Photo: A P Monblat · CC BY-SA 3.0Set against UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Sutton records less crime than 91%
Recorded violence rose 9% in a year. Of all the kinds of crime, theft from the person is where Sutton departs most from towns its size: 1.1 per 1,000 against 0.7. For every 1,000 residents, 27.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Sutton
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Sutton 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 18% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 43 UK towns and cities of 146,000 to 282,000 people, Sutton has the 5th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Warrington, Kingswood and Fishponds and Waltham Forest, higher than Kingston upon Thames, Harrow and Merton. 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. 13% of Sutton’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 7% 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.
Sutton grades C for safety
A firm grade. Built on 26,047 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Sutton against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in North Cheam, Worcester Park South and Sutton West & East Cheam; highest in Banstead Village
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Cheam | 11,164 | 14.5 | 9.8 | |
| Worcester Park South | 7,071 | 14 | 11.6 | |
| Sutton West & East Cheam | 10,906 | 15.9 | 10.4 | |
| Cheam | 10,424 | 15 | 12.4 | |
| Belmont | 11,862 | 16.9 | 13 | |
| Worcester Park North | 7,811 | 18.8 | 12.5 | |
| Carshalton South & Clockhouse | 9,445 | 18.5 | 13.9 | |
| Carshalton Central | 11,537 | 20.3 | 13.9 | |
| St Helier East | 8,196 | 24.3 | 12.1 | |
| Sutton North | 11,294 | 22.5 | 14.3 | |
| Stonecot | 8,276 | 23.1 | 15.6 | |
| Sutton South | 12,248 | 26.6 | 13.3 | |
| Wallington North | 12,235 | 25.6 | 14.5 | |
| The Wrythe | 10,935 | 28.9 | 13.8 | |
| Wallington South | 11,053 | 28.3 | 16.8 | |
| Beddington | 10,780 | 28.4 | 18.8 | |
| South Beddington & Roundshaw | 10,911 | 32 | 16.5 | |
| Hackbridge | 6,585 | 31.6 | 17.7 | |
| St Helier West | 12,180 | 44.5 | 16.2 | |
| Sutton Central | 12,571 | 62.9 | 22.4 | |
| Banstead Village | 1,374 | 112.6 | 6.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 3,119 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,393 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,273 | 27% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,001 | 59% shoplifting & theft |
| Prisons | 839 | 55% violent |
| Police stations | 569 | 40% violent |
| Hospitals | 499 | 54% violent |
| Nightclubs | 234 | 53% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 210 | 36% violent |
| College and university buildings | 98 | 36% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Banstead Village records 4.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Sutton. 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 Sutton. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Sutton’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Sutton runs highest on theft from the person (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.7) and vehicle crime (6.1 per 1,000 against 4.9). 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 | 5,538 | 26.5 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 3,250 | 15.6 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,515 | 7.3 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 1,265 | 6.1 | 4.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,213 | 5.8 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 946 | 4.5 | 6.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 714 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 626 | 3 | 3.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 625 | 3 | 7.5 |
| Robbery | Violent | 299 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 296 | 1.4 | 2.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 239 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 95 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 93 | 0.4 | 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.
Police in Sutton identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 85% of Sutton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 38% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (42% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 8,864 crimes.
Among 43 towns its size, Sutton ranks 5th for 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 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 16 | C+ |
| 4 | Merton London | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | 16.1 | 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 |
| 8 | Swindon Wiltshire | 183,687 | 35.7 | 12.3 | 13.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Waltham Forest London | 278,129 | 28.5 | 21 | 23.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Barking and Dagenham London | 218,236 | 40.5 | 20 | 17.5 | D |
| 23 | Hackney London | 258,464 | 40.5 | 21.9 | 42.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | 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 Sutton, and others in London.
1 in 8 Sutton residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
33% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 7% 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.
Sutton’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 Sutton 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 +9% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -18% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +9% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +3% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Sutton 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Eight people died in collisions on Sutton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 1,744 collisions with injuries inside Sutton in five years, in which eight people died (5 were pedestrians). 344 people were killed or seriously injured: 105 on foot and 57 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 Sutton’s size would see about 11 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sutton’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Sutton had 32.9 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). 31% 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 Sutton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Sutton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | 208,858 | 27.1 | 14.6 | C |
| Worcester Park and Stoneleigh | 15,851 | 13.1 | 9.6 | A− |
| Merton | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | C+ |
| Banstead | 8,929 | 21.3 | 12.5 | B− |
| Ewell | 27,509 | 22.4 | 16.2 | C+ |
| Chipstead and Woodmansterne | 4,523 | 17.1 | 11.5 | B |
| Croydon | 389,242 | 36.3 | 20.5 | D |
| Epsom | 35,857 | 34.7 | 17.2 | C− |
Sutton records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Croydon and Epsom record more. Worcester Park and Stoneleigh, 2.9 miles away, records 13.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Sutton’s 27.1.
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
- A prison inside the boundary. police.uk counted 839 at or near a prison (55% violent) and 499 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Sutton’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 Sutton 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 Sutton
Is Sutton safe?
Police recorded 27.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Sutton’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 32% of UK towns. Among 43 UK towns of 146,000 to 282,000 people, Sutton is 5th from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Sutton?
By council ward, North Cheam, Worcester Park South and Sutton West & East Cheam record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14.5, 14 and 15.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 112.6 in Banstead Village.
Is crime going up in Sutton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 18%, shoplifting and theft rose 9% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Sutton town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 234 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 53% of them violent, and Banstead Village ward records 112.6 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 January.
What is the most common crime in Sutton?
Violence & sexual offences: 5,538 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,515) and vehicle crime (1,265), with 3,250 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Sutton compare with Croydon?
Croydon records 36.3 violent and sexual offences and 20.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Sutton’s 27.1 and 14.6, 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.