Crime in Wigan
Recorded crime in Wigan is about the England and Wales average. The police force here stopped publishing data after June 2019. Most of the harm comes from violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences).
344,922 residents in 200 neighbourhoods.
- Safety in the UK
- 4/10Above average crime (data up to 2019)
- Safety in the world
- 7/10Low crime
- Living
- 6.8/10Good
Crime in Wigan now
The police force here has published no street-level crime for Wigan since June 2019, so the scores on this page are from before then. These are the latest Home Office figures for the whole council area, April 2025 to March 2026.
85.8 crimes per 1,000 residents were recorded in Wigan in 2025/26 (England and Wales: 83.2).
Greater Manchester Police did not assign 5.9% of the crimes it recorded in 2025/26 to a council area, so these figures are lower than the true count.
| Type | Crimes in 2025/26 | Per 1,000 residents | Change on 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cars stolen | 500 | 1.4 | Down 3% |
| Cars broken into | 686 | 2.0 | Down 5% |
| Vehicle tampering | 227 | 0.66 | Down 2% |
| Vandalism to homes | 1,218 | 3.5 | Down 2% |
| Vandalism to other buildings | 427 | 1.2 | Up 14% |
| Vandalism to vehicles | 782 | 2.3 | Down 13% |
| Arson | 227 | 0.66 | Up 5% |
| Burglary of homes | 687 | 2.0 | Down 20% |
| Burglary of businesses | 296 | 0.86 | Down 10% |
| Homicide (murder and manslaughter) | 0 | - | - |
| Carrying a knife or blade | 235 | 0.68 | Down 4% |
| Carrying other weapons (including guns) | 231 | 0.67 | Up 27% |
| Robbery of people | 201 | 0.58 | Down 21% |
| Robbery of businesses | 102 | 0.30 | Up 70% |
| Violence with injury | 2,859 | 8.3 | Down 8% |
| Violence without injury | 5,275 | 15.3 | About the same |
| Stalking and harassment | 4,738 | 13.7 | Down 9% |
| Sexual offences | 1,033 | 3.0 | Down 13% |
| Shoplifting | 1,845 | 5.3 | Down 2% |
| Bicycle theft | 188 | 0.55 | Up 18% |
| Theft from the person (pickpocketing, bag snatching) | 101 | 0.29 | Down 31% |
| Drug dealing | 402 | 1.2 | Down 32% |
| Drug possession | 748 | 2.2 | Up 12% |
Under 10 a year: no rate or change, the numbers are too small to compare. These are council-area figures: police.uk street-level data, used for the map and the Safety score, only has the broad categories, and no source publishes murders or stabbings by street. Source: Home Office, police recorded crime by community safety partnership.
Greater Manchester Police area: 2,831 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in 2025/26 (3,425 the year before). This covers the whole police force area, not only Wigan.
Source: Home Office, police recorded knife crime by police force.
Policing under the elected mayor: Bev Craig (Greater Manchester) →
Road collisions
Wigan, 2023 to 2025: 238 road collisions a year with someone hurt, 86 of them with someone killed or seriously injured. 13 collisions were fatal in those 3 years.
0.7 a year per 1,000 residents (Great Britain 1.5). 36% of them killed or seriously injured someone (Great Britain 26%).
Collisions on public roads that the police recorded where someone was hurt, counted where they happened, so busy through roads and town centres with few residents come out high. Serious and slight use the Department for Transport's adjusted severity, comparable between police forces. Source: Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Towns and cities in Wigan
Postcode districts in Wigan
Embed this on your site: a free live safety card for Wigan.
Questions about crime in Wigan
- Is Wigan a safe place to live?
- Wigan scores 4 out of 10 for safety (above average crime), compared with every neighbourhood in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Police data here stops in June 2019.
- What is the most common crime in Wigan?
- The most common recorded crime is violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences), about 27 per 1,000 residents a year. Police data here stops in June 2019.
- How many cars are stolen in Wigan?
- In Wigan, the police recorded 500 cars stolen in 2025/26 (April 2025 to March 2026), 1.4 per 1,000 residents, down 3% on the year before.
- Is vandalism common in Wigan?
- 2,427 acts of vandalism to homes, other buildings and vehicles were recorded in Wigan in 2025/26, 7.0 per 1,000 residents, 1.5 times the England and Wales average.
- How many murders were there in Wigan last year?
- No homicides (murder or manslaughter) were recorded in Wigan in 2025/26, against 4 the year before.