Is Ealing safe? Broadly yes by London standards: Ealing records 77.95 crimes per 1,000 people, 5.4 per cent below the London rate of 82.39, with 32,448 offences in the 12 months to April 2026 (up 3.4 per cent). It is 18th of the 33 London areas on CrimeRate’s ranking, just below the middle of the table. In Southall, the four police neighbourhoods of Southall Broadway, Southall Green, Southall West and Lady Margaret recorded 8,313 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports between September 2025 and August 2026, according to police.uk.
Data: police-recorded crime, 12 months to April 2026, counts and rates from CrimeRate’s analysis of data.police.uk (Metropolitan Police, Ealing); neighbourhood monthly counts from police.uk (Southall and Ealing Broadway neighbourhoods to August 2026); resident population from the ONS Census 2021. Shares and ratios are our own arithmetic on those figures. Updated 29 October 2026: data.police.uk still runs to August 2026, so the neighbourhood periods are the latest; CrimeRate’s Ealing pages could not be re-read today, so its figures are as checked on 20 October 2026 (same 12-months-to-April-2026 release).
The figures describe recorded incidents, not the people who live here.
Is Ealing safe compared with London and England?
Ealing recorded 77.95 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, according to CrimeRate. That is 5.4 per cent below the London rate of 82.39 and about 15 per cent above the England rate of 67.79. The headline total of 32,448 excludes anti-social behaviour: the 13 other categories add up to exactly 32,448, and 11,429 anti-social behaviour reports come on top, 43,877 incidents in all. Ealing is 18th of 33 London areas, one place below the median. The full list is in our London crime rate by borough ranking.
How does Ealing compare with its neighbours?
Ealing sits in the middle of west London. Brent to the north and Hammersmith and Fulham to the east record more crime per head; Hillingdon to the west is slightly higher; Hounslow to the south is almost level; Harrow to the north is much lower.
| Area | Per 1,000, 12 months to April 2026 | Rank in London (of 33) |
|---|---|---|
| Brent (Wembley) | 86.45 | 12 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 84.88 | 14 |
| London (all) | 82.39 | – |
| Hillingdon | 80.61 | 16 |
| Ealing | 77.95 | 18 |
| Hounslow | 77.29 | 19 |
| England | 67.79 | – |
| Harrow | 58.82 | 29 |
All rates come from one source, CrimeRate, so they use the same method. For comparison, the highest London rate is Westminster at 125.02 and the lowest borough rate outside the City is Merton at 53.01. Ealing’s figure is close to Waltham Forest (80.11) and Croydon (75.52), two other large outer boroughs with busy town centres.
What is the crime rate per resident in Ealing?
About 88 per 1,000 residents. The ONS Census 2021 counted 367,100 people in Ealing, and 32,448 offences against that population works out at 88.4 per 1,000. That is higher than CrimeRate’s 77.95, because CrimeRate divides by a larger daytime population estimate rather than residents. Either way, Ealing is not a central borough: it has no West End, major rail terminal or large late-night district, so the two figures stay close. In Camden the same comparison nearly doubles the figure. That makes Ealing’s number a fair picture of what residents live with.
What kind of crime is recorded in Ealing?
Violence and sexual offences is the largest category at 34.8 per cent, and vehicle crime is a clear second at 13.0 per cent. The table shows each category’s count and share of the 32,448 total (anti-social behaviour excluded).
