Crime in Leicester district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (17,043), anti-social behaviour (6,272) and public order (4,857) made up 59% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 46th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

Recorded crime in Leicester district peaked in the year to August 2022 (52,789 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2020 (45,683). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 4%, in line with England and Wales.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Leicester district recorded notably more public order (88% above the national rate), bicycle theft (85% above the national rate) and criminal damage and arson (65% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (25% below). On the year before, bicycle theft fell from 838 to 593 and vehicle crime fell from 3,061 to 2,167.

What each category covers: crime categories.

42,724 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Leicester district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 110.0 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 5% on the year ending March 2025 (45,117), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Leicester district had the 27th 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 Leicestershire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.7% 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 Leicester district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Leicester district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 6,838 offences (16% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for bicycle theft (2.3 times the national rate), public order offences (1.9 times the national rate) and arson (1.8 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for robbery of business property (0.42 times) and theft from the person (0.72 times).

The largest rises on the year were in arson (+33%) and trafficking of drugs (+13%). The largest falls were in violence with injury (−16%) and vehicle offences (−14%). 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 Leicester district since the year ending March 2023

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2023 to 2026. Leicester district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in every one of those 4 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2023 because the share of crimes in the Leicestershire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 2.4% in the year ending March 2022 to 1.2% in the year ending March 2023, 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 Leicestershire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 9 districts in the Leicestershire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Leicester district had the 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.

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

Of the 22 areas within Leicester district, Castle had the highest crime rate (443.9 per 1,000) and Spinney Hills the lowest (49.8), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 17% of the crime recorded in Leicester district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,663).

Of the 41,216 crimes in Leicester district with a recorded outcome, 39% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 6.3% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 6,272 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Leicester district has an estimated population of 388,348 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more students (15.3%, against 7.9%), more residents with no qualifications (27%, against 18%) and more private renting (29%, against 20%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Leicester district average decile 3.0 (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.