Crime and Safety in South Kensington, Kensington and Chelsea
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in South Kensington are violence and sexual offences, with 583 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 20. This is 2.6% higher than 2025's figure of 568 offences and a difference of 0.51 from 2025's crime rate of 19. South Kensington's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 10 offences recorded in 2026, the same as 2025's figure of 10 crimes.
South Kensington 2026 Crime Scorecard
34% lower, borough crime rate
London
9% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Kensington and Chelsea is 34% lower than London and 9% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Kensington and Chelsea Crime Rate Over Time
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| Kensington and Chelsea | |
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South Kensington Crime Map
Incidents mapped in South Kensington 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 South Kensington's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around South Kensington up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of South Kensington's 44 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
South Kensington • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within South Kensington has a crime risk score of 631. This is based on analysis of 44 nearby areas within South Kensington, 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 South Kensington's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in South Kensington, crime risk scores are typically around 631, while in Kensington and Chelsea they are average 676.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 709 (744 for Kensington and Chelsea), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 768 (Kensington and Chelsea 777).
Trends in Crime Risk
South Kensington
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 South Kensington'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 South Kensington's crime risk score is up by 16%. 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, South Kensington's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 7%, 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
South Kensington
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
South Kensington • 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 7.51 reports per 1,000 people in South Kensington, which is 4.85 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 224 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 275 reports of Vehicle Crime in South Kensington, resulting in a crime rate of 9.21 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 2.14.
The crime rate for Robbery is 1.58 times the national average at 1.87 reports per 1,000. This is from 56 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
South Kensington
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.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.63 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.60 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 5% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
South Kensington
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.26 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 3.14 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 60% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.37 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.63 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 41% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 3.67 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 9.08 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 60% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
South Kensington • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
South Kensington | Kensington and Chelsea | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 503 | 16.83 | 1.19 | 4,985 | 27.30 | 1.93 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 58 | 1.94 | 2.66 | 350 | 1.91 | 2.62 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 134 | 4.49 | 1.43 | 1,221 | 6.68 | 2.13 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 96 | 3.21 | 0.51 | 1,036 | 5.67 | 0.90 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 56 | 1.87 | 0.61 | 1,196 | 6.57 | 2.13 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 15 | 0.49 | 0.35 | 174 | 0.96 | 0.52 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 528 | 17.67 | 3.11 | 2,988 | 16.36 | 2.88 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 10 | 0.32 | 0.64 | 126 | 0.68 | 0.80 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 124 | 4.14 | 0.71 | 1,349 | 7.38 | 1.27 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 56 | 1.87 | 1.58 | 595 | 3.27 | 2.77 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 189 | 6.34 | 0.89 | 3,501 | 19.17 | 2.69 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 224 | 7.51 | 4.85 | 1,943 | 10.65 | 6.87 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 275 | 9.21 | 2.14 | 2,156 | 11.82 | 2.75 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 583 | 19.53 | 0.64 | 5,201 | 28.48 | 0.94 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
South Kensington | Kensington and Chelsea | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,348 | 78.59 | 1.10 | 21,836 | 119.60 | 1.66 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 2,639 | 90.85 | 1.24 | 22,275 | 123.15 | 1.66 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 3,023 | 103.06 | 1.38 | 23,287 | 127.36 | 1.69 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 2,609 | 87.72 | 1.13 | 20,691 | 111.82 | 1.42 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 2,560 | 88.71 | 1.17 | 19,521 | 105.46 | 1.37 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 2,020 | 68.77 | 1.01 | 16,163 | 86.78 | 1.27 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 3,035 | 100.65 | 1.37 | 21,939 | 116.50 | 1.57 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,834 | 93.47 | 1.24 | 21,724 | 114.07 | 1.50 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 2,545 | 85.57 | 1.21 | 21,262 | 110.85 | 1.56 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 2,560 | 85.74 | 1.34 | 20,067 | 103.34 | 1.62 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 864 | 28.77 | 1.52 | 5,907 | 30.29 | 1.59 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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South Kensington Compared to Other Kensington and Chelsea Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holland Park | 866 | 72.04 | 8% safer |
| West Brompton | 1,072 | 81.83 | 4.1% more dangerous |
| Kensington Palace Gardens | 848 | 89.17 | 13% more dangerous |
| Earl's Court | 2,154 | 129.17 | 64% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Kensington and Chelsea