Photo: Mr Ignavy · CC BY-SA 2.0Reading records bicycle theft at 2.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime here is higher than in 84% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 82%. Per 1,000 residents a year, 39.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. All told, Reading grades C− for safety: more crime per resident than 84% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 7% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Reading
One ward carries much of the rate
Abbey ward recorded 4,563 of Reading’s 24,190 violent and sexual offences in three years: 149.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Reading the figure is 33.7. Where in Reading ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 7% more violent crime per resident in Reading than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 8% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 41 UK towns and cities of 143,000 to 275,000 people, Reading has the 14th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Telford, Swansea and Barking and Dagenham, higher than Oxford, Cambridge and Luton. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 13% of Reading’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 13% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C− for Reading
A firm grade. Built on 33,669 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Reading against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Tilehurst & Purley, Hillside and Maiden Erlegh; highest in Abbey
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tilehurst & Purley | 10,249 | 12.5 | 5.4 | |
| Hillside | 8,381 | 12.8 | 5.8 | |
| Maiden Erlegh | 10,549 | 19 | 6.4 | |
| Bulmershe and Whitegates | 4,385 | 21.3 | 7.8 | |
| Tilehurst Birch Copse | 7,863 | 21.4 | 8 | |
| Tilehurst South & Holybrook | 7,402 | 23.5 | 8.5 | |
| Hawkedon | 9,320 | 24.1 | 8.8 | |
| Tilehurst | 9,867 | 24.7 | 9.1 | |
| Shinfield North | 3,632 | 26.2 | 11.9 | |
| South Lake | 821 | 32.9 | 7.7 | |
| Park | 11,447 | 33.9 | 13.6 | |
| Redlands | 14,709 | 32.9 | 16.4 | |
| Whitley | 11,508 | 34.7 | 16 | |
| Kentwood | 9,257 | 32.6 | 18.7 | |
| Norcot | 11,414 | 39.9 | 16.2 | |
| Coley | 11,034 | 41.1 | 16.9 | |
| Katesgrove | 11,930 | 38.7 | 22 | |
| Battle | 11,446 | 46.5 | 16.5 | |
| Church | 12,164 | 46.5 | 16.7 | |
| Southcote | 10,982 | 59.2 | 18 | |
| Thames | 5,279 | 71.1 | 34.7 | |
| Abbey | 10,150 | 149.9 | 43.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,528 | 70% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 3,524 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 3,196 | 35% violent |
| Petrol stations | 2,878 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 1,203 | 46% violent |
| College and university buildings | 730 | 43% violent |
| Nightclubs | 664 | 48% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 586 | 30% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 321 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 83 | 41% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Abbey records 4.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Reading. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Reading. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Reading’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Reading runs highest on bicycle theft (2.2 per 1,000 against 0.9), theft from the person (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.7) and shoplifting (16.5 per 1,000 against 10.3). Drugs and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 7,843 | 38.5 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3,364 | 16.5 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,145 | 10.5 | 17.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,766 | 8.7 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,726 | 8.5 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,317 | 6.5 | 7.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 941 | 4.6 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 644 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 586 | 2.9 | 3.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 451 | 2.2 | 0.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 385 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 364 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 242 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 145 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Reading per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 29 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Reading places 14th of 41 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Oxford Oxfordshire | 170,799 | 37 | 15.1 | 32.3 | C− |
| 12 | Cambridge Cambridgeshire | 152,742 | 35.3 | 16.9 | 36.6 | C− |
| 13 | Luton Bedfordshire | 233,524 | 36.7 | 17.7 | 17.5 | C− |
| 14 | Reading Berkshire | 203,789 | 39.6 | 15.5 | 28 | C− |
| 15 | Ipswich Suffolk | 151,566 | 41 | 14.9 | 20.1 | C− |
| 16 | Norwich Norfolk | 200,744 | 42.7 | 14.8 | 23 | D |
| 17 | Bournemouth Dorset | 196,453 | 37.1 | 20.4 | 19.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Slough Berkshire | 166,868 | 43.4 | 20.7 | 18.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Westminster London | 203,571 | 81.4 | 42.3 | 254.6 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Reading, and others in Berkshire.
1 in 8 Reading residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
27% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 13% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Reading’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
How crime in Reading has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +7% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -8% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -5% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Reading’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 18% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (58% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 5% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 11,434 crimes.
11 people died in collisions on Reading’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,371 collisions with injuries inside Reading in five years, in which 11 people died (5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 242 people were killed or seriously injured: 89 on foot and 49 on a bicycle.
That is 1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Reading had 23.7 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 37% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Reading’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Reading
Reading records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Caversham, 2 miles away, records 16.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Reading’s 39.6.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 83 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Reading’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Reading sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Reading
Is Reading safe?
Police recorded 39.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Reading’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 41 UK towns of 143,000 to 275,000 people, Reading is 14th from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Reading?
By council ward, Tilehurst & Purley, Hillside and Maiden Erlegh record the least violent and household crime per resident: 12.5, 12.8 and 19 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 149.9 in Abbey.
Is crime going up in Reading?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 7%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 8%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Reading city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 664 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 48% of them violent, and Abbey ward records 149.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Reading?
Violence & sexual offences: 7,843 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (3,364) and other theft (1,766), with 2,145 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.