Crime and Safety in City of London
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Watch out!
This is almost certainly not the London page you are looking for.
This page covers The City of London, which is the financial centre and a separate entity entirely to London the city that everyone knows.
The City has its own police force and mayor, is run by its own local authority (the City of London Corporation) and has a very low resident population, despite its gigatic daytime population. While it's a fascinating place - we strongly recommend the City's WikiPedia page - it is not London and statistics from this page should not be used to describe London.
For London's crime statistics, please head over to our London crime statistics page.
The overall crime rate in City of London in 2026 is 21 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to London's overall crime rate, coming in 75% lower than the London rate of 82 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, City of London is the safest city, and the 2,129th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
The most common crime in City of London is other theft, with 2,312 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 5. This is 10% higher than 2025's figure of 2,104 offences and a difference of 0.48 from 2025's crime rate of 4.6. City of London's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 46 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 10% from 2025's figure of 51 crimes.
City of London 2026 Crime Scorecard
Safest
Boroughs, London
74% lower, regional crime rate
London
71% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in City of London is 74% lower than London and 71% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
City of London Crime Rate Over Time
| City of London | |
| London | |
| England, Wales & NI |
City of London Crime Map
Incidents mapped in City of London represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How City of London Compares
You can compare City of London's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to City of London's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around City of London up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of City of London's 1,582 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in City of London? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
City of London • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within City of London has a crime risk score of 181. This is based on analysis of 1,582 nearby areas within City of London, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in City of London's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in City of London, crime risk scores are typically around 181, while in London they are average 534.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 376 (613 for London), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 540 (London 663).
Trends in Crime Risk
City of London
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 12% in City of London's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in City of London's crime risk score is up by 57%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, City of London's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 8%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
City of London
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
City of London • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Theft From the Person offences have a crime rate of 2.90 reports per 1,000 people in City of London, which is 1.87 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 1,322 crime reports logged by City of London Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, City of London Police recorded 288 reports of Robbery in City of London, resulting in a crime rate of 0.62 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.53.
The crime rate for Shoplifting is 0.52 times the national average at 3.69 reports per 1,000. This is from 1,666 crime reports reported to City of London Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
City of London
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.55 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.26 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 112% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.20 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 65% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.23 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.13 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 77% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
City of London
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.14 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.14 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 0% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.22 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 49% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.10 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.11 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 9% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
City of London • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
City of London | London | City of London Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 172 | 0.39 | 0.03 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 | 327 | 0.65 | 0.05 |
| Bicycle Theft | 310 | 0.69 | 0.95 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 | 349 | 0.69 | 0.95 |
| Burglary | 485 | 1.05 | 0.34 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 | 584 | 1.15 | 0.37 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 306 | 0.69 | 0.11 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 | 347 | 0.69 | 0.11 |
| Drugs | 445 | 0.99 | 0.32 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 | 545 | 1.11 | 0.36 |
| Other Crime | 48 | 0.09 | 0.05 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 | 59 | 0.12 | 0.06 |
| Other Theft | 2,312 | 5.11 | 0.90 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 | 2,727 | 5.41 | 0.95 |
| Possession of Weapons | 46 | 0.10 | 0.12 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 | 47 | 0.10 | 0.12 |
| Public Order | 614 | 1.35 | 0.23 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 | 724 | 1.42 | 0.24 |
| Robbery | 288 | 0.62 | 0.53 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 | 351 | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| Shoplifting | 1,666 | 3.69 | 0.52 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 | 1,987 | 3.95 | 0.55 |
