Photo: Mr Ignavy · CC BY-SA 2.0Violent crime per resident is higher in Basingstoke than in 86% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally dropped 12% in a year. Add to that, it has less crime per resident than 67% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more. The Safety Grade comes out at C−, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Basingstoke’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #70 of 76 in Hampshire. Out of every 1,000 residents, 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Basingstoke
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 12% less violent crime per resident in Basingstoke 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 55 UK towns and cities of 82,000 to 158,000 people, Basingstoke has the 13th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Crawley, Chester and Telford, higher than Watford, Hemel Hempstead and York. 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. 16% of Basingstoke’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 17% 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.
What’s behind Basingstoke’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 19,073 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Basingstoke 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 Bramley, Basing & Upton Grey and Hatch Warren & Beggarwood; highest in Oakley & The Candovers
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bramley | 657 | 14.2 | 7.1 | |
| Basing & Upton Grey | 3,308 | 14.9 | 8.3 | |
| Hatch Warren & Beggarwood | 10,152 | 18.6 | 5.9 | |
| Chineham | 10,848 | 19.3 | 6.3 | |
| Kempshott & Buckskin | 10,611 | 23.6 | 7.5 | |
| Eastrop & Grove | 9,373 | 26.1 | 12.8 | |
| Brighton Hill | 10,758 | 31 | 9.1 | |
| Winklebury & Manydown | 6,960 | 28.7 | 12.6 | |
| Popley | 11,463 | 48 | 13.1 | |
| Sherborne St John & Rooksdown | 9,947 | 52.3 | 10.8 | |
| South Ham | 10,669 | 48.8 | 18.1 | |
| Norden | 10,723 | 54.7 | 19 | |
| Brookvale & Kings Furlong | 10,761 | 97.9 | 28.6 | |
| Oakley & The Candovers | 981 | 113.5 | 22.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,436 | 36% violent |
| Supermarkets | 1,377 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,139 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 388 | 66% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 342 | 42% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 310 | 48% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 163 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Oakley & The Candovers records 2.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Basingstoke. 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 Basingstoke. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Basingstoke’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
Shoplifting and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,491 | 38.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,573 | 13.4 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 900 | 7.7 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 848 | 7.2 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 845 | 7.2 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 627 | 5.3 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 337 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 313 | 2.7 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 278 | 2.4 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 189 | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 139 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 107 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 74 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 49 | 0.4 | 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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
13th of 55: Basingstoke among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | 12.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Watford Hertfordshire | 131,336 | 36.1 | 16.6 | 20.6 | C− |
| 11 | Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire | 95,995 | 36.3 | 17.1 | 19.9 | C− |
| 12 | York North Yorkshire | 141,696 | 38 | 15.5 | 25.3 | C− |
| 13 | Basingstoke Hampshire | 117,211 | 41.3 | 13.1 | 13.5 | C− |
| 14 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | 20.2 | C− |
| 15 | Stevenage Hertfordshire | 94,462 | 42.1 | 13.3 | 18.4 | C− |
| 16 | Ipswich Suffolk | 151,566 | 41 | 14.9 | 20.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 55 | Middlesbrough North Yorkshire | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 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 Basingstoke, and others in Hampshire.
How crime in Basingstoke 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 -12% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +2% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +8% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +24% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Basingstoke 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
1 in 6 Basingstoke residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
30% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Basingstoke’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.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Basingstoke’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% 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 6% 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. 6,052 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Basingstoke’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 595 collisions with injuries inside Basingstoke in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians). 123 people were killed or seriously injured: 22 on foot and 15 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 Basingstoke’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Basingstoke’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Basingstoke had 21.0 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). 18% 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 Basingstoke’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Basingstoke
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basingstoke | 117,211 | 41.3 | 13.1 | C− |
| Old Basing | 3,834 | 14.6 | 7.7 | A− |
| Oakley | 5,264 | 16.1 | 6.5 | A− |
| Bramley | 4,730 | 18.5 | 6.3 | B+ |
| Sherfield on Loddon | 1,385 | 17.1 | 8.2 | B+ |
| Tadley | 14,767 | 19.6 | 7.4 | B |
| Hook | 9,062 | 20.8 | 9.7 | B |
| Odiham | 5,091 | 13.8 | 6.7 | A− |
Basingstoke records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Old Basing, 2.7 miles away, records 14.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Basingstoke’s 41.3.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 388 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Basingstoke’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 Basingstoke 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 Basingstoke
Is Basingstoke safe?
Police recorded 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Basingstoke’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 17% of UK towns. Among 55 UK towns of 82,000 to 158,000 people, Basingstoke is 13th from the least crime. 16% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Basingstoke?
By council ward, Bramley, Basing & Upton Grey and Hatch Warren & Beggarwood record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14.2, 14.9 and 18.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 113.5 in Oakley & The Candovers.
Is crime going up in Basingstoke?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 12%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 8% and anti-social behaviour rose 24%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Basingstoke?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,491 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (900) and criminal damage & arson (848), with 1,573 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.