Photo: Nigel Cox · CC BY-SA 2.0Buckhurst Hill stands out for vehicle crime: 3.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
Each year brought 22.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Violent crime is lower than in 51% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, lower than in only 5%. Overall, Buckhurst Hill grades C for safety (#52 of 81 in Essex): more crime per resident than 72% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 16% 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 Buckhurst Hill
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% more violent crime per resident in Buckhurst Hill than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 19% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Buckhurst Hill has the 256th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Okehampton, Littleport and Swaffham, higher than Berwick-upon-Tweed, Barwell and Whittlesey. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Buckhurst Hill’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 1,511 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Buckhurst Hill 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, Buckhurst Hill runs highest on vehicle crime (8.5 per 1,000 against 2.8), burglary (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.4) and drugs (2.8 per 1,000 against 1.9). Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 276 | 23.5 | 30.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 100 | 8.5 | 2.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 58 | 4.9 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 57 | 4.9 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 52 | 4.4 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 50 | 4.3 | 2.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 35 | 3 | 12.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 33 | 2.8 | 1.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 8 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 7 | 0.6 | 6.1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 7 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 6 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
“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 of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How Buckhurst Hill’s neighbourhoods rank in England
31% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Buckhurst Hill’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 Buckhurst Hill has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +16% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -19% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -14% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +0% (towns its size -4%).
Police in Buckhurst Hill identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 78% of Buckhurst Hill’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 20% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (54% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 1% 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. 516 crimes.
Crime in Buckhurst Hill 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 18 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
256th of 428: Buckhurst Hill among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Hockley and Hawkwell Essex | 15,430 | 14 | 7.9 | 4.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Stansted Mountfitchet Essex | 8,629 | 17.7 | 8.9 | 6.2 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 118 | Brightlingsea Essex | 8,678 | 25.1 | 7.9 | 5.2 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 144 | Tiptree Essex | 9,302 | 26.3 | 8.2 | 5.8 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 253 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | 13,181 | 32.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | C |
| 254 | Barwell Leicestershire | 9,149 | 32.8 | 11.9 | 5.3 | C |
| 255 | Whittlesey Cambridgeshire | 13,833 | 33 | 11.6 | 8.5 | C |
| 256 | Buckhurst Hill Essex | 11,749 | 22.3 | 22.6 | 8.3 | C |
| 257 | Tewkesbury Gloucestershire | 14,387 | 32.8 | 12.2 | 16.2 | C |
| 258 | Limavady Causeway Coast and Glens | 11,729 | 33.3 | 11.9 | 12.8 | C |
| 259 | South Hayling Hampshire | 15,305 | 34.4 | 10.9 | 8.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 428 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Buckhurst Hill, and others in Essex.
Where in Buckhurst Hill police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 136 | 42% violent |
| Supermarkets | 125 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 52 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
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 Buckhurst Hill. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on Buckhurst Hill’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 49 collisions with injuries inside Buckhurst Hill in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 12 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Buckhurst Hill’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Buckhurst Hill’s own rate (3.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Buckhurst Hill had 20.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Buckhurst Hill’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Buckhurst Hill
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhurst Hill | 11,749 | 22.3 | 22.6 | C |
| Loughton | 33,338 | 30.2 | 17.1 | C |
| Chigwell | 12,251 | 24.1 | 17.8 | C |
| Chigwell Row | 2,115 | 30.1 | 15.8 | C |
| Waltham Forest | 278,129 | 28.5 | 21 | C− |
| Redbridge | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | C− |
| Abridge | 1,651 | 22 | 10.5 | B− |
| Theydon Bois | 3,540 | 16.1 | 17.1 | B− |
Buckhurst Hill records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Chigwell, 2 miles away, records 24.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Buckhurst Hill’s 22.3.
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
- 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 Buckhurst Hill 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 Buckhurst Hill
Is Buckhurst Hill safe?
Police recorded 22.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Buckhurst Hill’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 428 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people, Buckhurst Hill is 256th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Buckhurst Hill?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 19%, shoplifting and theft fell 14% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Buckhurst Hill?
Violence & sexual offences: 276 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (100) and other theft (58), with 35 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Buckhurst Hill compare with Newham?
Newham records 38.9 violent and sexual offences and 23 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Buckhurst Hill’s 22.3 and 22.6, over the same three years.
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.