| Theft From the Person | 1,322 | 2.90 | 1.87 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 | 1,611 | 3.19 | 2.06 |
| Vehicle Crime | 168 | 0.38 | 0.09 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 | 193 | 0.40 | 0.09 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 1,518 | 3.34 | 0.11 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 | 1,793 | 3.56 | 0.12 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
City of London | London | City of London Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 9,528 | 21.00 | 0.29 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 | 11,317 | 22.49 | 0.31 |
| 2025 | 9,292 | 20.74 | 0.28 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 | 11,030 | 22.08 | 0.30 |
| 2024 | 9,074 | 20.98 | 0.28 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 | 10,720 | 22.27 | 0.30 |
| 2023 | 8,159 | 19.24 | 0.24 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 | 9,756 | 20.63 | 0.26 |
| 2022 | 6,931 | 16.49 | 0.21 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 | 8,403 | 17.90 | 0.23 |
| 2021 | 3,676 | 8.81 | 0.13 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 | 4,507 | 9.71 | 0.14 |
| 2020 | 8,142 | 20.57 | 0.28 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 | 9,990 | 22.56 | 0.30 |
| 2019 | 7,281 | 18.59 | 0.24 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 | 8,923 | 20.24 | 0.27 |
| 2018 | 6,040 | 15.36 | 0.22 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 | 7,786 | 17.51 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 5,722 | 14.69 | 0.23 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 | 7,302 | 16.68 | 0.26 |
| 2016 | 1,637 | 4.25 | 0.22 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 | 2,132 | 4.93 | 0.26 |
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Crime in City of London's Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aldgate | 1,014 | 31.45 | 50% more dangerous |
| Barbican | 552 | 21.28 | 1.3% more dangerous |
| Bishopsgate | 1,038 | 18.54 | 12% safer |
| Blackfriars | 1,273 | 33.97 | 62% more dangerous |
| Broadgate | 554 | 22.25 | 6% more dangerous |
| Cannon | 252 | 16.31 | 22% safer |
| Cheapside | 748 | 16.61 | 21% safer |
| Fenchurch | 551 | 14.38 | 32% safer |
| Golden Lane Estate | 67 | 71.95 | 243% more dangerous |
| London Wall | 67 | 6.18 | 71% safer |
| Minories | 140 | 21.92 | 4.4% more dangerous |
| Monument | 1,428 | 28.11 | 34% more dangerous |
| Moorgate | 499 | 15.09 | 28% safer |
| Smithfield | 712 | 24.17 | 15% more dangerous |
| Temple | 764 | 33.18 | 58% more dangerous |
City of London Compared to Other London Boroughs
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Borough | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond upon Thames | 11,638 | 53.96 | 157% more dangerous |
| Merton | 13,175 | 53.01 | 152% more dangerous |
| City of London | 9,528 | 21.00 | - |
Comparing City of London to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| City of London | 21.00 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 279% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 294% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 300% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 366% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 398% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 400% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 407% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 410% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 413% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 495% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around City of London's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in City of London that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Frobisher Crescent | 6 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 15 | 112 |
| Wakefield Gardens | 25 | 8 | 14 | 9 | 29 | 177 |
| Tower Gardens | 20 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 115 |
| Tower Gardens | 20 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 21 | 104 |
| Golden Lane Leisure Centre | 4 | 47 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 126 |
| Postman's Park | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| St Mary Staining Churchyard | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 22 |
| Churchyard of St John Zachary | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 22 |
| Jubilee Gardens | - | - | 2 | - | 7 | 10 |
| Festival Gardens | - | 9 | 25 | 15 | 64 | 387 |
| St Mary's Somerset Garden | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 17 |
| Whittington Garden | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 107 |
| King George's Field | 4 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 125 |
| Finsbury Circus Gardens | 3 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 133 |
| Seething Lane Garden | - | 1 | 1 | - | 5 | 58 |
Recent Crimes in City of London
The 20 most recent crime reports in City of London.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Park/Open Space | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Gophir Lane | |
| April 2026 | Bicycle theft | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Artizan Street | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Artizan Street | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Artizan Street | |
| April 2026 | Other crime | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Possession of weapons | On or near Artizan Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Nightclub | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Nightclub | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Nightclub | |
| April 2026 | Theft from the person | On or near Nightclub | |
| April 2026 | Theft from the person | On or near Gophir Lane | |
| April 2026 | Theft from the person | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Martin Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Park/Open Space |
Methodology & Data Sources
City of London Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in City of London during August 2026 will typically become available in October 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
City of London Data Points
For City of London, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E43000191.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses City of London's daytime - or "workday" - population of 359,238 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in City of London