Crime and Safety in Highbury, Islington
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Highbury are violence and sexual offences, with 593 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 21. This is 0.84% lower than 2025's figure of 598 offences and a difference of 0.16 from 2025's crime rate of 21. Highbury's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 12 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 33% from 2025's figure of 9 crimes.
Highbury 2026 Crime Scorecard
19% lower, borough crime rate
London
1.8% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Islington is 19% lower than London and 1.8% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Islington Crime Rate Over Time
| Highbury | |
| Islington | |
| London |
Highbury Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Highbury 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.
Introduction to Highbury's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Highbury up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Highbury's 28 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.
Crime Risk Scores
Highbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Highbury has a crime risk score of 664. This is based on analysis of 28 nearby areas within Highbury, 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 Highbury's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Highbury, crime risk scores are typically around 664, while in Islington they are average 647.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 763 (719 for Islington), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 820 (Islington 774).
Trends in Crime Risk
Highbury
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 18% in Highbury'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 Highbury's crime risk score is up by 5.0%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
The risk score trend over the last year has not shown any statistically meaningful movement up or down.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Highbury
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
Highbury • 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 8.23 reports per 1,000 people in Highbury, which is 5.31 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 233 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 96 reports of Robbery in Highbury, resulting in a crime rate of 3.39 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 2.87.
The crime rate for Drugs is 2.13 times the national average at 6.59 reports per 1,000. This is from 187 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Highbury
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.
Theft From the Person offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 5.58 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 4.08 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 37% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.61 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 691% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.75 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.53 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 14% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Highbury
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.27 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.28 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 3.6% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.00 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.45 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 31% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Highbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Highbury | Islington | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 543 | 19.18 | 1.36 | 9,213 | 26.49 | 1.87 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 83 | 2.92 | 4.00 | 803 | 2.31 | 3.16 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 137 | 4.83 | 1.54 | 1,639 | 4.71 | 1.50 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 135 | 4.76 | 0.76 | 1,583 | 4.55 | 0.72 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 187 | 6.59 | 2.13 | 2,228 | 6.40 | 2.07 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 32 | 1.16 | 0.63 | 337 | 0.97 | 0.52 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 166 | 5.87 | 1.03 | 3,856 | 11.08 | 1.95 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 12 | 0.45 | 0.80 | 232 | 0.66 | 0.78 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 202 | 7.12 | 1.23 | 2,306 | 6.65 | 1.15 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 96 | 3.39 | 2.87 | 1,288 | 3.72 | 3.15 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 51 | 1.82 | 0.26 | 3,506 | 10.10 | 1.42 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 233 | 8.23 | 5.31 | 3,546 | 10.19 | 6.57 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 148 | 5.22 | 1.21 | 1,846 | 5.32 | 1.24 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 593 | 20.95 | 0.69 | 8,421 | 24.23 | 0.80 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Highbury | Islington | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,075 | 73.31 | 1.02 | 31,591 | 90.89 | 1.26 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 2,150 | 76.17 | 1.04 | 31,826 | 91.89 | 1.24 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 2,018 | 71.32 | 0.96 | 29,276 | 85.21 | 1.13 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 2,054 | 72.91 | 0.94 | 27,705 | 81.23 | 1.03 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,966 | 69.53 | 0.92 | 25,917 | 76.49 | 1.00 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 2,147 | 74.19 | 1.09 | 23,035 | 67.57 | 0.99 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 2,220 | 76.38 | 1.04 | 27,609 | 81.27 | 1.10 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,231 | 77.44 | 1.02 | 29,139 | 86.13 | 1.13 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 2,128 | 74.11 | 1.06 | 31,525 | 92.24 | 1.30 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 2,226 | 78.42 | 1.23 | 28,816 | 83.82 | 1.31 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 628 | 22.23 | 1.17 | 8,814 | 25.62 | 1.34 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Highbury Compared to Other Islington Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Canonbury | 679 | 86.33 | 18% more dangerous |
| Mildmay | 905 | 93.86 | 28% more dangerous |
| Lower Holloway | 2,052 | 100.41 | 37% more dangerous |
| Canonbury | 1,302 | 108.49 | 48% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Islington