Crime in South Cambridgeshire: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,475), anti-social behaviour (1,982) and criminal damage and arson (949) made up 63% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 267th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

The year to August 2026 had the most recorded crime in South Cambridgeshire of any year here (10,190 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 16%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and theft from the person (89% below) and robbery (74% below) were well below it. On the year before, drugs rose from 151 to 314 and other crime rose from 226 to 305.

What each category covers: crime categories.

8,092 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in South Cambridgeshire in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 46.9 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 9% on the year ending March 2025 (7,390), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, South Cambridgeshire had the 24th lowest 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 Cambridgeshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.5% 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 South Cambridgeshire is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in South Cambridgeshire, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,356 offences (17% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.09 times), possession of drugs (0.28 times) and robbery of personal property (0.32 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (from 26 to 200) and possession of weapons (+78%). The largest falls were in non-residential burglary (−12%). 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 South Cambridgeshire 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. South Cambridgeshire's rate was below 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 Cambridgeshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.2% in the year ending March 2018 to 2.0% 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 Cambridgeshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 6 districts in the Cambridgeshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, South Cambridgeshire had the 2nd 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.

Every one of the 8 nearest districts has a higher crime rate than South Cambridgeshire.

Of the 58 areas within South Cambridgeshire, Milton (South Cambridgeshire) had the highest crime rate (122.0 per 1,000) and West Wratting the lowest (28.3), 4 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 17% of the crime recorded in South Cambridgeshire over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Petrol Station” (396).

Of the 8,208 crimes in South Cambridgeshire with a recorded outcome, 35% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 4.3% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,982 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

South Cambridgeshire has an estimated population of 172,544 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (11%, against 23%), more residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (48%, against 34%) and fewer residents with no qualifications (12%, against 18%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up South Cambridgeshire average decile 8.1 (1 = most deprived), less 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.