Crime in Horsham district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (2,795), anti-social behaviour (2,021) and shoplifting (901) made up 66% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 274th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest tenth.

Recorded crime in Horsham district peaked in the year to August 2021 (9,412 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2018 (7,561). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 14%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and theft from the person (89% below) and robbery (69% below) were well below it. On the year before, anti-social behaviour rose from 1,455 to 2,021, while possession of weapons fell from 117 to 67 and vehicle crime fell from 405 to 257.

What each category covers: crime categories.

6,729 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Horsham district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 44.4 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 6% on the year ending March 2025 (7,147), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Horsham district had the 16th lowest 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 Sussex Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.8% 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 Horsham district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Horsham district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 968 offences (14% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.11 times), robbery of personal property (0.19 times) and possession of drugs (0.29 times).

The largest rises on the year were in miscellaneous crimes against society (+31%). The largest falls were in theft from the person (−44%) and vehicle offences (−44%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Horsham district since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Horsham district's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 14 years. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 13 districts in the Sussex Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Horsham district had the 2nd lowest 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.

7 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Horsham district; the highest is Crawley (129.6 per 1,000) and the lowest Waverley (44.1).

Of the 38 areas within Horsham district, Denne had the highest crime rate (186.3 per 1,000) and Bramber the lowest (13.4), 14 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 23% of the crime recorded in Horsham district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (556).

Of the 6,614 crimes in Horsham district with a recorded outcome, 47% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.3% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,021 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Horsham district has an estimated population of 151,521 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (11%, against 23%), fewer students (5.0%, against 7.9%) and less social housing (11%, against 17%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Horsham district average decile 8.1 (1 = most deprived), less 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.