Crime in South Oxfordshire: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,031), anti-social behaviour (855) and criminal damage and arson (663) made up 61% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 290th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest tenth.

Recorded crime in South Oxfordshire peaked in the year to August 2022 (8,352 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2019 (6,955). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 4%, 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 (91% below) and possession of weapons (77% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 31 to 70 and other crime rose from 168 to 229, while theft from the person fell from 57 to 25 and possession of weapons fell from 51 to 35.

What each category covers: crime categories.

6,359 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in South Oxfordshire in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 40.6 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 2% on the year ending March 2025 (6,476), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, South Oxfordshire had the 6th 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).

Offences recorded in South Oxfordshire, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 985 offences (15% 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 (0.12 times), trafficking of drugs (0.32 times) and possession of weapons (0.33 times).

The largest rises on the year were in non-residential burglary (+43%) and stalking and harassment (+11%). The largest falls were in theft from the person (−44%) and possession of weapons (−24%). 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 South Oxfordshire 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. South Oxfordshire'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 Thames Valley Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 13 districts in the Thames Valley Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, South Oxfordshire 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 South Oxfordshire; the highest is Reading district (112.0 per 1,000) and the lowest Wokingham district (45.1).

Of the 39 areas within South Oxfordshire, Didcot West had the highest crime rate (80.2 per 1,000) and Lower Shiplake the lowest (7.3), 11 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 19% of the crime recorded in South Oxfordshire over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (330).

Of the 6,585 crimes in South Oxfordshire with a recorded outcome, 32% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.2% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 855 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

South Oxfordshire has an estimated population of 156,470 (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 fewer residents with no qualifications (12%, against 18%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up South Oxfordshire average decile 8.4 (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.