Safest Places in North West England

by Erin Yurday - February 12, 2018

North West England is home to over 7 million people living in the five counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. With safety being a top priority these days, ValuePenguin has analysed data from police.uk (via the UKCrimeStats website) in order to identify the safest places in North West England.

Ninety-six post towns with populations greater than 3,000 residents were included in the study. The analysis of both violent crime and property crime shows overall crime scores ranging from 640 to 5,473 (a lower score indicates less crime), adjusted for population size.

For more information on how the crime scores were calculated, please see the Methodology section below.

5 Safest Places in North West England

The safest five post towns in the North West have an average crime score of 796, which is 65% lower than other towns in the area. Not surprisingly, small towns dominated the top 5 spots.

1. Askam-in-Furness

With a population over 3,000 residents, LA16 in Cumbria is the safest post town in North West England, boasting an overall score of just 640. Remarkably, Askam and Ireleth's violent crime score of 448 is a whopping 78% lower than average across the North West. Households earn an average of £38,000 per year in this safe area. Local police have recently prioritized underage drinking to continue keeping the area safe.

2. Tarporley

The CW6 Tarporley post town sports an overall crime score of 712, an impressive 71% lower than the north west average crime score. Tarporley also comes in second in terms of violent crime score, so residents can sleep peacefully at night. Households in Tarporley earn more than any other post town in the top 5, averaging £45,000 per year.

3. Brampton

The Brampton post town, which includes Brampton, Gilsland, Greenhead and Slaggyford, is home to over 10,000 residents and ranks 3rd in the North West with an overall crime score of 864. Average household incomes in the CA8 post town are close to £33,000 per year. Local policing priorities in the summer of 2017 focused on keeping the young people engaged, for instance by working with the Brampton Community Centre and Summer Splash.

4. Grange-over-Sands

The Grange-over-Sands post town, which includes the small village of Allithwaite, ranks 4th in terms of safety in the north west with an overall crime score of 873. Of particular note, LA11 came in with the lowest property crime score in the north west. In Grange-over-Sands, households earn an average of £32,000 each year.

5. Seascale

With only a few thousand residents, the CA20 post town of Seascale rounds out the top 5 safest places in the north west. Included in the Seascale post town are Seascale, Sellafield, Gosforth and Wasdale Head. Average incomes in this relatively well-off area are close to £42,000 per year per household.

Population Breakdown

Even though we have adjusted the crime scores for population, it can be difficult to compare small villages to large cities. Perhaps not surprisingly, small post towns dominated our list of the Top 5 Safest Post Towns in North West England. In fact, the largest post town in the top 5 is home to only around 12,000 residents.

To account for this, we have also divided the post towns into three categories by population size: small post towns with between 3,000 and 20,000 residents, midsize post towns with between 20,000 and 50,000 residents and large post towns with over 50,000 residents. Here are our findings:

chart showing the Safest Places in North West England, According to Post Town Size
Safest Places in North West England, According to Post Town Size

Full List of Places in North West England

In the following table you can see all 96 North West England post towns that were included in our "Safest Places in North West England" study of post towns with populations over 3,000. We've listed the towns here, from the most safe to the least safe according to our analysis. See below for more information on our methodology.

