Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Woking has less crime per resident than 89% of UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more
It has more violent crime than 72% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 61%. In a usual year, 31.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. Violent crime barely moved 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 Woking
Less crime than most places its size
Of 92 UK towns and cities of 53,000 to 102,000 people, Woking has the 10th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Royal Sutton Coldfield, Farnborough and Bracknell, higher than St Albans, Maidenhead and Halesowen. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Woking’s C
A firm grade. Built on 9,687 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Woking against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Set against 92 towns its size, Woking is 10th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 25.3 | 15.2 | 21 | C |
| 8 | Maidenhead Berkshire | 67,391 | 27.5 | 13.8 | 11.3 | C |
| 9 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 9.9 | C |
| 10 | Woking Surrey | 75,655 | 31.9 | 11 | 14.4 | C |
| 11 | Craigavon Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 72,301 | 30.9 | 12.3 | 11.4 | C |
| 12 | Brentwood Essex | 55,339 | 26.9 | 17 | 17.8 | C |
| 13 | Rugby Warwickshire | 78,130 | 32 | 12.1 | 11.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 44.3 | 15.2 | 23.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 92 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Woking, and others in Surrey.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Drugs and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,308 | 30.5 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 918 | 12.1 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 612 | 8.1 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 558 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 448 | 5.9 | 6.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 433 | 5.7 | 7.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 172 | 2.3 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 138 | 1.8 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 135 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 134 | 1.8 | 3.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 82 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 74 | 1 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 56 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 32 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
“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.
How Woking’s neighbourhoods rank in England
29% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 12% 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.
Woking’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Pyrford, Horsell and Mount Hermon; highest in St John's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pyrford | 3,249 | 13.4 | 4.7 | |
| Horsell | 9,218 | 16.3 | 7.1 | |
| Mount Hermon | 10,860 | 20.6 | 10.4 | |
| Goldsworth Park | 9,549 | 23.6 | 10.2 | |
| Heathlands | 6,559 | 29.1 | 11.5 | |
| Hoe Valley | 9,746 | 31.8 | 10.8 | |
| Canalside | 5,592 | 39.4 | 12.1 | |
| Knaphill | 11,114 | 48 | 9.8 | |
| St John's | 9,768 | 51.5 | 18.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,226 | 32% violent |
| Supermarkets | 763 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 305 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 302 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 233 | 25% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 226 | 39% violent |
| Police stations | 142 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 79 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 54 | 44% violent |
| Hospitals | 36 | 36% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St John's records 1.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Woking. 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 Woking. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Woking’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Woking 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 15 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 66% of Woking’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 4% 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. 3,154 crimes.
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 -1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -15% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +20% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -2%).
Three people died in collisions on Woking’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 552 collisions with injuries inside Woking in five years, in which three people died (1 was a pedestrian). 141 people were killed or seriously injured: 32 on foot and 24 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 Woking’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Woking’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Woking had 37.3 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). 23% 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 Woking’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Woking
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woking | 75,655 | 31.9 | 11 | C |
| Bisley | 4,045 | 32.1 | 5.5 | C+ |
| Brookwood | 1,428 | 17.6 | 9.6 | B |
| Send | 4,094 | 15.3 | 8.9 | B+ |
| West End and Chobham | 8,877 | 15 | 7.7 | A− |
| Jacobs Well | 1,122 | 14 | 5.4 | A− |
| Ripley | 1,714 | 19.5 | 10.3 | B |
| New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater | 33,035 | 18.5 | 9.5 | B |
Woking records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bisley, 2.8 miles away, records 32.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Woking’s 31.9.
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 Woking 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 Woking
Is Woking safe?
Police recorded 31.9 violent and sexual offences and 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Woking’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 30% of UK towns. Among 92 UK towns of 53,000 to 102,000 people, Woking is 10th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Woking?
By council ward, Pyrford, Horsell and Mount Hermon record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.4, 16.3 and 20.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 51.5 in St John's.
Is crime going up in Woking?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 15%, shoplifting and theft rose 20% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Woking town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 233 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 24% of them violent, and St John's ward records 51.5 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 Woking?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,308 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (612) and public order (558), with 918 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Woking compare with Guildford?
Guildford records 44.3 violent and sexual offences and 15.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Woking’s 31.9 and 11, 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.