Photo: Hugh Venables · CC BY-SA 2.0Southampton records more crime per resident than 96% of UK towns
The grade is D−, built on crimes police recorded inside Southampton’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Year on year, 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents. Of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 13% 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 Southampton
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Southampton 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 rose 9% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
49% of Southampton’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 4% 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 Southampton’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 60,120 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Southampton against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
49% of Southampton residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
4% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 49% 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.
Southampton’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 Southampton compares with UK towns of 175,000 to 337,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 35 | Portsmouth Hampshire | 223,324 | 53.5 | 16.8 | 22.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Nottingham Nottinghamshire | 299,786 | 53.3 | 23.3 | 31.9 | D− |
| 41 | Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire | 260,560 | 55.1 | 23.4 | 19.4 | D− |
| 42 | Camden London | 209,342 | 48.8 | 30.5 | 103.5 | D− |
| 43 | Southampton Hampshire | 249,633 | 58.3 | 22.2 | 25.5 | D− |
| 44 | Kingston upon Hull East Riding of Yorkshire | 270,816 | 60.7 | 24 | 25.6 | D− |
| 45 | Bradford West Yorkshire | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | 19.3 | D− |
| 46 | Westminster London | 203,571 | 81.4 | 42.3 | 254.6 | 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 Southampton, and others in Hampshire.
Crime in Southampton 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 22 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 27 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime down 13% in a year, while towns its size held steady
“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 -13% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +9% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +14% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +20% (towns its size -2%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Southampton runs highest on bicycle theft (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.9), possession of weapons (1.8 per 1,000 against 1.1) and robbery (2.1 per 1,000 against 1.4). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 12,680 | 50.8 | 38.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3,951 | 15.8 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 3,805 | 15.2 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 2,858 | 11.4 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 2,372 | 9.5 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 2,111 | 8.5 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1,768 | 7.1 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,435 | 5.7 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,279 | 5.1 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 573 | 2.3 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 535 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 455 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 376 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 248 | 1 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in West End South, Bassett and Bitterne Park; highest in Bargate
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West End South | 700 | 6.2 | 5.2 | |
| Bassett | 14,564 | 27.5 | 11.8 | |
| Bitterne Park | 14,068 | 33.1 | 16.1 | |
| Sholing | 13,998 | 36.6 | 15.2 | |
| Coxford | 14,027 | 40.4 | 18 | |
| Swaythling | 13,768 | 41.9 | 18 | |
| Harefield | 14,491 | 43.3 | 18.6 | |
| Woolston | 15,786 | 49.2 | 16.7 | |
| Peartree | 14,308 | 50.1 | 17.1 | |
| Portswood | 14,723 | 46.1 | 23.8 | |
| Millbrook | 16,076 | 54.1 | 21.4 | |
| Shirley | 15,085 | 56.2 | 19.6 | |
| Redbridge | 16,167 | 61.2 | 24.4 | |
| Bitterne | 14,410 | 66.7 | 21.1 | |
| Freemantle | 16,082 | 68.2 | 27.8 | |
| Bevois | 18,373 | 102.1 | 32.3 | |
| Bargate | 23,007 | 108.7 | 37.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 8,200 | 35% violent |
| Supermarkets | 4,104 | 44% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 2,485 | 76% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,854 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 1,182 | 51% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,164 | 59% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 712 | 52% violent |
| College and university buildings | 410 | 38% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 226 | 43% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 166 | 33% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Bargate records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Southampton. 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 Southampton. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Southampton’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 70% of Southampton’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” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 20,366 crimes.
Nine people died in collisions on Southampton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 2,266 collisions with injuries inside Southampton in five years, in which nine people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 494 people were killed or seriously injured: 126 on foot and 111 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 Southampton’s size would see about 14 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Southampton’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Southampton had 39.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 26% 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 Southampton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Southampton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton | 249,633 | 58.3 | 22.2 | D− |
| West End | 10,865 | 24.4 | 15 | C+ |
| Chilworth | 1,169 | 22.8 | 12.3 | C+ |
| Marchwood | 5,776 | 22.9 | 8.8 | B− |
| Rownhams and Nursling | 4,796 | 27.4 | 22.9 | C− |
| Netley | 6,309 | 29.4 | 12.7 | C |
| Hythe and Dibden Purlieu | 19,857 | 27.6 | 10.4 | C+ |
| Hedge End | 23,195 | 22.1 | 8.2 | B |
Southampton records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. West End, 2.5 miles away, records 24.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Southampton’s 58.3.
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 1,164 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Southampton’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 Southampton 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 Southampton
Is Southampton safe?
Police recorded 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Southampton’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 4% of UK towns. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Southampton has less crime per resident than 13%.
What are the safest areas of Southampton?
By council ward, West End South, Bassett and Bitterne Park record the least violent and household crime per resident: 6.2, 27.5 and 33.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 108.7 in Bargate.
Is crime going up in Southampton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 9%, shoplifting and theft rose 14% and anti-social behaviour rose 20%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Southampton city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 1,182 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 51% of them violent, and Bargate ward records 108.7 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 Southampton?
Violence & sexual offences: 12,680 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (3,951) and public order (2,858), with 3,805 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.