RankPost TownCrime Score
1ASKAM-IN-FURNESS640
2TARPORLEY712
3BRAMPTON864
4GRANGE-OVER-SANDS873
5SEASCALE894
6ULVERSTON903
7APPLEBY-IN-WESTMORLAND950
8SEDBERGH977
9LYMM981
10BARNOLDSWICK1,046
11FRODSHAM1,063
12CARNFORTH1,068
13MALPAS1,081
14NESTON1,092
15KIRKBY STEPHEN1,123
16DALTON-IN-FURNESS1,132
17SANDBACH1,150
18MILNTHORPE1,170
19KNUTSFORD1,186
20ORMSKIRK1,197
21WILMSLOW1,256
22POULTON-LE-FYLDE1,270
23KESWICK1,299
24COCKERMOUTH1,312
25NORTHWICH1,377
26PENRITH1,403
27WIRRAL1,439
28WIGTON1,448
29CLITHEROE1,472
30NANTWICH1,485
31MILLOM1,535
32KENDAL1,543
33MIDDLEWICH1,596
34AMBLESIDE1,625
35THORNTON-CLEVELEYS1,630
36MACCLESFIELD1,682
37LYTHAM ST. ANNES1,708
38CONGLETON1,744
39PRENTON1,778
40ALTRINCHAM1,784
41EGREMONT1,814
42SALE1,904
43CREWE1,920
44WARRINGTON1,939
45ROSSENDALE1,945
46CHEADLE2,031
47LEYLAND2,050
48CHORLEY2,083
49CLEATOR MOOR2,085
50WINDERMERE2,094
51PRESCOT2,120
52LITTLEBOROUGH2,133
53SKELMERSDALE2,158
54SOUTHPORT2,187
55ELLESMERE PORT2,190
56RUNCORN2,206
57WINSFORD2,245
58LANCASTER2,311
59FRIZINGTON2,323
60WIDNES2,345
61COLNE2,365
62PRESTON2,436
63WHITEHAVEN2,523
64CARLISLE2,535
65NELSON2,595
66STOCKPORT2,603
67WIGAN2,658
68WALLASEY2,683
69DARWEN2,726
70NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS2,787
71MARYPORT2,818
72BACUP2,846
73BLACKBURN2,866
74WORKINGTON2,925
75BARROW-IN-FURNESS3,061
76ACCRINGTON3,106
77ST. HELENS3,122
78LIVERPOOL3,185
79MORECAMBE3,237
80STALYBRIDGE3,241
81BURY3,311
82HYDE3,320
83BOLTON3,393
84BURNLEY3,466
85DUKINFIELD3,510
86FLEETWOOD3,547
87BOOTLE3,711
88OLDHAM3,856
89LEIGH4,098
90ROCHDALE4,194
91MANCHESTER4,248
92HEYWOOD4,421
93ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE4,666
94BIRKENHEAD4,781
95SALFORD4,989
96BLACKPOOL5,473

Methodology

To rank the post towns, we collected data from police.uk via the UKCrimeStats website, from March 2016 to March 2017, covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We excluded post towns with fewer than 3,000 residents since areas with smaller populations are more sensitive to crime fluctuations. The raw data included both property crimes (burglary, vehicle crimes, criminal damage & arson, other theft and bike theft) and violent crimes (violent crimes, robbery and theft from person).

Since the raw data was broken out by postcode district (e.g., FY1), we aggregated the data into post towns. For example, the post town of Blackpool includes postcode districts FY1, FY2, FY3 and FY4. To account for different town sizes, we standardized the data to reflect property and violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Next, we calculated an overall “crime score” by weighting violent crime at 80% and property crime at 20%. While property crime is more common, we think violent crime is more alarming to residents. Finally, we ranked the cities based on their crime scores.

Here are the North West England Post Towns listed alphabetically, so you can find the crime scores for your town.

