Crime in Rotherham district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (11,140), anti-social behaviour (5,166) and shoplifting (3,223) made up 63% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 65th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

Recorded crime in Rotherham district peaked in the year to August 2018 (33,491 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2021 (28,699). 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, Rotherham district recorded notably more other crime (53% above the national rate), shoplifting (38% above the national rate) and burglary (35% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (81% below) and bicycle theft (65% below). On the year before, shoplifting rose from 2,006 to 3,223 and robbery rose from 278 to 421, while drugs fell from 777 to 593 and possession of weapons fell from 386 to 326.

What each category covers: crime categories.

25,747 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Rotherham district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 93.1 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 2% on the year ending March 2025 (25,307), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Rotherham district had the 70th 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 South Yorkshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.2% 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 Rotherham district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Rotherham district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was stalking and harassment, with 3,999 offences (16% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for miscellaneous crimes against society (1.6 times the national rate), stalking and harassment (1.4 times the national rate) and possession of weapons (1.4 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.19 times), bicycle theft (0.36 times) and possession of drugs (0.68 times).

The largest rises on the year were in bicycle theft (+21%) and rape (+14%). The largest falls were in trafficking of drugs (−23%) and residential burglary (−18%). 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 Rotherham 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. Rotherham district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in every one of those 14 years. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the South Yorkshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 4 districts in the South Yorkshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Rotherham district had the lowest 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.

4 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Rotherham district; the highest is Doncaster district (131.8 per 1,000) and the lowest North East Derbyshire (70.1).

Of the 50 areas within Rotherham district, Boston Castle had the highest crime rate (293.9 per 1,000) and Thorpe Hesley the lowest (36.5), 8 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 15% of the crime recorded in Rotherham district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (898).

Of the 25,786 crimes in Rotherham district with a recorded outcome, 33% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 4.9% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 5,166 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Rotherham district has an estimated population of 276,595 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer students (5.4%, against 7.9%), fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (23%, against 34%) and more residents with no qualifications (23%, against 18%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Rotherham district average decile 4.3 (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.