The latest Home Office crime figures show there has been a rise in some serious offending including stalking and harassment, robbery, drug crime and possession of weapons16:46, 28 Jul 2026Updated 16:59, 28 Jul 2026An industrial Yorkshire town has overtaken a popular seaside resort as the most dangerous place to live.‌Data obtained by the Mirror shows the crime rate in Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire is worse than any other place in England and Wales, excluding central London and the City of Westminster. Blackpool in Lancashire did have the unenviable tag in 2025, but its rate has improved.‌Our map, embedded below, shows the locations of the towns and cities. The latest Home Office recorded crime figures show that there has been a rise in some serious types of offending across England and Wales, including sexual offences (by 4 per cent), stalking and harassment (4 per cent), robbery (10 per cent), drug crime (12 per cent), and possession of weapons (8 per cent).‌But the general trend of falling crime over the past decade has continued. In the year ending March 2026, more than five million non-fraud offenses were recorded, a 1 per cent drop on the previous 12 months.‌The highest volume of offences are committed in the nation’s biggest cities, including Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester. But crime rates, which take population size into account, are generally considered the fairest way to compare crime across areas of wildly different sizes.Published quarterly, they reveal the areas where people are most likely to experience crime. As of December 2025, Blackpool had the highest crime rate, according to these figures. But in the most recent update, covering the 12 months up to March 2026, Middlesbrough has overtaken Blackpool as the most crime-ravaged part of England and Wales, excluding central London and the City of Westminster.Article continues belowThat is because crime has fallen by 4 per cent in Blackpool over the past 12 months, while it has increased slightly by 1 per cent in Middlesbrough. In the past 12 months, there have been 23,419 crimes in Middlesbrough, translating to a crime rate of 150 crimes per 1,000 people in the North East town.Despite the drop in crime, Blackpool has the second-highest crime rate in the country, with 146 offenses per 1,000 residents. Manchester is third, with a rate of 143 crimes per 1,000 residents, followed by Hartlepool (134) and Bristol (131).Meanwhile, Broadland in Norfolk has retained its title as the safest place to live in mainland England and Wales, with the nation’s lowest crime rate of 35 crimes per 1,000 residents. You can see how it compares where you live using our interactive map.