Havering vs Kingston upon Thames

Havering and Kingston upon Thames record much the same amount of crime for their size: 88.9 and 87.0 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority, and neither area is uniform: the gap between neighbourhoods inside one of these places is usually wider than the gap between the two of them.

Havering 88.9 crimes per 1,000 residents, Greater London
Kingston upon Thames 87.0 crimes per 1,000 residents, Greater London

The England and Wales average is 91.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents. Havering is close to it. Kingston upon Thames is close to it.

Side by side

Recorded crime in Havering and Kingston upon Thames
  Havering Kingston upon Thames
Crimes per 1,000 residents 88.9 87.0
Offences in the year to June 2026 24,556 15,025
Residents 276,274 172,692
Change on the previous 12 months +0.5% +2.1%
Rank in England and Wales 138 of 314 147 of 314

Rank 1 is the highest recorded rate. Both areas are local authority areas, so the two populations are counted the same way and the rates are directly comparable.

Offence by offence

The mix differs more than the totals do. Havering records about 1.6 times as much robbery and 1.4 times as much vehicle crime per resident. Kingston upon Thames records about 1.5 times as much theft from the person per resident.

Rate per 1,000 residents by offence
Offence, per 1,000 residents Havering Kingston upon Thames
Violence and sexual offences 25.2 24.2
Anti-social behaviour 19.1 18.9
Shoplifting 7.9 9.1
Vehicle crime 8.1 6.0
Other theft 5.4 5.4
Public order 5.0 5.4
Drugs 4.7 4.2
Criminal damage and arson 4.4 4.0
Burglary 3.1 3.1
Theft from the person 1.6 2.4
Robbery 2.2 1.4
Other crime 1.2 1.0
Bicycle theft 0.4 1.6
Possession of weapons 0.7 0.6
All recorded crime 88.9 87.0

Both places since 2011

Each line is a rolling twelve-month rate per 1,000 residents, so seasonality is taken out and the two areas are on the same scale despite their different sizes.

Havering Kingston upon Thames
3060901200Covid lockdown89 Havering87 Kingston20122014201620182020202220242026
A line breaks wherever the twelve months behind it include a return the force never filed, because a twelve-month total missing three of its months is not a total.

Questions

Is Havering safer than Kingston upon Thames?

Havering and Kingston upon Thames record much the same amount of crime for their size: 88.9 and 87.0 offences per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to June 2026. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority, and neither area is uniform: the gap between neighbourhoods inside one of these places is usually wider than the gap between the two of them.

What does this comparison not tell you?

Recorded crime counts what the police wrote down, so a place where people report more looks worse than a place where they report less, whatever actually happened. Both figures are averages across a whole local authority: a town with one busy centre and quiet suburbs carries a rate that describes neither. And the denominator is residents, so somewhere that fills up with commuters, students or shoppers by day records crime against a population it is not credited with. How the figures work sets all of this out.

Where else can I compare?

Pick any other two areas, or start from Havering or Kingston upon Thames and use the neighbouring areas listed on each. The ranked lists of the safest places and the highest crime rates cover all of them at once.

Figures cover the 12 months to June 2026. Police data is published roughly two months in arrears.