Letchworth is less safe than the district around it, with about 82 recorded crimes for every 1,000 residents. That is roughly a quarter above the district average. Anti-social behaviour takes a bigger share of crime here than it does nationally. Violence makes up about the same share as it does nationally. The category that stands out is nuisance.
Police.uk records 2,828 crimes in Letchworth in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 82 per 1,000 residents and roughly 23% above the North Hertfordshire average. In 1916 the Daily Mail accused the town of harbouring communists and conscientious objectors, and the town denied it. The modern list of offences is a lot more ordinary.
For the same year, North Hertfordshire as a whole recorded about 67 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Letchworth's 82. The district figure takes in Hitchin, Baldock and a ring of villages, so the comparison is with neighbours. Letchworth comes out as the busier end of the district for police calls.
Letchworth averages about 4,070 people per square kilometre, unemployment is about 3% and about 3% of households are overcrowded. That makes a fairly tightly built town with most people in work and few homes over capacity. None of these causes crime, and none of them lines up with the usual explanations for a rate this high.
Violence and sexual offences make up about 37% of recorded crime in Letchworth, close to the 35% across England and Wales. That police category is broad and includes common assault where nobody was hurt, and it is the largest one almost everywhere. The real difference is anti-social behaviour, at about 23% of crime here against 16% nationally. Criminal damage and arson make up about 8%, against 7% nationally. Shoplifting and other theft are each about 7%, against 8% and 7%, and public order offences about 5%, against 7%. Apart from anti-social behaviour, the mix looks like England's. The town rate is an average across 23 small neighbourhood areas, so look at police.uk's street-level map for the roads around a house and see what gets reported on that street.
Hertfordshire Constabulary charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% nationally, over the year to May 2026. That is a figure for the whole county force, and it ranks 23rd of 42 forces. About 40% of the force's cases closed with no suspect identified. That tells you how often a reported crime leads somewhere. It does not tell you how safe the town is, and in Hertfordshire a reported crime ends with a charge less often than the national average.
Letchworth is below average on safety. Crime runs well above the district rate, and anti-social behaviour is the part to ask about on any street you are considering.