Photo: Stephen Richards · CC BY-SA 2.0Croydon stands out for theft from the person: 3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence held steady in a year. It has less crime per resident than 59% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more. Croydon’s police logs show 36.3 violent and sexual offences and 20.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Croydon
About the middle for a borough its size
Of 29 UK towns and cities of 272,000 to 525,000 people, Croydon has the 12th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Newham, Southwark and Cardiff, higher than Enfield, Brent and Hounslow. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Croydon grades D for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 66,023 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Croydon 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, Croydon runs highest on theft from the person (2 per 1,000 against 0.7), vehicle crime (9.5 per 1,000 against 4.9) and robbery (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.4). Other crime and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 12,724 | 32.7 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 8,711 | 22.4 | 17.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3,697 | 9.5 | 4.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3,640 | 9.4 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 2,710 | 7 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 2,388 | 6.1 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2,110 | 5.4 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1,700 | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 1,692 | 4.3 | 7.5 |
| Robbery | Violent | 985 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 776 | 2 | 0.7 |
| Other crime | not graded | 503 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 350 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 199 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
“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 Selsdon Vale & Forestdale, Park Hill & Whitgift and Sanderstead; highest in Fairfield
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selsdon Vale & Forestdale | 9,677 | 11.5 | 10.6 | |
| Park Hill & Whitgift | 5,786 | 13.9 | 12.6 | |
| Sanderstead | 15,426 | 13.9 | 13.3 | |
| Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown | 9,720 | 15.6 | 11.9 | |
| Kenley | 10,984 | 15.1 | 12.7 | |
| Old Coulsdon | 9,118 | 19.4 | 10.1 | |
| Coulsdon Town | 15,424 | 18.4 | 12.2 | |
| Shirley South | 10,622 | 19.9 | 14.2 | |
| Norbury Park | 10,824 | 22.9 | 14.4 | |
| Shirley North | 15,399 | 21.9 | 15.7 | |
| Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood | 16,351 | 28.3 | 17.1 | |
| New Addington North | 10,937 | 33.7 | 14.5 | |
| Addiscombe East | 11,464 | 32 | 18.9 | |
| Addiscombe West | 16,210 | 31.1 | 20.2 | |
| Bensham Manor | 16,933 | 32.3 | 20 | |
| Woodside | 16,870 | 34.3 | 18.3 | |
| Selsdon & Addington Village | 9,925 | 31.7 | 22.3 | |
| New Addington South | 11,327 | 38.2 | 18.5 | |
| Purley & Woodcote | 15,190 | 35.4 | 22.9 | |
| Thornton Heath | 17,995 | 39 | 20.1 | |
| South Croydon | 18,068 | 37.9 | 22.8 | |
| Norbury & Pollards Hill | 12,145 | 39.8 | 24.5 | |
| Waddon | 18,685 | 41.8 | 25.2 | |
| South Norwood | 16,447 | 43.6 | 23.9 | |
| Selhurst | 13,188 | 46.1 | 27.7 | |
| West Thornton | 18,758 | 53.1 | 27 | |
| Broad Green | 20,212 | 60.3 | 29.8 | |
| Fairfield | 15,341 | 111.2 | 43.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 7,654 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 4,489 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 2,476 | 34% violent |
| College and university buildings | 2,046 | 31% violent |
| Hospitals | 1,299 | 50% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,273 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 927 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 686 | 46% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 622 | 41% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 399 | 33% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Fairfield records 3.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Croydon. 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 Croydon. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Croydon’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Croydon identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 83% of Croydon’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 42% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (41% 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. 22,859 crimes.
Crime in Croydon 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 19 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Croydon places 12th of 29 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnet London | 388,572 | 25.3 | 21 | 18.8 | C |
| 2 | Bromley London | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | 17.4 | C |
| 3 | Wandsworth London | 326,725 | 27.7 | 18.9 | 23 | C |
| 4 | Redbridge London | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | 18.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Enfield London | 329,822 | 32.6 | 24 | 20.6 | C− |
| 10 | Brent London | 340,611 | 35.9 | 20.8 | 26.2 | C− |
| 11 | Hounslow London | 286,591 | 35.2 | 21.5 | 21.8 | C− |
| 12 | Croydon London | 389,242 | 36.3 | 20.5 | 19.3 | D |
| 13 | Greenwich London | 288,117 | 38.3 | 20.8 | 22.9 | D |
| 14 | Lewisham London | 300,764 | 38.8 | 21.2 | 23.5 | D |
| 15 | Lambeth London | 317,108 | 40.1 | 21.2 | 42.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 29 | Bradford West Yorkshire | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | 19.3 | 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 Croydon, and others in London.
How Croydon’s neighbourhoods rank in England
18% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 18% 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.
Croydon’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 crime in Croydon 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 +1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -12% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -1% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -2%).
13 people died in collisions on Croydon’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 4,797 collisions with injuries inside Croydon in five years, in which 13 people died (5 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 786 people were killed or seriously injured: 263 on foot and 119 on a bicycle.
That is 0.7 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Croydon had 40.4 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). 33% 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 Croydon’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Croydon
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon | 389,242 | 36.3 | 20.5 | D |
| Sutton | 208,858 | 27.1 | 14.6 | C |
| Warlingham | 8,918 | 18.1 | 12.9 | B− |
| Whyteleafe | 3,174 | 37.4 | 21.9 | D |
| Merton | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | C+ |
| Chipstead and Woodmansterne | 4,523 | 17.1 | 11.5 | B |
| Bromley | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | C |
| Caterham | 22,757 | 27.6 | 12 | C+ |
Croydon records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Whyteleafe records more. Sutton, 4.1 miles away, records 27.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Croydon’s 36.3.
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 1,299 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Croydon’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 Croydon 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 Croydon
Is Croydon safe?
Police recorded 36.3 violent and sexual offences and 20.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Croydon’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 14% of UK towns. Among 29 UK towns of 272,000 to 525,000 people, Croydon is 12th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Croydon?
By council ward, Selsdon Vale & Forestdale, Park Hill & Whitgift and Sanderstead record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.5, 13.9 and 13.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 111.2 in Fairfield.
Is crime going up in Croydon?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Croydon town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 927 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 33% of them violent, and Fairfield ward records 111.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Croydon?
Violence & sexual offences: 12,724 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (3,697) and shoplifting (3,640), with 8,711 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.