| Category | Ealing, 12 months to April 2026 | Per 1,000 | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 11,300 | 27.16 | 34.8% |
| Vehicle crime | 4,222 | 10.14 | 13.0% |
| Other theft | 2,761 | 6.62 | 8.5% |
| Shoplifting | 2,574 | 6.17 | 7.9% |
| Public order | 2,298 | 5.52 | 7.1% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 2,212 | 5.33 | 6.8% |
| Drugs | 2,105 | 5.05 | 6.5% |
| Burglary | 1,810 | 4.36 | 5.6% |
| Theft from the person | 1,260 | 3.03 | 3.9% |
| Robbery | 901 | 2.17 | 2.8% |
| Other crime | 397 | 0.97 | 1.2% |
| Bicycle theft | 355 | 0.84 | 1.1% |
| Possession of weapons | 253 | 0.59 | 0.8% |
Three points stand out. First, vehicle crime: 4,222 offences, 10.14 per 1,000, is well above Waltham Forest (2,538) and Camden (2,307), even though Camden’s total crime is higher. Thefts of and from cars and vans are the most practical risk for many Ealing households, especially on streets without off-road parking. Second, theft of all kinds (other theft, shoplifting, theft from the person and bicycle theft) is 6,950 offences, 21.4 per cent, against 47.9 per cent in Camden, so pickpocketing and phone snatching are a much smaller part of the picture than in central London. Third, anti-social behaviour is heavy: 11,429 reports, 27.48 per 1,000, 26 per cent of all incidents including it, above Waltham Forest’s 23.97. Violence and sexual offences is a broad category that includes harassment, stalking and offences without injury, and drugs and weapons offences are mostly recorded when police find them, so they reflect patrols as much as the underlying problem.
Is crime in Ealing going up or down?
Slightly up. CrimeRate records 31,390 offences (76.41 per 1,000) in the previous year against 32,448 (77.95) in the 12 months to April 2026, a rise of 1,058, or 3.4 per cent. That runs against several boroughs we have covered, such as Camden (down 7.2 per cent) and Waltham Forest (down 5.5 per cent), but the change is small and one year is not a trend.
Is Southall safe?
Southall’s four central and western police neighbourhoods recorded 8,313 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports from September 2025 to August 2026 (police.uk). Southall Green had 2,938 and Southall Broadway, which takes in the Broadway shopping street, 2,833; Lady Margaret had 1,419 and Southall West 1,123. These are counts, not rates: police.uk gives no population for each neighbourhood, and the two busiest cover the shopping streets and transport links that draw visitors from across west London.
| Month | Southall Broadway | Southall Green | Lady Margaret | Southall West |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 155 | 254 | 118 | 103 |
| Oct 2025 | 198 | 297 | 165 | 110 |
| Nov 2025 | 218 | 232 | 125 | 88 |
| Dec 2025 | 221 | 253 | 83 | 95 |
| Jan 2026 | 208 | 229 | 100 | 94 |
| Feb 2026 | 189 | 246 | 122 | 87 |
| Mar 2026 | 261 | 231 | 100 | 101 |
| Apr 2026 | 283 | 233 | 117 | 103 |
| May 2026 | 268 | 227 | 139 | 103 |
| Jun 2026 | 257 | 244 | 103 | 92 |
| Jul 2026 | 320 | 253 | 128 | 88 |
| Aug 2026 | 255 | 239 | 119 | 59 |
| 12 months | 2,833 | 2,938 | 1,419 | 1,123 |
The two busiest neighbourhoods behave differently. Southall Green was steady all year, between 227 and 297 a month. Southall Broadway rose: 1,644 incidents from March to August 2026 against 1,189 from September 2025 to February 2026, an increase of 38 per cent, with a peak of 320 in July. In August 2026 the largest categories in Southall Broadway were violence and sexual offences (75), anti-social behaviour (63), public order (21) and shoplifting (17); in Southall Green, anti-social behaviour (72), violence and sexual offences (68), shoplifting (35) and vehicle crime (12). Southall West is mostly residential, and its largest categories in August were anti-social behaviour (19), violence and sexual offences (12) and burglary (9). For a sense of scale, Southall Green’s 2,938 is a little above Walthamstow’s High Street neighbourhood (2,406) over the same months.
Which other parts of Ealing record the most crime?
The town centres. The police.uk Ealing Broadway neighbourhood recorded 2,816 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports from July 2025 to June 2026 (2,713 in the latest 12 months to August 2026), with a high of 307 in July 2025 and a low of 184 in February 2026. In June 2026 its largest categories were anti-social behaviour (55), violence and sexual offences (40), shoplifting (35) and other theft (30), the pattern of a shopping and transport centre. CrimeRate has separate pages for three Acton areas: East Acton recorded 1,229 offences at 86.80 per 1,000, above the borough rate, while North Acton (727; 53.22) and Acton Green (725; 42.10) are well below it.
Is Ealing Broadway safe?
