Crime in Hackney district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (8,927), anti-social behaviour (7,826) and theft from the person (3,996) made up 53% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 16th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest tenth.

Recorded crime in Hackney district peaked in the year to August 2020 (44,277 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2018 (37,237). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 5%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Hackney district recorded notably more theft from the person (8.9 times the national rate), bicycle theft (5.6 times the national rate) and robbery (4.0 times the national rate), and notably less other crime (45% below) and criminal damage and arson (40% below). On the year before, possession of weapons rose from 229 to 274 and shoplifting rose from 2,342 to 2,745, while criminal damage and arson fell from 1,626 to 1,088.

What each category covers: crime categories.

31,080 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Hackney district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 116.5 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Hackney district had the 18th highest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Metropolitan Police area in the year ending March 2026, 5.5% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Hackney district is an undercount.

No change on the year or longer series is given for Hackney district: comparable figures start in the year ending March 2026, because the share of crimes in the Metropolitan Police area not assigned to a district moved from 4.3% in the year ending March 2025 to 5.5% in the year ending March 2026, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Offences recorded in Hackney district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was theft from the person, with 4,142 offences (13% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for theft from the person (8.8 times the national rate), robbery of personal property (5.0 times the national rate) and bicycle theft (4.7 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for arson (0.53 times), miscellaneous crimes against society (0.59 times) and stalking and harassment (0.70 times).

Districts in the Metropolitan Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 32 districts in the Metropolitan Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Hackney district had the 6th highest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

4 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Hackney district; the highest is City of London (639.5 per 1,000) and the lowest Waltham Forest district (105.3).

Of the 22 areas within Hackney district, Hoxton East & Shoreditch had the highest crime rate (353.9 per 1,000) and Cazenove the lowest (61.0), 6 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 17% of the crime recorded in Hackney district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,389).

Of the 31,092 crimes in Hackney district with a recorded outcome, 51% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 4.1% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 7,826 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Hackney district has an estimated population of 266,758 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more households without a car (65%, against 23%), more social housing (40%, against 17%) and fewer retired residents (7.8%, against 21.6%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Hackney district average decile 3.1 (1 = most deprived), more deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.