Photo: Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 2.0Fareham sees more violent crime per resident than three in four UK towns
Recorded violence held steady in a year. Per 1,000 residents a year, 34.3 violent and sexual offences and 10.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. That puts it at C for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside Fareham’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #58 of 76 in Hampshire. Drugs: police recorded 131 here in the 12 months to August 2026, 3.1 per 1,000 residents against 1.9 in a typical town its size.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Fareham
Less crime than many places its size
Of 157 UK towns of 30,000 to 58,000 people, Fareham has the 50th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Winchester, Trowbridge and Canvey Island, higher than Royal Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Brentwood. 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. 20% of Fareham’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 14% 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.
Inside Fareham’s C for safety
A firm grade. Built on 5,646 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Fareham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Fareham identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Fareham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 9% 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. 1,917 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Fareham runs highest on drugs (3.1 per 1,000 against 1.9), shoplifting (8.9 per 1,000 against 6.1) and public order (6.7 per 1,000 against 5.4). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,372 | 32.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 463 | 10.9 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 381 | 8.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 284 | 6.7 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 220 | 5.2 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 174 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 131 | 3.1 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 70 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 65 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 59 | 1.4 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 39 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 35 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 30 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 16 | 0.4 | 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.
1 in 5 Fareham residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
46% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 14% 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.
Fareham’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.
Fareham places 50th of 157 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 13.4 | A− |
| 2 | Chandler's Ford Hampshire | 31,965 | 17.5 | 6.7 | 6 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Fleet Hampshire | 37,800 | 20.6 | 7 | 7.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Locks Heath Hampshire | 35,744 | 23 | 7.7 | 9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Horndean Hampshire | 34,046 | 24.2 | 7.9 | 7.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent | 51,215 | 30.7 | 13.1 | 18.3 | C |
| 48 | Tonbridge Kent | 36,136 | 30.1 | 13.8 | 17.4 | C |
| 49 | Brentwood Essex | 55,339 | 26.9 | 17 | 17.8 | C |
| 50 | Fareham Hampshire | 42,633 | 34.3 | 10.1 | 14.7 | C |
| 51 | Wigston Leicestershire | 34,728 | 30.7 | 14 | 13.8 | C |
| 52 | Fulwood Lancashire | 34,693 | 32.1 | 12.7 | 9.4 | C |
| 53 | Letchworth Hertfordshire | 33,993 | 32.7 | 12.6 | 14.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 157 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Fareham, and others in Hampshire.
Lowest recorded crime in Titchfield, Fareham West and Portchester West; highest in Fareham East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titchfield | 3,524 | 17.8 | 5 | |
| Fareham West | 6,504 | 17.4 | 5.6 | |
| Portchester West | 2,879 | 20.4 | 6.4 | |
| Stubbington | 852 | 21.5 | 9.8 | |
| Fareham North | 7,032 | 23.8 | 7.8 | |
| Fareham North-West | 6,979 | 41.4 | 10.1 | |
| Fareham South | 7,473 | 42.2 | 12.4 | |
| Fareham East | 7,390 | 58.4 | 17.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,775 | 35% violent |
| Supermarkets | 751 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 369 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 201 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 184 | 58% violent |
| Shopping areas | 59 | 63% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 53 | 66% violent |
| Hospitals | 37 | 41% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Fareham East records 2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Fareham. 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 Fareham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Fareham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Fareham 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 8 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.
How crime in Fareham 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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -16% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +21% (towns its size -4%).
Three people died in collisions on Fareham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 306 collisions with injuries inside Fareham in five years, in which three people died (1 was a pedestrian and 1 was a cyclist). 75 people were killed or seriously injured: 13 on foot and 16 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 Fareham’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Fareham’s own rate (1.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Fareham had 35.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 17% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Fareham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Fareham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fareham | 42,633 | 34.3 | 10.1 | C |
| Knowle | 1,487 | 54.3 | 14.1 | D |
| Lee-on-the-Solent | 24,307 | 17.8 | 5 | A− |
| Wickham | 2,170 | 39.9 | 14.1 | C− |
| Locks Heath | 35,744 | 23 | 7.7 | B− |
| Whiteley | 9,350 | 29.3 | 10 | C+ |
| Gosport | 70,120 | 43.6 | 13 | C− |
| Waltham Chase | 2,830 | 16 | 4.7 | A− |
Fareham records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Lee-on-the-Solent, 3 miles away, records 17.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Fareham’s 34.3.
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 Fareham 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 Fareham
Is Fareham safe?
Police recorded 34.3 violent and sexual offences and 10.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Fareham’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 157 UK towns of 30,000 to 58,000 people, Fareham is 50th from the least crime. 20% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Fareham?
By council ward, Titchfield, Fareham West and Portchester West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 17.8, 17.4 and 20.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 58.4 in Fareham East.
Is crime going up in Fareham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 16%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 21%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Fareham?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,372 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (381) and public order (284), with 463 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Fareham compare with Portsmouth?
Portsmouth records 53.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Fareham’s 34.3 and 10.1, 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.