RankPost TownPopulationViolent Crime per 100kProperty Crime per 100kCrime Score
76ACCRINGTON61,4202,5995,1353,106
40ALTRINCHAM71,0141,5252,8221,784
34AMBLESIDE5,0221,2942,9471,625
7APPLEBY-IN-WESTMORLAND6,1879051,131950
93ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE56,4694,2806,2094,666
1ASKAM-IN-FURNESS3,3454481,405640
72BACUP15,3002,4774,3202,846
10BARNOLDSWICK17,0638201,9461,046
75BARROW-IN-FURNESS57,3203,0832,9753,061
94BIRKENHEAD49,9644,6755,2064,781
73BLACKBURN141,2482,5983,9382,866
96BLACKPOOL134,2395,1576,7385,473
83BOLTON278,5423,0974,5773,393
87BOOTLE51,5123,4774,6463,711
3BRAMPTON10,2138131,067864
84BURNLEY94,2312,8605,8913,466
81BURY101,3213,1613,9093,311
64CARLISLE103,0402,3743,1782,535
12CARNFORTH29,2639531,5281,068
46CHEADLE58,4341,5853,8162,031
48CHORLEY90,3141,8503,0142,083
49CLEATOR MOOR6,0911,9042,8072,085
29CLITHEROE31,6411,2172,4901,472
24COCKERMOUTH15,0121,1661,8981,312
61COLNE23,0321,9454,0472,365
38CONGLETON29,3171,6582,0881,744
43CREWE101,5761,8442,2241,920
16DALTON-IN-FURNESS7,9139731,7691,132
69DARWEN34,1792,2734,5352,726
85DUKINFIELD19,4753,2814,4263,510
41EGREMONT9,2841,6592,4341,814
55ELLESMERE PORT61,4642,0812,6282,190
86FLEETWOOD25,9393,2774,6263,547
59FRIZINGTON3,6081,9683,7422,323
11FRODSHAM18,9849691,4381,063
4GRANGE-OVER-SANDS9,827895784873
92HEYWOOD27,8863,9886,1544,421
82HYDE46,2283,1064,1773,320
32KENDAL39,3361,3782,2041,543
23KESWICK8,0371,1451,9161,299
15KIRKBY STEPHEN4,8271,0361,4711,123
19KNUTSFORD23,4171,0681,6611,186
58LANCASTER74,5682,0303,4362,311
89LEIGH47,8233,6076,0624,098
47LEYLAND46,0971,8682,7772,050
52LITTLEBOROUGH14,6351,8723,1772,133
78LIVERPOOL715,8322,9184,2513,185
9LYMM12,8998141,651981
37LYTHAM ST. ANNES43,8641,5642,2821,708
36MACCLESFIELD76,2681,6271,9041,682
13MALPAS5,3308442,0261,081
91MANCHESTER1,049,1293,9445,4604,248
71MARYPORT16,1102,6383,5382,818
33MIDDLEWICH14,7901,4672,1101,596
31MILLOM9,9951,5611,4311,535
18MILNTHORPE5,1101,0371,7031,170
79MORECAMBE50,8382,9034,5713,237
30NANTWICH29,3271,4531,6131,485
65NELSON44,5882,2024,1652,595
14NESTON19,0279301,7401,092
70NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS22,1892,4973,9482,787
25NORTHWICH68,4181,3391,5291,377
88OLDHAM203,6323,5545,0653,856
20ORMSKIRK46,1881,0331,8531,197
26PENRITH36,0631,2731,9241,403
22POULTON-LE-FYLDE27,7511,2001,5491,270
39PRENTON38,5821,5582,6571,778
51PRESCOT43,0011,8793,0862,120
62PRESTON287,2192,1083,7452,436
90ROCHDALE129,0653,9475,1814,194
45ROSSENDALE41,1401,6942,9461,945
56RUNCORN62,8012,2122,1852,206
42SALE60,0111,7052,7031,904
95SALFORD58,2024,3287,6324,989
17SANDBACH22,3211,0571,5191,150
5SEASCALE3,312876966894
8SEDBERGH3,7678761,380977
53SKELMERSDALE46,2911,8363,4462,158
54SOUTHPORT96,7362,0202,8572,187
77ST. HELENS127,9342,8864,0673,122
80STALYBRIDGE27,6253,0304,0833,241
66STOCKPORT243,0802,2354,0752,603
2TARPORLEY12,3005851,220712
35THORNTON-CLEVELEYS44,8001,4752,2481,630
6ULVERSTON20,0478081,282903
68WALLASEY60,8052,4523,6052,683
44WARRINGTON215,3591,7972,5091,939
63WHITEHAVEN28,8492,4652,7592,523
60WIDNES61,8662,2112,8822,345
67WIGAN215,0352,3473,9052,658
28WIGTON23,0571,3311,9131,448
21WILMSLOW37,9261,0731,9851,256
50WINDERMERE9,0921,8153,2122,094
57WINSFORD31,4362,2392,2652,245
27WIRRAL170,2201,2822,0661,439
74WORKINGTON35,8322,7573,5972,925

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