rose from 142 to 185, while bicycle theft fell from 101 to 72.

What each category covers: crime categories.

9,663 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Great Yarmouth district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 96.1 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 3% on the year ending March 2025 (9,977), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Great Yarmouth district had the 59th 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 Norfolk Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.1% 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 Great Yarmouth district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Great Yarmouth district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,034 offences (21% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for violence with injury (1.7 times the national rate), violence without injury (1.5 times the national rate) and possession of weapons (1.5 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.48 times), non-residential burglary (0.59 times) and vehicle offences (0.59 times).

The largest rises on the year were in robbery of personal property (+30%) and residential burglary (+17%). The largest falls were in non-residential burglary (−50%) and bicycle theft (−22%). 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 Great Yarmouth district since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Great Yarmouth district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 13 of those 14 years and below it in 1. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 7 districts in the Norfolk Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Great Yarmouth district 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 Great Yarmouth district; the highest is Norwich district (124.7 per 1,000) and the lowest Broadland (39.8).

Of the 28 areas within Great Yarmouth district, Nelson had the highest crime rate (296.8 per 1,000) and West Flegg the lowest (31.9), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 19% of the crime recorded in Great Yarmouth district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (528).

Of the 9,706 crimes in Great Yarmouth district with a recorded outcome, 21% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 6.6% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,641 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Great Yarmouth district has an estimated population of 100,529 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (18%, against 34%), more residents with no qualifications (27%, against 18%) and fewer students (5.0%, against 7.9%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Great Yarmouth district average decile 3.5 (1 = most deprived), more 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.