Crime in Preston: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (7,463), anti-social behaviour (4,477) and criminal damage and arson (1,581) made up 65% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 35th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

The year to August 2026 had the least recorded crime in Preston of any year here (20,756 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 23%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Preston recorded notably more bicycle theft (81% above the national rate), anti-social behaviour (79% above the national rate) and possession of weapons (65% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (59% below). On the year before, drugs rose from 557 to 682 and theft from the person rose from 95 to 111, while anti-social behaviour fell from 7,038 to 4,477.

What each category covers: crime categories.

16,068 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Preston in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 98.7 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was almost unchanged on the year ending March 2025 (16,135), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Preston had the 50th 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 Lancashire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 2.0% 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 Preston is an undercount.

Offences recorded in Preston, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,789 offences (17% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for bicycle theft (2.0 times the national rate), possession of weapons (1.6 times the national rate) and non-residential burglary (1.4 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.33 times).

The largest rises on the year were in possession of drugs (+27%) and trafficking of drugs (+24%). The largest falls were in residential burglary (−25%) and theft from the person (−10%). 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 Preston 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. Preston'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 Lancashire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.5% in the year ending March 2018 to 1.7% 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 Lancashire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 14 districts in the Lancashire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Preston had the 3rd 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 Preston; the highest is Blackpool district (183.0 per 1,000) and the lowest Ribble Valley (50.3).

Of the 22 areas within Preston, City Centre had the highest crime rate (409.4 per 1,000) and Preston Rural North the lowest (45.8), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 18% of the crime recorded in Preston over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (845).

Of the 16,279 crimes in Preston with a recorded outcome, 30% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.5% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 4,477 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Preston has an estimated population of 162,864 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more students (12.6%, against 7.9%) and a younger population (14%, against 19%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Preston average decile 4.4 (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.