The Plough Public House · Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Cobham has less crime per resident than four in five UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
Violent crime is lower than in 61% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, lower than in only 37%. Recorded violence rose 34% in a year. Cobham’s overall Safety Grade is B− (#27 of 65 in Surrey): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. The yearly rates were 19.5 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 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 Cobham
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 34% more violent crime per resident in Cobham 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 fell 10% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 333 UK towns of 12,000 to 24,000 people, Cobham has the 56th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Shoreham-by-Sea, Royal Wootton Bassett and Hawarden, higher than Hedge End, Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley and Ilkley. 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. 19% of Cobham’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 10% 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.
The grade: B− for Cobham
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,610 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Cobham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Cobham 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 +34% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -10% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +24% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +17% (towns its size -4%).
Of 333 towns its size, Cobham is 56th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Ashtead Surrey | 14,830 | 12.6 | 7.1 | 4.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Worcester Park and Stoneleigh Surrey | 15,851 | 13.1 | 9.6 | 4.1 | A− |
| 16 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | 21,655 | 15.3 | 7.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Farncombe Surrey | 13,247 | 18.4 | 6.8 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Hedge End Hampshire | 23,195 | 22.1 | 8.2 | 16.9 | B |
| 54 | Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley Kent | 16,077 | 17.1 | 13.4 | 10.8 | B− |
| 55 | Ilkley West Yorkshire | 14,852 | 18.1 | 12.7 | 13 | B− |
| 56 | Cobham Surrey | 17,505 | 19.5 | 11.3 | 10.1 | B− |
| 57 | Royston Hertfordshire | 17,443 | 20.6 | 10.3 | 9.9 | B− |
| 58 | Weybridge Surrey | 15,918 | 20.6 | 10.3 | 8.6 | B− |
| 59 | Kidlington Oxfordshire | 14,640 | 22.1 | 8.9 | 13.4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 333 | 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 Cobham, and others in Surrey.
1 in 5 Cobham residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
66% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 10% 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.
Cobham’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, Cobham runs highest on burglary (2.8 per 1,000 against 2.4). Criminal damage & arson and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 375 | 21.4 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 141 | 8.1 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 88 | 5 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 84 | 4.8 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 76 | 4.3 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 64 | 3.7 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 49 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 42 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 25 | 1.4 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 16 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 12 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.2 | 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.
Police in Cobham identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 76% of Cobham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 10% 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. 580 crimes.
Crime in Cobham 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Where in Cobham police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 331 | 51% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 166 | 45% violent |
| Petrol stations | 59 | 27% drugs, public order & other |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 32 | 47% violent |
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 Cobham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Cobham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 109 collisions with injuries inside Cobham in five years. 22 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 7 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 Cobham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Cobham’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Cobham had 25.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Cobham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Cobham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobham | 17,505 | 19.5 | 11.3 | B− |
| Hersham | 12,622 | 24 | 9.8 | B− |
| Esher | 9,484 | 20 | 12.3 | B− |
| Leatherhead | 11,482 | 40.3 | 18.5 | D |
| Great Bookham and Fetcham | 21,655 | 15.3 | 7.5 | A− |
| Byfleet | 14,187 | 25.2 | 14.1 | C+ |
| Ashtead | 14,830 | 12.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| Walton-on-Thames | 27,016 | 28.5 | 12.9 | C |
Cobham records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Great Bookham and Fetcham, 3.4 miles away, records 15.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Cobham’s 19.5.
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 Cobham 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 Cobham
Is Cobham safe?
Police recorded 19.5 violent and sexual offences and 11.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Cobham’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 54% of UK towns. Among 333 UK towns of 12,000 to 24,000 people, Cobham is 56th from the least crime. 19% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Cobham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 34%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 10%, shoplifting and theft rose 24% and anti-social behaviour rose 17%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Cobham?
Violence & sexual offences: 375 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (88) and public order (84), with 141 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Cobham compare with West Molesey?
West Molesey records 19.1 violent and sexual offences and 10.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Cobham’s 19.5 and 11.3, 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.