Guides · 2026-10-12
Low-crime, affordable places to live in England, 2026
We ranked 280 of England's 296 council areas by recorded crime per resident and set it against Land Registry prices. North Kesteven, West Lancashire and East Riding of Yorkshire combine the lowest recorded crime with average prices under £250,000.
Most "safest places" lists stop at crime, and most of the places on them are among the most expensive in the country. We looked for places with low recorded crime where homes still cost less than average. So we took every crime and anti-social behaviour report published for England in the 12 months to August 2026, matched each one to its council area, divided by the people who live there, and set the result against the Land Registry's average house price.
Across the 280 council areas with full police data there were 96.3 reports per 1,000 residents. The typical (median) council area's average house price was about £302,000; the England average was £293,500.
Low recorded crime, average price under £250,000
| Council area | Reports per 1,000 residents | Average price, July 2026 | Price change, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Kesteven (Lincolnshire) | 54.5 | £242,800 | +2.6% |
| West Lancashire | 61.0 | £236,200 | +5.2% |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 61.5 | £220,400 | +1.6% |
| Staffordshire Moorlands | 67.6 | £224,400 | +7.1% |
| Gedling (Nottinghamshire) | 68.6 | £241,500 | +0.9% |
| Fylde (Lancashire) | 70.0 | £235,800 | +7.2% |
| Westmorland and Furness (Cumbria) | 71.6 | £230,400 | +7.7% |
| South Ribble (Lancashire) | 75.7 | £213,300 | +2.7% |
| Wyre (Lancashire) | 76.6 | £193,700 | +4.7% |
| Northumberland | 77.4 | £212,600 | +7.3% |
Lancashire stands out: four of the ten are there. All ten have recorded crime at least 19% below the England rate and prices well below the typical council area. Several, including Westmorland and Furness, Fylde, Staffordshire Moorlands and Northumberland, have seen prices rise around 7% in a year, faster than most of England.
The lowest recorded crime, at any price
| Council area | Reports per 1,000 residents | Average price, July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Broadland (Norfolk) | 39.3 | £313,400 |
| Mid Suffolk | 40.3 | £315,900 |
| Waverley (Surrey) | 43.1 | £553,400 |
| Hart (Hampshire) | 44.2 | £481,100 |
| West Devon | 44.5 | £285,800 |
| Wokingham (Berkshire) | 44.6 | £496,500 |
| Babergh (Suffolk) | 45.6 | £330,500 |
| East Devon | 46.7 | £339,700 |
| South Hams (Devon) | 46.8 | £355,500 |
| Rutland | 46.8 | £298,900 |
The Isles of Scilly also has very low recorded crime (40.5 per 1,000) but only about 2,300 residents, so we have left it out of the table. Devon appears three times and Suffolk twice: rural East Anglia, the South West and parts of the South East dominate the low end.
Reading the figures fairly
- These are reports to the police, not a measure of how safe anyone feels, and not every crime is reported.
- Rates divide by people who live in an area. Places with busy centres, stations or nightlife record crime committed by visitors too, which is why Westminster and the City of London top the list for recorded crime.
- A council area is large. Crime varies street by street inside it, so check the specific neighbourhood: PlaceFit shows it for any town, village or postcode.
- Greater Manchester Police currently publishes no crime data on police.uk, and Gloucestershire Constabulary published none for February to August 2026. Their 16 council areas are estimated in our download, marked as estimates, and left out of these rankings. British Transport Police data (crime on the railway) was not published for this period and is not included anywhere.
Method and data
Crime: every street-level crime and anti-social behaviour report published on police.uk for September 2025 to August 2026, summed by 2021 neighbourhood (LSOA) and matched to its council area using the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 lookup. Residents: ONS mid-2025 population estimates (published 29 July 2026). Prices: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, average price for July 2026 and the change over 12 months. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0: police.uk data; HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; Office for National Statistics data; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data. The full table for all 296 council areas is free to download and reuse under the same licence; please credit 'PlaceFit, using police.uk, HM Land Registry and ONS data'.
Download the full table (CSV) · Check any town or postcode · How PlaceFit measures places