Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Slough records more crime per resident than 90% of UK towns
That puts it at D for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside Slough’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 38% of them record more crime per resident. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Typical years here bring 43.4 violent and sexual offences plus 20.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Slough
More crime than many places its size
Of 40 UK towns and cities of 117,000 to 225,000 people, Slough has the 25th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Islington, Portsmouth and Kensington and Chelsea, higher than Exeter, Hammersmith and Fulham and Blackburn. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: D for Slough
A firm grade. Built on 32,010 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Slough against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Slough runs highest on bicycle theft (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.9), vehicle crime (9.2 per 1,000 against 4.9) and theft from the person (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.7). Shoplifting and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 6,842 | 41 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,773 | 10.6 | 17.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1,537 | 9.2 | 4.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,425 | 8.5 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,349 | 8.1 | 6.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,213 | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,099 | 6.6 | 10.3 |
| Drugs | not graded | 647 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 563 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 327 | 2 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 306 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 289 | 1.7 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 192 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 157 | 0.9 | 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 Slough 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 20 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 18 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Slough’s neighbourhoods rank in England
5% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 20% 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.
Slough’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Farnham Common and Burnham Beeches, Cippenham Green and Cippenham Meadows; highest in Chalvey
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farnham Common and Burnham Beeches | 4,320 | 24.6 | 13.7 | |
| Cippenham Green | 10,445 | 31 | 12.9 | |
| Cippenham Meadows | 12,449 | 32.5 | 13.8 | |
| Wexham Lea | 11,604 | 37.1 | 11.9 | |
| Baylis and Stoke | 10,443 | 35.7 | 13.6 | |
| Upton | 10,310 | 33.7 | 16.4 | |
| Langley St Mary's | 11,772 | 27.4 | 22.9 | |
| Cliveden | 7,974 | 32.6 | 21.1 | |
| Haymill and Lynch Hill | 10,003 | 36.1 | 18.5 | |
| Britwell and Northborough | 11,575 | 39.3 | 16.3 | |
| Langley Kedermister | 10,621 | 37.5 | 19.4 | |
| Elliman | 10,498 | 48.2 | 17.9 | |
| Farnham | 11,291 | 51.2 | 26.5 | |
| Colnbrook with Poyle | 2,783 | 50.1 | 27.9 | |
| Foxborough | 3,921 | 44.5 | 41.5 | |
| Central | 13,015 | 70.6 | 31.8 | |
| Chalvey | 13,461 | 79.7 | 32.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 2,828 | 34% violent |
| Supermarkets | 1,788 | 44% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,669 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,390 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 1,111 | 50% violent |
| Hospitals | 632 | 58% violent |
| Nightclubs | 483 | 39% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 226 | 45% violent |
| College and university buildings | 65 | 40% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 22 | 41% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Chalvey records 2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Slough. 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 Slough. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Slough’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Set against 40 towns its size, Slough is 25th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Reading Berkshire | 203,789 | 39.6 | 15.5 | 28 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Exeter Devon | 126,181 | 47.6 | 14.5 | 25.3 | D |
| 23 | Hammersmith and Fulham London | 182,187 | 39.2 | 23.5 | 36.9 | D |
| 24 | Blackburn Lancashire | 124,958 | 44.5 | 18.3 | 15.3 | D |
| 25 | Slough Berkshire | 166,868 | 43.4 | 20.7 | 18.3 | D |
| 26 | Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire | 197,328 | 46.3 | 19.3 | 23.3 | D |
| 27 | Southend-on-Sea Essex | 182,295 | 48.3 | 17.4 | 18.6 | D |
| 28 | Colchester Essex | 130,259 | 51.1 | 17.1 | 20.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | 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 Slough, and others in Berkshire.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +4% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +6% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +9% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 71% of Slough’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 4% 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. 11,218 crimes.
Five people died in collisions on Slough’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,049 collisions with injuries inside Slough in five years, in which five people died (2 were pedestrians). 172 people were killed or seriously injured: 57 on foot and 31 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Slough’s size would see about 9 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Slough’s own rate (0.6) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Slough had 20.6 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). 33% 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 Slough’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Slough
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slough | 166,868 | 43.4 | 20.7 | D |
| Eton | 2,461 | 18.8 | 13 | B− |
| Eton Wick | 2,121 | 25.9 | 12.6 | C+ |
| Datchet | 4,807 | 24.3 | 21.9 | C |
| Stoke Poges | 3,920 | 18.1 | 10.5 | B |
| Farnham Common and Farnham Royal | 6,711 | 18 | 14.7 | B− |
| Windsor | 31,569 | 34 | 16.3 | C− |
| Iver Heath | 5,150 | 16.5 | 15.9 | B− |
Slough records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Eton, 1.6 miles away, records 18.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Slough’s 43.4.
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 632 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Slough’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 Slough 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 Slough
Is Slough safe?
Police recorded 43.4 violent and sexual offences and 20.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Slough’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 40 UK towns of 117,000 to 225,000 people, Slough is 25th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Slough?
By council ward, Farnham Common and Burnham Beeches, Cippenham Green and Cippenham Meadows record the least violent and household crime per resident: 24.6, 31 and 32.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 79.7 in Chalvey.
Is crime going up in Slough?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 6%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 9%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Slough city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 483 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 39% of them violent, and Chalvey ward records 79.7 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 Slough?
Violence & sexual offences: 6,842 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (1,537) and public order (1,425), with 1,773 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.