Police data reveals Devon and Cornwall's safest places to live

South Devon and Dartmoor is the safest place to live in Devon and Cornwall (and England!)

With just 0.60 burglaries reported per 1,000 people last year, South Devon and Dartmoor has been revealed as the safest place to live in England and Devon and Cornwall. South Devon and Dartmoor saw just 36% more thefts last year than in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the safest area of the UK. This means that the area is also the sixth safest place to live in the UK overall. 

East and Mid Devon places second, with just 0.63 burglaries reported per 1,000 people last year. Theft rates in East and Mid Devon have dropped an average of 13.31% each year since. East and Mid Devon is also the seventh safest area of the UK overall, joined with Falkirk, Scotland.

North Devon places third with an average of 0.76 thefts per 1,000 people last year. The rate of burglaries has dropped an average of 2.78% each year since 2017. North Devon saw over a quarter (26%) more burglaries than South Devon and Dartmoor last year (0.60 per 1,000). However, North Devon is still the ninth safest place to live in the UK overall, just 20% behind Moray, Scotland which placed eighth (0.64 thefts per 1,000 people). 

Property owners in Scotland are least likely to experience a burglary 

East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, is the safest region in the UK to live in, with just 0.44 burglaries reported per 1,000 people in 2021. The rate of burglaries in the region has dropped by 26.94% each year, on average, since 2017. This is the second biggest average annual decrease in reported burglaries in the study, second only to Folkestone and Hythe (27.52% decrease).East Dunbartonshire was followed by four more Scottish regions, Highland (0.47 burglaries per 1,000 people), Aberdeenshire (0.50), Stirling (0.56) and Argyll and Bute (0.58).

Jessica Willock, home insurance expert at Confused.com comments:  “Although burglary rates seem to be dropping year on year, it’s still as important to make sure your home is safe.  Security cameras and burglary alarms aren’t only a great deterrent from potential thieves but having them could reduce your home insurance prices.

“Our guide to protecting your home from burglars outlines some of the most effective ways of keeping your house safe. This includes some simple changes, such as investing in smart home security. Nowadays, technology has advanced to give us cheap, easy to install smart home devices such as doorbells and automated lights. These let you know who’s outside without you needing to go near the door.”