London has been ranked the third least safe university city in the United Kingdom during Freshers season, according to new research analysing recorded crime across September and October 2025. The capital recorded 11,186 offences during the two-month period — equivalent to around 2,389 crimes per 10,000 students, almost six times the rate seen in Oxford and more than 23 times that of top-ranked St Andrews.
The study, conducted by ID Card Centre, examined recorded crime data for 47 UK student cities during the main Freshers and welcome period, scoring each location on overall crime, violent crime and antisocial behaviour relative to enrolled student numbers. The methodology weighted total crime most heavily at 60 per cent, with violent crime accounting for 25 per cent and antisocial behaviour 15 per cent.
Scotland dominates the safety rankings
St Andrews claimed the top spot with a safety score of 94 out of 100. Just 120 crimes were recorded across the two months, the lowest absolute and student-adjusted total in the entire ranking, alongside only 18 violent offences and 11 antisocial behaviour incidents. The small Fife university town is home to the University of St Andrews, one of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world, and its relatively compact, pedestrianised centre appears to contribute to its comparatively low crime environment.
Dundee followed in second place with a score of 92.1 and 280 recorded crimes, while Stirling completed an all-Scottish top three with a score of 89.1. Scotland’s dominance of the upper rankings is notable: four of the top five positions were taken by Scottish cities, with Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland the highest-ranking destination outside Scotland, finishing fourth with a safety score of 85.5.
Among English universities, Oxford led the way in sixth place overall with a safety score of 82.7 and approximately 402 crimes per 10,000 students. Durham followed in seventh, and Bangor was the highest-ranked Welsh city in eighth. Edinburgh, despite recording a raw total of 1,670 crimes, ranked fifth once figures were adjusted against its large student population of more than 41,000.
Leicester, Bradford and London at the bottom
Leicester finished last overall with a safety score of just 9.3. The city recorded 3,114 crimes during the Freshers period, including 915 violent offences and 445 antisocial behaviour incidents. Its student-adjusted rate of approximately 1,868 crimes per 10,000 students, combined with the high levels of violence and antisocial behaviour, produced the lowest composite score in the study.
Bradford ranked 46th with a safety score of 9.4. Its 2,523 crimes translate to around 2,123 per 10,000 students, the second-highest rate in the ranking, with 894 violent offences recorded. London was ranked 45th with a score of 10.7. Brighton (11.1), Bristol (14.1) and Wrexham (17.2) also featured in the bottom ten, along with Belfast, Plymouth, Derby and Newcastle.
The contrast between Belfast and Derry/Londonderry — scoring 20.3 and 85.5 respectively — was among the most striking findings in the research. Belfast recorded 2,877 crimes over the same two-month window, including 921 antisocial behaviour incidents, the highest ASB total in the bottom ten outside London.
Manchester was excluded from the study because Greater Manchester Police did not supply September to October 2025 street-level crime data through the national police.uk portal.
Size of city plays a significant role
Ben O’Brien, Managing Director at ID Card Centre, said the results highlighted how differently the Freshers experience could unfold depending on location. “The places at the top are mostly smaller student cities, while quite a few of the big nightlife destinations sit much further down. That probably isn’t a coincidence. Somewhere like St Andrews has a very different city centre to London, Bristol or Newcastle. There are fewer people passing through, less late-night footfall and generally less going on in a much smaller area.”
O’Brien added that students in larger cities share urban space with commuters, tourists and a broader nightlife crowd, increasing the statistical opportunity for crime to be recorded. He also cautioned against treating the rankings as a definitive guide to personal safety. “None of this means students should choose a university based on a crime table, and being lower down certainly doesn’t mean you’re going to have a bad or unsafe experience there. These are busy city-centre areas and the figures cover everyone using them, not just students.”
He said the Freshers period was nonetheless a time of heightened vulnerability, when new arrivals are unfamiliar with their surroundings, social networks and safe routes home. Practical advice included keeping hold of phones and bank cards, being cautious about granting access to accommodation, and reporting lost or stolen student ID cards promptly. The latter point is particularly relevant for ID Card Centre, which supplies ID card systems to universities and organisations across the UK.
The research used 2024/25 HESA enrolment data for student population figures, and drew on Home Office street-level crime data from police.uk for English, Welsh and Northern Irish cities. Scottish cities used Police Scotland provisional Multi Member Ward data, which is not directly comparable with the fixed 1.5 km city-centre catchments applied elsewhere — a caveat the researchers noted means close cross-nation comparisons should be treated with caution.