Ealing Broadway is a busy shopping and transport centre. Its police.uk neighbourhood recorded 2,713 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports from September 2025 to August 2026, between 184 and 265 a month. In August 2026 the largest categories were violence and sexual offences (53), shoplifting (47) and anti-social behaviour (43). The borough records 77.95 per 1,000, below London’s 82.39.
That is a count, not a rate: police.uk gives no population for the neighbourhood, and the shops, station and bus routes draw far more people each day than live there. The mix of violence, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour is the usual pattern of a town centre. To see what was recorded near a particular street, use the postcode checker or the UK crime map.
Is Ealing safe at night?
Ealing is not one of London’s late-night hotspots: the borough recorded 77.95 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, below London’s 82.39, and it has no West End-style night-time district. Police street-level data carries no time of day, so it cannot say whether Ealing is riskier after dark. The mix points to the main issues in the town centres: anti-social behaviour, public order and shoplifting around Ealing Broadway and Southall Broadway, and vehicle crime on residential streets. Keep to lit, busy routes late at night, keep your phone out of sight near station entrances, and check the streets you will use in the postcode checker or on the UK crime map.
Stations are a blind spot in the recent figures. Crime inside Ealing Broadway, Southall and Acton stations is recorded by British Transport Police, which provided no crime data to data.police.uk for any month from September 2025 to August 2026, according to the data.police.uk changelog (checked 29 October 2026). Incidents on station premises are therefore missing from the neighbourhood counts above; our guide to the police crime map explains the gap.
Is Ealing a safe place to live?
By London standards Ealing sits in the middle: its rate is below the London average and below Brent and Hammersmith and Fulham, though recorded crime rose a little over the year. For a home, the streets you live on matter more than the borough average. Counts are highest around Ealing Broadway, Southall Broadway and Southall Green, where most shops and transport are. If you have a car, vehicle crime deserves more attention here than in most boroughs: park off-street where you can and leave nothing on view. Compare two postcodes before you decide, and read how to check crime in your area for the limits of any single number. This page describes what was recorded, not the people who live here.
How do I check a specific street or postcode in Ealing?
- Enter your postcode in the postcode checker to see 12 months of police-recorded crime and the trend by month.
- Add a second postcode, for example one in Hanwell, Greenford or Southall, to compare two areas side by side.
- Zoom into the UK crime map to see what was recorded near a street.
These figures describe areas, not addresses. Police data covers reported crime only, and each crime is shown at a nearby anonymised point. Read where our crime data comes from for the limits. Rates from different websites use different population estimates and are not directly comparable, so the borough rates on this page all come from one source.
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Ealing and Southall crime FAQ
What is the crime rate in Ealing?
Ealing recorded 77.95 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, against 82.39 for London and 67.79 for England (CrimeRate). Anti-social behaviour is not included in that figure. Per resident (ONS Census 2021) it is about 88 per 1,000.
What is the crime rate in Southall?
There is no official rate for Southall alone. Its four central and western police neighbourhoods recorded 8,313 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports from September 2025 to August 2026, led by Southall Green (2,938) and Southall Broadway (2,833), according to police.uk.
Is Ealing Broadway safe?
For most visitors, yes. The Ealing Broadway police neighbourhood recorded 2,713 crimes and anti-social behaviour reports from September 2025 to August 2026, the pattern of a busy shopping and transport centre, led in August 2026 by violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour (police.uk).
Is Ealing safe at night?
Ealing recorded 77.95 crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, below London’s 82.39, and has no large late-night district. Police data has no time of day; incidents inside stations are missing from recent police.uk counts.
Is crime in Ealing going up?
Slightly: 32,448 offences in the 12 months to April 2026, up 3.4 per cent from 31,390 a year earlier.
What is the most common crime in Ealing?
Violence and sexual offences, 34.8 per cent of recorded crime, followed by vehicle crime at 13.0 per cent. Anti-social behaviour adds 11,429 reports on top.
Where does this data come from?
Police-recorded crime published on data.police.uk and police.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0, analysed by CrimeRate for counts and rates, with the ONS Census 2021 for residents. See where our crime data comes from.
More on London: London crime rate by borough, is London safe?, safest areas in London and crime in London: what the police data shows. Other London areas: Walthamstow, Croydon, Camden, Hackney, Enfield, Clapham and Brixton. In an emergency call 999.