Crime in Stoke-on-Trent district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (13,911), anti-social behaviour (6,820) and public order (3,182) made up 63% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 21st of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest tenth.

Recorded crime in Stoke-on-Trent district peaked in the year to August 2018 (40,848 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2021 (32,482). 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, Stoke-on-Trent district recorded notably more possession of weapons (80% above the national rate), public order (77% above the national rate) and criminal damage and arson (65% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (77% below). On the year before, bicycle theft rose from 242 to 300 and robbery rose from 443 to 535.

What each category covers: crime categories.

30,023 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Stoke-on-Trent district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 111.0 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 2% on the year ending March 2025 (29,325), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Stoke-on-Trent district had the 25th 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 Staffordshire 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 Stoke-on-Trent district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Stoke-on-Trent district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was stalking and harassment, with 4,750 offences (16% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for arson (2.1 times the national rate), possession of weapons (1.8 times the national rate) and stalking and harassment (1.7 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.19 times).

The largest rises on the year were in bicycle theft (+28%) and possession of drugs (+25%). The largest falls were in theft from the person (−21%) and non-residential burglary (−13%). 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 Stoke-on-Trent district since the year ending March 2021

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2021 to 2026. Stoke-on-Trent district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in every one of those 6 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2021 because the share of crimes in the Staffordshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 3.1% in the year ending March 2020 to 1.9% in the year ending March 2021, 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 Staffordshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 9 districts in the Staffordshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Stoke-on-Trent 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.

Stoke-on-Trent district has a higher crime rate than all 8 of its nearest districts.

Of the 35 areas within Stoke-on-Trent district, Hartshill Park & Stoke had the highest crime rate (308.7 per 1,000) and Lightwood North & Normacot the lowest (55.5), 6 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 15% of the crime recorded in Stoke-on-Trent district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,707).

Of the 30,954 crimes in Stoke-on-Trent district with a recorded outcome, 30% 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 6,820 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Stoke-on-Trent district has an estimated population of 270,425 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more residents with no qualifications (26%, against 18%), fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (22%, against 34%) and more social housing (22%, against 17%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Stoke-on-Trent district average decile 3.5 (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.