The UK’s safest place to live is an old English county that is well-renowned for its beauty.
Rutland is an East Midlands county on the border of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire that is home to multiple market towns.
The area is home to just 41,049 people, making it the second smallest ceremonial county in the UK, with only the City of London having fewer full-time residents.
What it lacks in size, it makes up for in character, with castles, stately homes, gardens and the famous Rutland Water packed into the county’s borders.
An added bonus, recent data has shown, is that it has one of the lowest crime rates in the UK.
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and compiled by West Midlands Garage Doors and Online Marketing Surgery has found that Rutland boasted the fewest crimes in 2023.
Leicestershire Police recorded just 1,747 reported crimes in the area last year, hundreds fewer than its closest competitor, Ribble Valley.
Police in the second-placing county in rural Lancashire recorded 2,339 crimes in 2023.
There was an even more significant gap between the second and third places, the ONS data showed.
The data shows just 3,212 crimes in Eden, a local government district in the heart of Cumbria.
The complete list covered 20 counties, with Rutland’s 2023 rate at rock bottom and Cotswold District Council reporting the most crimes in the low criminality group.
The 20 UK areas with the lowest number of crimes include:
- Rutland: 1,747
- Ribble Valley: 2,339
- Eden: 3,212
- Maldon: 3,315
- Melton: 3,520
- Derbyshire Dales: 3,610
- Oadby and Wigston: 3,924
- Ceredigion: 4,050
- Isle of Anglesey: 4,229
- Rossendale: 4,281
- Fylde: 4,288
- East Cambridgeshire: 4,318
- Rochford: 4,460
- North Warwickshire: 4,513
- Copeland: 4,541
- Three Rivers: 4,594
- Tandridge: 4,708
- North Norfolk: 4,853
- Mole Valley: 4,863
- Cotswolds: 4,906
