Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0For its size, Richmond upon Thames has less crime per resident than 95% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more
For every 1,000 residents, 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 17.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year. Richmond upon Thames’s overall Safety Grade is C+ (#1 of 33 in London): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime is lower than in 64% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, lower than in only 12%. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Richmond upon Thames
Less crime than most places its size
Of 39 UK towns and cities of 135,000 to 260,000 people, Richmond upon Thames has the 1st lowest rate of graded crime. 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. 10% of Richmond upon Thames’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 1% 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 Richmond upon Thames’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 21,085 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Richmond upon Thames against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Of 39 towns its size, Richmond upon Thames is 1st from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| 2 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 24.7 | 14 | 20.6 | C+ |
| 3 | Merton London | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | 16.1 | C+ |
| 4 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | 12.5 | C |
| 5 | Sutton London | 208,858 | 27.1 | 14.6 | 13.3 | C |
| 6 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 26.1 | 17.5 | 14.3 | C |
| 7 | Havering London | 259,401 | 29 | 18.1 | 17.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Barking and Dagenham London | 218,236 | 40.5 | 20 | 17.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | 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 Richmond upon Thames, and others in London.
Police in Richmond upon Thames identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 88% of Richmond upon Thames’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” (40% 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. 7,346 crimes.
1 in 10 Richmond upon Thames residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
44% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 1% 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.
Richmond upon Thames’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Richmond upon Thames runs highest on theft from the person (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.7), bicycle theft (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.9) and vehicle crime (8.2 per 1,000 against 4.9). Violence & sexual offences and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,440 | 17.8 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 3,149 | 16.3 | 17.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1,576 | 8.2 | 4.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,177 | 6.1 | 10.3 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,025 | 5.3 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 769 | 4 | 7.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 765 | 4 | 3.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 669 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 397 | 2.1 | 3.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 314 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 242 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 224 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 147 | 0.8 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 41 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
“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 South Twickenham, Hampton Wick & South Teddington and Fulwell & Hampton Hill; highest in South Richmond
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Twickenham | 10,630 | 15.6 | 10.9 | |
| Hampton Wick & South Teddington | 10,754 | 15.8 | 11.9 | |
| Fulwell & Hampton Hill | 10,723 | 15.4 | 12.5 | |
| Teddington | 10,565 | 16 | 12.2 | |
| West Twickenham | 11,307 | 13.8 | 15.1 | |
| Whitton | 10,438 | 16.5 | 12.8 | |
| Hampton | 10,049 | 15.7 | 13.7 | |
| East Sheen | 10,670 | 11.3 | 21.4 | |
| Barnes | 10,425 | 15.8 | 18.6 | |
| Ham, Petersham & Richmond Riverside | 10,076 | 20 | 14.6 | |
| Kew | 11,831 | 15 | 20.7 | |
| North Richmond | 10,630 | 16.8 | 19.7 | |
| Hampton North | 9,717 | 24.2 | 14.6 | |
| St Margarets & North Twickenham | 11,945 | 17.1 | 22.7 | |
| Twickenham Riverside | 10,707 | 27.8 | 16.2 | |
| Mortlake & Barnes Common | 10,931 | 20 | 26.3 | |
| Heathfield | 10,408 | 25.2 | 22.8 | |
| South Richmond | 11,082 | 33.1 | 30.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,436 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,393 | 29% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 783 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 480 | 29% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 395 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 225 | 50% anti-social behaviour |
| Police stations | 205 | 44% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 101 | 35% homes & vehicles |
| College and university buildings | 98 | 31% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 38 | 66% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so South Richmond records 1.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Richmond upon Thames. 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 Richmond upon Thames. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Richmond upon Thames’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 +5% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -14% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -12% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +6% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Richmond upon Thames 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 16 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.
Seven people died in collisions on Richmond upon Thames’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,519 collisions with injuries inside Richmond upon Thames in five years, in which seven people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 374 people were killed or seriously injured: 94 on foot and 137 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 Richmond upon Thames’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Richmond upon Thames’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Richmond upon Thames had 38.8 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). 25% 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 Richmond upon Thames’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Richmond upon Thames
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond upon Thames | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | C+ |
| Hounslow | 286,591 | 35.2 | 21.5 | C− |
| Kingston upon Thames | 166,333 | 24.7 | 14 | C+ |
| West Molesey | 47,144 | 19.1 | 10.5 | B |
| Sunbury-on-Thames | 21,476 | 31.9 | 18 | C− |
| Ealing | 367,271 | 33.6 | 22.2 | C− |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 182,187 | 39.2 | 23.5 | D |
| Ashford Common | 8,333 | 19.3 | 10.8 | B |
Richmond upon Thames records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. West Molesey, 4.3 miles away, records 19.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Richmond upon Thames’s 18.8.
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 Richmond upon Thames 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 Richmond upon Thames
Is Richmond upon Thames safe?
Police recorded 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 17.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Richmond upon Thames’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 41% of UK towns. Among 39 UK towns of 135,000 to 260,000 people, Richmond upon Thames is 1st from the least crime. 10% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Richmond upon Thames?
By council ward, South Twickenham, Hampton Wick & South Teddington and Fulwell & Hampton Hill record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.6, 15.8 and 15.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 33.1 in South Richmond.
Is crime going up in Richmond upon Thames?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 14%, shoplifting and theft fell 12% and anti-social behaviour rose 6%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Richmond upon Thames town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 225 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 25% of them violent, and South Richmond ward records 33.1 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 Richmond upon Thames?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,440 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (1,576) and shoplifting (1,177), with 3,149 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Richmond upon Thames compare with Ealing?
Ealing records 33.6 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Richmond upon Thames’s 18.8 and 17.9, 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.