Croydon records about 76 crimes per 1,000 people, which is roughly 8 per cent below the London rate and 11 per cent above the England rate, and the figure is pulled up by one busy area, Thornton Heath. In the 12 months to April 2026 CrimeRate counts 33,841 recorded crimes in the borough, a rate of 75.52 per 1,000 people, against 82 for London and about 68 for England. Croydon’s total is also slightly lower than a year earlier.
Data: police-recorded crime, 12 months to April 2026, counts and rates from CrimeRate’s analysis of data.police.uk. Shares and ratios are our own arithmetic on those figures. Updated 30 September 2026.
Is Croydon safe compared with the rest of London?
Croydon’s recorded crime rate is 75.52 per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026, according to CrimeRate. London as a whole is 82 and England is about 68, so Croydon sits below the capital and above the national figure. Other London boroughs that CrimeRate lists alongside it are Ealing (77.95), Hounslow (77.29), Redbridge (73.62), Tower Hamlets (69.03) and Wandsworth (66.98), so Croydon is in the middle of the pack rather than at either end. The headline figure excludes anti-social behaviour: the 14 categories CrimeRate lists add up to 42,809 records, and 33,841 is what remains once the 8,968 anti-social behaviour reports are removed. See London crime rate by borough for the full ranking and is London safe? for the city-wide picture.
Which parts of Croydon record the most crime?
CrimeRate lists seven Croydon areas. Norbury has the highest rate, Thornton Heath has by far the most incidents, and Upper Norwood is the quietest of the larger areas.
| Area (Croydon) | Recorded crimes | Per 1,000, 12 months to April 2026 | Against Croydon’s 75.52 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norbury | 1,163 | 92.51 | about 22% higher |
| Crystal Palace | 777 | 90.55 | about 20% higher |
| Thornton Heath | 6,883 | 85.45 | about 13% higher |
| Purley | 1,400 | 67.41 | about 11% lower |
| Coulsdon North | 595 | 58.25 | about 23% lower |
| Upper Norwood | 1,088 | 54.40 | about 28% lower |
| Woodcote | 17 | 44.23 | about 41% lower |
The spread between Norbury (92.51) and Upper Norwood (54.40) is a factor of 1.7, so two places in the same borough can have very different recorded levels. Woodcote is shown only for completeness: 17 crimes is too small a base to say anything about. Thornton Heath alone accounts for 6,883 of the borough’s 33,841 crimes, about 20 per cent, which is the main reason the borough average is not a good guide to any single street. The seven areas together cover 11,923 crimes, about 35 per cent of the total, so CrimeRate’s list does not include everything, for example the busy Croydon town centre is not one of the seven.
What kinds of crime are recorded in Croydon?
Violence and sexual offences is the biggest category, at 12,683 records or 28.30 per 1,000 people, which is 37.5 per cent of the 33,841 (anti-social behaviour excluded). That is a broad police category that includes harassment, stalking and offences with no physical injury, so it does not mean that more than a third of incidents are assaults.
| Category | Croydon, 12 months to April 2026 | Per 1,000 | Share of the 33,841 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 12,683 | 28.30 | 37.5% |
| Vehicle crime | 3,464 | 7.71 | 10.2% |
| Shoplifting | 3,176 | 7.09 | 9.4% |
| Other theft | 2,651 | 5.93 | 7.8% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 2,552 | 5.71 | 7.5% |
| Public order | 2,472 | 5.52 | 7.3% |
| Drugs | 2,171 | 4.84 | 6.4% |
| Burglary | 1,768 | 3.96 | 5.2% |
| Robbery | 1,044 | 2.33 | 3.1% |
| Theft from the person | 820 | 1.80 | 2.4% |
| Other crime | 539 | 1.21 | 1.6% |
| Possession of weapons | 307 | 0.69 | 0.9% |
| Bicycle theft | 194 | 0.43 | 0.6% |
Two things are worth reading from this. First, property crime is a large part of the picture: vehicle crime, shoplifting and other theft together are 9,291 records, about 27 per cent of the total, which is more than the burglary (5.2 per cent) and robbery (3.1 per cent) lines that people tend to worry about. Second, anti-social behaviour is the second-largest single line of all at 8,968 records (20.01 per 1,000), about 21 per cent of everything CrimeRate lists for the borough once it is counted. It is not in the headline number, so a page that quotes only the headline understates how much the police record in total.
Is Croydon getting better or worse?
Slightly better. CrimeRate records 34,596 crimes in the previous year (a rate of 77.25 per 1,000) against 33,841 in the 12 months to April 2026 (75.52), a fall of 755 crimes or about 2.2 per cent. A change of this size is within the normal year-to-year movement of recorded crime, so read it as stable rather than as a trend. Recorded crime also depends on how much police look for and how willing people are to report, not only on how much happens.
Is Croydon safe at night?
Police street-level data has no time of day, so it cannot show whether Croydon is riskier after dark. What it does show is the mix: violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and public order make up the biggest share, which is typical of places with stations, high streets and late-opening venues. If you are walking home late, stay on busy, lit routes and check the exact streets you will use in the postcode checker rather than relying on the borough figure.
Is Croydon safe to live in?
The number that matters for a home is the one for your own streets. Areas such as Upper Norwood (54.40), Coulsdon North (58.25) and Purley (67.41) record less than the borough average, while Thornton Heath, Norbury and Crystal Palace record more, in part because of their shopping streets, transport hubs and visitor numbers. None of this is a verdict on the people who live there. Compare two postcodes before deciding, and read how to check crime in your area for the limits of any single figure. The Brixton page shows the same effect in a nearby part of south London, and safest areas in London lists the quieter ends of the map.
How do I check a specific street or postcode in Croydon?
- 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 Upper Norwood, 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. CrimeRate uses its own population estimate, which for Croydon works out at roughly 448,000 people, so rates from different websites use different denominators and are not directly comparable; every number on this page comes from that one source.
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Croydon crime FAQ
What is the crime rate in Croydon?
75.52 recorded crimes per 1,000 people in the 12 months to April 2026 (33,841 crimes), against 82 for London and about 68 for England (CrimeRate). Anti-social behaviour is not included in that figure.
Is Croydon a dangerous place?
Croydon records less crime per 1,000 people than London as a whole, and more than England overall. Most of the difference comes from a few busy areas, so the risk on a residential street is usually far below the borough figure.
Which part of Croydon has the least recorded crime?
Of the areas CrimeRate lists with a meaningful number of crimes, Upper Norwood (54.40 per 1,000), Coulsdon North (58.25) and Purley (67.41) are lowest. Woodcote shows 44.23, but on only 17 crimes.
Is crime in Croydon going up?
No. Recorded crime fell from 34,596 to 33,841, about 2.2 per cent, between the two most recent 12-month periods CrimeRate shows.
Where does this data come from?
Police-recorded crime published on data.police.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0, analysed by CrimeRate for counts and rates. See where our crime data comes from.
More on London: London crime rate by borough, crime in London: what the police data shows and is London safe?. In an emergency call 999.