Photo: Drumlanrig · Public domainFor violent crime, Gosport trails 88% of UK towns per resident
Set against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 61% of them. Still, a Safety Grade of C− follows from crimes police recorded inside Gosport’s built-up area over the years September 2023 to August 2026: #72 of 76 in Hampshire. Recorded violence fell 17% in a year. The yearly rates were 43.6 violent and sexual offences and 13.0 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 Gosport
One ward carries much of the rate
Forton ward recorded 1,579 of Gosport’s 9,170 violent and sexual offences in three years: 90.9 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Gosport the figure is 39.3. Where in Gosport ↓
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 17% less violent crime per resident in Gosport 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 fell 17% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 109 UK towns and cities of 49,000 to 95,000 people, Gosport has the 50th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Lowestoft, Chester and High Wycombe, higher than Ellesmere Port, Stevenage and Barry. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
31% of Gosport’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 12% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Gosport’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 11,898 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Gosport 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, Gosport runs highest on bicycle theft (1 per 1,000 against 0.9). Vehicle crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,619 | 37.4 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 836 | 11.9 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 489 | 7 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 478 | 6.8 | 6.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 470 | 6.7 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 279 | 4 | 10.3 |
| Drugs | not graded | 204 | 2.9 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 156 | 2.2 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 123 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 117 | 1.7 | 3.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 73 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 71 | 1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 40 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 25 | 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.
How crime in Gosport 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 -17% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -17% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -7% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +18% (towns its size -2%).
31% of Gosport residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 31% 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.
Gosport’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 Hardway, Alverstoke and Anglesey; highest in Forton
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardway | 6,030 | 22.1 | 7.1 | |
| Alverstoke | 6,075 | 22.7 | 6.6 | |
| Anglesey | 5,092 | 25.7 | 9.3 | |
| Leesland & Newtown | 6,705 | 27.3 | 11 | |
| Peel Common | 5,550 | 28.8 | 10.2 | |
| Elson | 6,023 | 32.7 | 10.5 | |
| Brockhurst & Privett | 5,123 | 40.3 | 11.5 | |
| Bridgemary | 5,727 | 49.9 | 14 | |
| Grange & Alver Valley | 7,400 | 52.8 | 14.9 | |
| Rowner & Holbrook | 5,688 | 51.7 | 16.5 | |
| Harbourside & Town | 4,914 | 83.8 | 22.2 | |
| Forton | 5,793 | 90.9 | 23 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,048 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 926 | 35% violent |
| Ferry terminals | 204 | 30% violent |
| Shopping areas | 183 | 43% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 176 | 52% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 144 | 35% violent |
| College and university buildings | 79 | 53% violent |
| Nightclubs | 61 | 31% violent |
| Hospitals | 42 | 48% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Forton records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Gosport. 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 Gosport. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Gosport’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Gosport 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Gosport identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Gosport’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 6% 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. 4,256 crimes.
Gosport is 50th of 109 UK towns of 49,000 to 95,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Farnborough Hampshire | 60,665 | 32 | 12.8 | 16.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| 48 | Stevenage Hertfordshire | 94,462 | 42.1 | 13.3 | 18.4 | C− |
| 49 | Barry South Glamorgan | 56,589 | 40.2 | 15.3 | 20.9 | C− |
| 50 | Gosport Hampshire | 70,120 | 43.6 | 13 | 13.5 | C− |
| 51 | Stafford Staffordshire | 71,695 | 43.8 | 12.8 | 16 | C− |
| 52 | Durham County Durham | 50,502 | 40.6 | 16.7 | 29.4 | D |
| 53 | Loughborough Leicestershire | 64,850 | 35.6 | 22 | 26.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 109 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Gosport, and others in Hampshire.
Four people died in collisions on Gosport’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 473 collisions with injuries inside Gosport in five years, in which four people died (1 was a pedestrian). 109 people were killed or seriously injured: 23 on foot and 37 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 Gosport’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Gosport’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Gosport had 31.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 21% 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 Gosport’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Gosport
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gosport | 70,120 | 43.6 | 13 | C− |
| Lee-on-the-Solent | 24,307 | 17.8 | 5 | A− |
| Portsmouth | 223,324 | 53.5 | 16.8 | D |
| Fareham | 42,633 | 34.3 | 10.1 | C |
| Ryde | 24,094 | 50.9 | 11.4 | D |
| Knowle | 1,487 | 54.3 | 14.1 | D |
| Locks Heath | 35,744 | 23 | 7.7 | B− |
| Seaview and Nettlestone | 2,053 | 13 | 5.2 | A |
Gosport records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Lee-on-the-Solent, 2.8 miles away, records 17.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Gosport’s 43.6.
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 Gosport 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 Gosport
Is Gosport safe?
Police recorded 43.6 violent and sexual offences and 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Gosport’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 15% of UK towns. Among 109 UK towns of 49,000 to 95,000 people, Gosport is 50th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Gosport?
By council ward, Hardway, Alverstoke and Anglesey record the least violent and household crime per resident: 22.1, 22.7 and 25.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 90.9 in Forton.
Is crime going up in Gosport?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 17%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 17%, shoplifting and theft fell 7% and anti-social behaviour rose 18%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Gosport town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 61 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 31% of them violent, and Forton ward records 90.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Gosport?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,619 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (489) and other theft (478), with 836 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Gosport 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 Gosport’s 43.6 and 13, 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.