Crime in Ipswich district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (5,726), shoplifting (2,339) and criminal damage and arson (1,090) made up 65% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 98th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Ipswich district peaked in the year to August 2018 (19,204 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2025 (13,467). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 27%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Ipswich district recorded notably more shoplifting (2.0 times the national rate), possession of weapons (41% above the national rate) and bicycle theft (30% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (66% below) and anti-social behaviour (58% below). On the year before, shoplifting rose from 1,517 to 2,339, while theft from the person fell from 100 to 81.

What each category covers: crime categories.

12,692 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Ipswich district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 90.5 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 1% on the year ending March 2025 (12,523), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Ipswich district had the 81st 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 Suffolk Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.3% 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 Ipswich district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Ipswich district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,382 offences (19% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for shoplifting (1.9 times the national rate), possession of weapons (1.5 times the national rate) and violence with injury (1.4 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for robbery of business property (0.32 times), theft from the person (0.36 times) and trafficking of drugs (0.57 times).

The largest rises on the year were in possession of weapons (+15%). The largest falls were in trafficking of drugs (−32%) and theft from the person (−24%). 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 Ipswich district since the year ending March 2017

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2017 to 2026. Ipswich district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in every one of those 10 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2017 because too many of the force's crimes in the year ending March 2016 were not assigned to a district.

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

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

Of the 2 districts in the Suffolk Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Ipswich district had the highest rate. Babergh, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk are not in the table because the Home Office publishes each of them jointly with a neighbouring district, as one community safety partnership.

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.

Ipswich district has a higher crime rate than all 8 of its nearest districts.

Of the 17 areas within Ipswich district, Alexandra had the highest crime rate (250.3 per 1,000) and Bixley the lowest (46.3), 5 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 25% of the crime recorded in Ipswich district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,716).

Of the 13,157 crimes in Ipswich district with a recorded outcome, 29% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 8.1% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 914 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Ipswich district has an estimated population of 140,274 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (26%, against 34%) and more social housing (21%, against 17%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Ipswich district average decile 4.7 (1 = most deprived), close to the middle.

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