Former King William IV Public House · Photo: Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0Chigwell stands out for vehicle crime: 3.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence rose 11% in a year. Weighing it all, Chigwell earns C for safety (#48 of 81 in Essex), with more crime per resident than 68% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. Police counts work out at 24.1 violent and sexual offences and 17.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually. Of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, 56% record more crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Chigwell
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Chigwell 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Chigwell has the 191st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Sandiacre, Porthcawl and Aldridge, higher than Barton-upon-Humber, Matlock and Sandbach. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Chigwell’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,536 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Chigwell 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, Chigwell runs highest on vehicle crime (8.7 per 1,000 against 2.8) and burglary (4.1 per 1,000 against 2.4). Other crime and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 285 | 23.3 | 30.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 107 | 8.7 | 2.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 61 | 5 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 55 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 55 | 4.5 | 12.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 50 | 4.1 | 2.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 48 | 3.9 | 5.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 21 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 13 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 6 | 0.5 | 6.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
“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.
Police in Chigwell identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 83% of Chigwell’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” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 2% 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. 538 crimes.
How crime in Chigwell 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 +11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +16% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +20% (towns its size -4%).
How Chigwell’s neighbourhoods rank in England
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 15% 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.
Chigwell’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.
Crime in Chigwell 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 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Chigwell against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Hockley and Hawkwell Essex | 15,430 | 14 | 7.9 | 4.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | South Woodham Ferrers Essex | 16,029 | 17.9 | 6.3 | 9.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 51 | Saffron Walden Essex | 16,609 | 19.1 | 9 | 7.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 119 | Tiptree Essex | 9,302 | 26.3 | 8.2 | 5.8 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 188 | Barton-upon-Humber Lincolnshire | 11,927 | 30.4 | 11.4 | 11.6 | C |
| 189 | Matlock Derbyshire | 11,990 | 33.1 | 8.7 | 12.8 | C |
| 190 | Sandbach Cheshire | 11,289 | 34.5 | 7.4 | 12 | C |
| 191 | Chigwell Essex | 12,251 | 24.1 | 17.8 | 5.1 | C |
| 192 | Prudhoe Northumberland | 10,285 | 28.4 | 13.6 | 9.1 | C |
| 193 | Uttoxeter Staffordshire | 14,024 | 33.1 | 8.9 | 11.3 | C |
| 194 | Minster (Swale) Kent | 16,735 | 29 | 13 | 6.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | 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 Chigwell, and others in Essex.
No one died in a collision on Chigwell’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 69 collisions with injuries inside Chigwell in five years. 15 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 Chigwell’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Chigwell’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Chigwell had 24.5 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 Chigwell’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Chigwell
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chigwell | 12,251 | 24.1 | 17.8 | C |
| Chigwell Row | 2,115 | 30.1 | 15.8 | C |
| Buckhurst Hill | 11,749 | 22.3 | 22.6 | C |
| Redbridge | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | C− |
| Loughton | 33,338 | 30.2 | 17.1 | C |
| Abridge | 1,651 | 22 | 10.5 | B− |
| Theydon Bois | 3,540 | 16.1 | 17.1 | B− |
| Waltham Forest | 278,129 | 28.5 | 21 | C− |
Chigwell records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Abridge, 3.1 miles away, records 22 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Chigwell’s 24.1.
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 Chigwell 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 Chigwell
Is Chigwell safe?
Police recorded 24.1 violent and sexual offences and 17.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Chigwell’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 32% of UK towns. Among 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Chigwell is 191st from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Chigwell?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 16% and anti-social behaviour rose 20%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Chigwell?
Violence & sexual offences: 285 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (107) and criminal damage & arson (61), with 55 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Chigwell 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 Chigwell’s 24.1 and 17.8, 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.