Safest Places to live in UK

Your home should be a sanctuary. The place you feel the most safe and secure. 

There are many security measures you can personally take, such as securing windows and doors. But finding a safe area to live can play a big role in how safe you feel. 

This post will explore some of the safest places to live in the UK, and guide you through how to secure your home, no matter what neighbourhood you live in.

Factors Contributing to Safety

Several factors come into play when deciding how safe an area is for you to live in.

Some things, like crime rates, are easily quantifiable but others, like community engagement, may be harder to pin down.

As well as checking for statistics, it’s also important for you to get a feel for the safety of the area you’re considering moving to.

Things like walking the neighbourhood (particularly in the evening), or visually checking out the condition of the local parks and shops, can give you an idea of how safe you feel in the area.

Top Safest Places to Live

As we discussed above, several factors can go into staying safe in the place you live.

The safest place to live based on crime rates

According to data from GetLicencsed, the UK cities and towns with the lowest crime rate (excluding fraud) are:

1. Woking, South East England
2. City of York, Yorkshire & The Humber
3. Swansea, Southwest Wales
4. Swindon, South West England
5. Exeter, South West England

The safest place to live based on community engagement

Community engagement can be hard to measure — this is where exploring the neighbourhood and speaking with local residents yourself may be helpful.

Civic engagement

One way we can measure community engagement is through civic participation. Gov.uk’s annual community life survey, the areas for the UK with the most engagement in civic participation are:

1. London
2. South West
3. South East
4. West Midlands
5. North West

Local Happiness Index

We can also look at RightMove’s Happy at Home index, which includes measures such as the “club-together community spirit of a local area.” The happiest UK cities and towns are:

1. Richmond upon Thames, Greater London
2. Winchester, South East
3. Monmouth, Wales
4. Wokingham, South East
5. Cirencester, South West

Neighbourhood Watch

The Neighborhood Watch’s Crime and Community Survey found that, regardless of whether they are a member, people living in areas with a Neighbourhood Watch scheme are more likely to feel a sense of personal safety in their local community. They are also and less likely to have been a victim of a crime in the last 2 years. 

It may be worth checking whether the area you are looking to move to operates a Neighborhood Watch scheme.

Importance of Home Security

Even in the safest areas with the lowest crime rates, there are, of course, things you can do yourself to protect your home and give you peace of mind. There are so many ways for you to take extra responsibility for your home’s security. 

From the basics of locking your doors and windows, and having a burglar alarm system in place, to ensuring that you have a solid door lock. You can even secure your front door using physical protections such as door jams and barricades.

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Home security is a top concern for most people. That feeling of security can come from living in a safe area — one with low crime rates, or high community engagement. 

At the end of the day though, whatever area you live in, taking the precaution of installing additional home security solutions can give you even more peace of mind.