A new crime map has revealed the most dangerous places to live across England and Wales, with the worst-offending area recording one crime for every two people.

Over five million non-fraud crimes were recorded across the UK’s 43 police forces in the year to September 2024, and a new map reveals the areas most inundated with offences.

Unsurprisingly, the Metropolitan Police – responsible for law and order in London, the nation’s biggest and capital city – had the largest caseload, with 944,000 million crime reports.

They were followed by West Midlands Police, which recorded 321,000 crimes, and West Yorkshire, which logged 278,000 reports in the 12-month period.

Each police force is also split into smaller community safety partnership areas, which broadly match the regions governed by local authorities. Crime rates are measured by every 1,000 people living in a given area, allowing for fair comparisons across varying populations.

The map shows that Westminster in London has by far the highest crime rate in the country, with 434 offences for every group of 1,000 – the equivalent of one crime report for every two people.

The shocking figure also represents a doubling of the crime rate in Camden, the second localised area on the list, which saw 189 crimes per 1,000 people in the year to last September.

It may be explained by the extremely high number of tourists who visit Westminster each year, making it a magnet for criminals.

Thieves are particularly likely to operate in central London, with theft offences around three times higher in Westminster than anywhere else.

Outside London, Middlesborough in the North East has the highest crime rate, with 166 offences for every 1,000 people – the equivalent of one crime for every six people living there.

It is followed by Manchester, which recorded 158 crimes per 1,000, Blackpool with 155 and Hartlepool with 141.

Using our interactive map, you can see how the list-toppers compare with where you live.

Police recorded crime figures show that while homicides fell by 4% in the year to September 2024, offences involving knives increased by 4% and firearms by 19%.

There was also a 4% rise in robbery and a 23% increase in shoplifting.

It comes as the latest Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) estimates that 9.5 million incidents of “headline” crime, including theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury, occurred in the year to September.

The annual poll, which measures the amount and impact of crime in the country based on face-to-face interviews, recorded around a million more incidents than in the previous year—mainly driven by a 19% increase in fraud.

According to responses collected by the CSEW, it is estimated that around 4.4 million experienced some form of harassment, approximately 2.2 million were victims of domestic abuse, 1.6 million had been preyed on by a stalker, and 1 million suffered a sexual assault.