Donald Trump says London is full of ‘stabbings, dirt, and filth’, but many of his own citizens are picking that over the US
Whatever Donald Trump has to say about crime being ‘through the roof’ in London, the UK capital is a lot safer than many major US cities when it comes to the prospect of being murdered. In 2023, there were around 11 murders for every million people living in London. For the same year in America, there were 68 homicides per million people nationally, with 46 in New York, 220 in Chicago, and 250 in Philadelphia.
According to those statistics, if you live in New York, the US President’s back yard, you are four-and-a-half times more likely to be murdered than if you live in London. Hinting at this chilling disparity in response to Trump’s comments last week, a source close to the Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan suggested: “Perhaps that’s one of the reasons record numbers of Americans are choosing to make London their home.”
The latest Home Office figures show a rise of 50 per cent in citizenship applications from Americans to the UK – putting it at the highest since records began. Between April and June, there were a record 2,194 applications, compared with 1,465 the previous year. Khan himself believes liberal US citizens like London because of its ‘fundamental values’ and pride in diversity.
So if an American does move to London looking to reduce their chances of being gunned down in the street, what can they expect? The leafy suburbs might be alright, but there’s clearly enough action in some areas to warrant titles like ‘The Cronx’ (Croydon), ‘Stabby Wood’ (Abbey Wood), and ‘Murder Mile’ (Clapton).
What the police data says?
To give a picture of how the different part of London compare on crime, we have taken police data from every borough and broken it down into the categories that a prospective homeowner or renter, American or not, might be concerned with. Those are violence, including sexual violence, property crimes like burglary and arson, theft, and high profile crimes like murder and rape.
For violence, with and without injury, here are the key stats for August 2024 to August 2025 (the most recent available data):
- Westminster had the highest rate at 46.4 offences per 1,000 people, with 12,075 offences.
- Barking and Dagenham, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Tower Hamlets were the next three worst.
- Richmond upon Thames had the lowest with 16.2 points and 3,225 offences, followed by Kingston and Barnet.
- Croydon had the highest number of offences overall at 12,346.
Robbery, both domestic and business:
- The rate in Westminster at 15.2 was more than double the next worst area of Camden with 7.1
- Kingston, Sutton, Bexley, Richmond, and Barnet had the lowest robbery rates with all below 2.0
Rape and other sexual offences:
- Westminster recorded 1,768 sex crimes with a rate of 6.8, followed by Kensington and Chelsea with 4.4
- Richmond, Barnet, and Harrow were the lowest on the list
- On rape alone Croydon had the most with 536, though Westminster still had the worst rate
Theft, including shoplifting, pickpocketing, and bike theft:
- Westminster led the way again, with an astonishing rate of 244.4
- Camden came second with 103.7, which was still well above Kensington and Chelsea, Islington, and Southwark
- Sutton was the only area with a rate below 20, followed closely by Bexley
Property crimes like burglary, arson, and criminal damage
- Kensington and Chelsea had the highest residential burglary rate with 5.9, followed just by Hackney and Southwark
- Burglaries were least common in Bexley, Redbridge, and Kingston
- Islington, Croydon, and Hounslow were worst for criminal damage, with Harrow, Redbridge, and Sutton the best
- And there were more than 100 arson offences in Barking and Dagenham, Hounslow, and Haringey
And finally murders:
- At nine murders in a year, Tower Hamlets had the most for the period we are looking at
- Every London borough had at least one
- In the year previous, August 2023 to August 2024, Hackney had 10 and Havering had zero
- Lewisham and Lambeth have appeared in the top five worst boroughs for the last three years
So where should I live?
It appears the chance of any crime happening is highest in Westminster, but it is important to remember that is skewed by the high volume offences associated with it being a tourist destination and shopping district, with theft offences through the roof.
If avoiding an early exit from this mortal coil is important to you, the data says stay away from Lambeth and Lewisham and move somewhere further out of the inner city (just not Croydon).
In fact, moving further out was a good rule of thumb for most crimes. Sutton had a low rate of theft, violence was lower in places that end with ‘on Thames’, and you were least likely to be burgled in Bexley.
The truth is, we cannot do a great job of telling you where the safest place in London is, because crime is so varied, it fluctuates so much, and so many things go unreported and therefore unrecorded.
If you are actually considering a move here, find out what your new postcode will be and put that in here. Once you have the name of your Safer Neighbourhood Team, you can use the Met’s crime data dashboard here to see where your new area ranks for different types of offences. If certain crimes are more important to you, this will be the best way of helping you make a decision.
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