Crime in Test Valley: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,282), anti-social behaviour (1,111) and public order (661) made up 61% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 260th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

The year to August 2026 had the least recorded crime in Test Valley of any year here (8,243 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 6%, in line with England and Wales.

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 bicycle theft (69% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 32 to 59 and anti-social behaviour rose from 917 to 1,111, while bicycle theft fell from 43 to 35.

What each category covers: crime categories.

7,055 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Test Valley in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 52.2 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 (7,484), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Test Valley had the 42nd 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 Hampshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 2.2% 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 Test Valley is an undercount.

Offences recorded in Test Valley, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,084 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 (0.08 times), robbery of personal property (0.22 times) and trafficking of drugs (0.30 times).

The largest rises on the year were in possession of weapons (+29%) and miscellaneous crimes against society (+15%). The largest falls were in theft from the person (−41%) and bicycle theft (−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 Test Valley since the year ending March 2021

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2021 to 2026. Test Valley's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 6 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2021 because the share of crimes in the Hampshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 1.5% in the year ending March 2020 to 2.6% in the year ending March 2021, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 11 districts in the Hampshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Test Valley had the 3rd lowest rate. Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor are not in the table because the Home Office publishes each of them jointly with a neighbouring district, as one community safety partnership.

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.

6 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Test Valley; the highest is Southampton district (133.7 per 1,000) and the lowest East Hampshire (47.3).

Of the 31 areas within Test Valley, Andover St Mary's had the highest crime rate (176.2 per 1,000) and Valley Park the lowest (22.9), 8 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 22% of the crime recorded in Test Valley over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (536).

Of the 7,132 crimes in Test Valley with a recorded outcome, 35% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 2.9% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,111 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Test Valley has an estimated population of 135,201 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (12%, against 23%), fewer students (4.6%, against 7.9%) and less private renting (15%, against 20%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Test Valley average decile 7.3 (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.