Photo: Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Worthing records less crime per resident than 84%
Shoplifting stands out: 17 per 1,000 residents in Worthing, against 10.3 in a typical town its size, with 1,896 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Its police logs show 34.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Recorded violence held steady 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 Worthing
One ward carries much of the rate
Central ward recorded 3,277 of Worthing’s 11,370 violent and sexual offences in three years: 103.5 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Worthing the figure is 26.7. Where in Worthing ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 57 UK towns and cities of 78,000 to 151,000 people, Worthing has the 5th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Aylesbury, Redditch and Cheltenham, higher than Rugby, Royal Sutton Coldfield and Bracknell. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Worthing’s C
A firm grade. Built on 15,571 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Worthing 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 Offington, Goring and Marine; highest in Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offington | 7,978 | 11.9 | 7.5 | |
| Goring | 8,415 | 13.9 | 8.6 | |
| Marine | 8,244 | 17.4 | 10.1 | |
| Tarring | 8,466 | 23.5 | 10.3 | |
| Broadwater | 9,316 | 26.4 | 10.5 | |
| Durrington | 5,834 | 27.1 | 11.3 | |
| Selden | 8,419 | 27.4 | 11.1 | |
| Gaisford | 9,371 | 28.1 | 11.3 | |
| Salvington | 9,084 | 30 | 10.8 | |
| Castle | 9,433 | 32.4 | 10.9 | |
| Heene | 8,748 | 38 | 16.5 | |
| Northbrook | 7,487 | 43.6 | 12 | |
| Central | 10,556 | 103.5 | 27.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 5,051 | 73% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,250 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,123 | 30% violent |
| Petrol stations | 655 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 483 | 48% violent |
| Nightclubs | 350 | 57% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 106 | 33% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 30 | 37% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 25 | 44% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Central records 3.9× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Worthing. 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 Worthing. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Worthing’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Among 57 towns its size, Worthing ranks 5th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | 12.5 | C |
| 2 | Rugby Warwickshire | 78,130 | 32 | 12.1 | 11.9 | C |
| 3 | Royal Sutton Coldfield West Midlands | 93,392 | 26.6 | 17.5 | 17.8 | C |
| 4 | Bracknell Berkshire | 78,662 | 31.9 | 13.5 | 18.4 | C |
| 5 | Worthing West Sussex | 111,635 | 34.1 | 12.6 | 24.3 | C |
| 6 | Southport Merseyside | 94,438 | 37.2 | 9.8 | 12.7 | C |
| 7 | Solihull West Midlands | 107,754 | 28.4 | 19.2 | 26.7 | C− |
| 8 | Wallasey Merseyside | 85,619 | 38.2 | 12 | 7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Crawley West Sussex | 120,567 | 42.7 | 15 | 22.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 57 | Middlesbrough North Yorkshire | 148,232 | 70.8 | 40.1 | 30.1 | 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 Worthing, and others in West Sussex.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Worthing runs highest on shoplifting (17 per 1,000 against 10.3), bicycle theft (1.3 per 1,000 against 0.9) and public order (9.3 per 1,000 against 7.4). Other theft and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,487 | 31.2 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,294 | 20.5 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,896 | 17 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,043 | 9.3 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 775 | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 506 | 4.5 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 391 | 3.5 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 308 | 2.8 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 212 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 206 | 1.8 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 149 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 147 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 145 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 41 | 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 Worthing’s neighbourhoods rank in England
26% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 11% 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.
Worthing’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.
Crime in Worthing 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 23 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Worthing 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 +3% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +42% (towns its size -2%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Worthing’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% 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 5% 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. 5,406 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Worthing’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 943 collisions with injuries inside Worthing in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians). 238 people were killed or seriously injured: 52 on foot and 47 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 Worthing’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Worthing’s own rate (0.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Worthing had 42.6 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). 22% 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 Worthing’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Worthing
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worthing | 111,635 | 34.1 | 12.6 | C |
| Lancing and Sompting | 27,924 | 25.6 | 9.1 | B− |
| Findon | 1,840 | 11.1 | 8.5 | A− |
| Rustington | 33,885 | 17.3 | 8.9 | B+ |
| Steyning | 5,513 | 14.1 | 8.2 | A− |
| Shoreham-by-Sea | 23,659 | 21.6 | 9.5 | B− |
| Upper Beeding | 3,100 | 8.8 | 6.2 | A |
| Littlehampton | 19,060 | 49.9 | 19.9 | D |
Worthing records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Littlehampton records more. Lancing and Sompting, 2.9 miles away, records 25.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Worthing’s 34.1.
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
- 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 Worthing 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 Worthing
Is Worthing safe?
Police recorded 34.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Worthing’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 57 UK towns of 78,000 to 151,000 people, Worthing is 5th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Worthing?
By council ward, Offington, Goring and Marine record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.9, 13.9 and 17.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 103.5 in Central.
Is crime going up in Worthing?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 42%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Worthing city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 350 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 57% of them violent, and Central ward records 103.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in August and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Worthing?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,487 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,896) and public order (1,043), with 2,294 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Worthing compare with Brighton and Hove?
Brighton and Hove records 40.8 violent and sexual offences and 15.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Worthing’s 34.1 and 12.6, 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.