Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Thame records less crime per resident than 92%
It has less violent crime than 62% of UK towns, and less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 69%. Violence recorded locally climbed 13% in a year. Typical years here bring 19.4 violent and sexual offences plus 7.2 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 Thame
Less crime than most places its size
Of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Thame has the 36th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Tadley, Crowthorne and Nailsea, higher than Yateley, Broughton Astley and West Moors. 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. 31% of Thame’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% more violent crime per resident in Thame than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage rose 16% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Thame grades B+ for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,032 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Thame against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A third of Thame residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
87% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Thame’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.
Thame places 36th of 376 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 33 | Yateley Hampshire | 14,676 | 17 | 8.2 | 5.6 | B+ |
| 34 | Broughton Astley Leicestershire | 9,649 | 15.8 | 10 | 4.6 | B+ |
| 35 | West Moors Dorset | 10,432 | 16.9 | 9 | 5.9 | B+ |
| 36 | Thame Oxfordshire | 12,952 | 19.4 | 7.2 | 11.7 | B+ |
| 37 | Ponteland Northumberland | 10,149 | 20.4 | 6.2 | 9.3 | B+ |
| 38 | Corsham Wiltshire | 10,887 | 19.6 | 7 | 4.2 | B+ |
| 39 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint West Sussex | 14,216 | 15.3 | 11.3 | 11.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 81 | Kidlington Oxfordshire | 14,640 | 22.1 | 8.9 | 13.4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 176 | Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire | 11,786 | 25.8 | 14.5 | 15.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 211 | Wantage Oxfordshire | 13,100 | 33.2 | 10.9 | 10.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Thame, and others in Oxfordshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Thame runs highest on shoplifting (8 per 1,000 against 6.1) and other crime (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.8). Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 257 | 19.8 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 103 | 8 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 69 | 5.3 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 67 | 5.2 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 64 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 49 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 29 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 27 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 24 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 0.9 | 2.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 7 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
“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 of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How crime in Thame has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +13% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +16% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +35% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -8% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Thame 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 8 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 name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 71% of Thame’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% 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 8% of violent and 8% 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. 337 crimes.
One person died in collisions on Thame’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 32 collisions with injuries inside Thame in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 8 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Thame’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Thame’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Thame’s size at the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people would see about 15 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Thame had 8.
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 Thame’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Thame
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thame | 12,952 | 19.4 | 7.2 | B+ |
| Long Crendon | 2,495 | 12.7 | 6.8 | A− |
| Haddenham | 5,603 | 19.2 | 5.8 | B+ |
| Chinnor | 7,268 | 15.5 | 6.5 | A− |
| Longwick | 1,528 | 17.7 | 5.5 | A− |
| Stone | 2,081 | 13.5 | 7.5 | A− |
| Oakley | 1,129 | 9.7 | 2.7 | A+ |
| Princes Risborough | 7,528 | 26.2 | 8.9 | C+ |
Thame records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Princes Risborough records more. Long Crendon, 2.2 miles away, records 12.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Thame’s 19.4.
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 Thame 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 Thame
Is Thame safe?
Police recorded 19.4 violent and sexual offences and 7.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Thame’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 65% of UK towns. Among 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Thame is 36th from the least crime. 31% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Thame?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 16%, shoplifting and theft rose 35% and anti-social behaviour fell 8%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Thame?
Violence & sexual offences: 257 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (103) and criminal damage & arson (67), with 69 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Thame compare with Aylesbury?
Aylesbury records 39.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Thame’s 19.4 and 7.2, 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.