Crime and Safety in Chelsea, Kensington and Chelsea
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Chelsea are violence and sexual offences, with 827 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 29. This is 6% higher than 2025's figure of 778 offences and a difference of 1.57 from 2025's crime rate of 27. Chelsea's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 12 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 14% from 2025's figure of 14 crimes.
Chelsea 2026 Crime Scorecard
5% lower, borough crime rate
London
57% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Kensington and Chelsea is 5% lower than London and 57% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Kensington and Chelsea Crime Rate Over Time
| Chelsea | |
| Kensington and Chelsea | |
| London |
Chelsea Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Chelsea 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 Chelsea's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Chelsea up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Chelsea's 29 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
Chelsea • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Chelsea has a crime risk score of 656. This is based on analysis of 29 nearby areas within Chelsea, 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 Chelsea's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Chelsea, crime risk scores are typically around 656, while in Kensington and Chelsea they are average 676.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 724 (744 for Kensington and Chelsea), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 757 (Kensington and Chelsea 777).
Trends in Crime Risk
Chelsea
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.
No trend could be found in Chelsea's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Chelsea's crime risk score is up by 19%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Over the last year, Chelsea'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
Chelsea
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
Chelsea • 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 11 reports per 1,000 people in Chelsea, which is 7.22 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 319 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 515 reports of Vehicle Crime in Chelsea, resulting in a crime rate of 18 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 4.20.
The crime rate for Robbery is 2.64 times the national average at 3.11 reports per 1,000. This is from 89 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Chelsea
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.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.67 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 1.17 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 43% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.36 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.28 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 6% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.94 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.80 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 18% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Chelsea
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.91 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.86 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 51% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Chelsea • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Chelsea | Kensington and Chelsea | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 711 | 24.94 | 1.77 | 4,985 | 27.30 | 1.93 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 60 | 2.12 | 2.90 | 350 | 1.91 | 2.62 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 178 | 6.24 | 1.99 | 1,221 | 6.68 | 2.13 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 163 | 5.71 | 0.91 | 1,036 | 5.67 | 0.90 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 127 | 4.46 | 1.44 | 1,196 | 6.57 | 2.13 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 28 | 0.98 | 0.58 | 174 | 0.96 | 0.52 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 393 | 13.78 | 2.42 | 2,988 | 16.36 | 2.88 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 12 | 0.43 | 0.77 | 126 | 0.68 | 0.80 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 207 | 7.24 | 1.25 | 1,349 | 7.38 | 1.27 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 89 | 3.11 | 2.64 | 595 | 3.27 | 2.77 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 306 | 10.73 | 1.50 | 3,501 | 19.17 | 2.69 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 319 | 11.19 | 7.22 | 1,943 | 10.65 | 6.87 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 515 | 18.07 | 4.20 | 2,156 | 11.82 | 2.75 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 827 | 29.00 | 0.95 | 5,201 | 28.48 | 0.94 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Chelsea | Kensington and Chelsea | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 3,224 | 113.06 | 1.58 | 21,836 | 119.60 | 1.66 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 3,236 | 114.95 | 1.56 | 22,275 | 123.15 | 1.66 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 3,565 | 127.15 | 1.70 | 23,287 | 127.36 | 1.69 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 3,340 | 119.17 | 1.52 | 20,691 | 111.82 | 1.42 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 3,359 | 120.10 | 1.57 | 19,521 | 105.46 | 1.37 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 2,522 | 90.33 | 1.32 | 16,163 | 86.78 | 1.27 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 3,309 | 117.36 | 1.60 | 21,939 | 116.50 | 1.57 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 3,197 | 111.53 | 1.47 | 21,724 | 114.07 | 1.50 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 3,271 | 112.40 | 1.58 | 21,262 | 110.85 | 1.56 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 3,037 | 102.45 | 1.61 | 20,067 | 103.34 | 1.62 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 909 | 30.44 | 1.62 | 5,907 | 30.29 | 1.59 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Chelsea Compared to Other Kensington and Chelsea Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Brompton | 1,072 | 81.83 | 28% safer |
| Earl's Court | 2,154 | 129.17 | 14% more dangerous |
| Knightsbridge | 2,676 | 169.15 | 50% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Kensington and Chelsea