Crime in Worthing district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,486), anti-social behaviour (2,299) and shoplifting (1,872) made up 66% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 93rd of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

The year to August 2026 had the most recorded crime in Worthing district of any year here (11,569 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 13%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Worthing district recorded notably more shoplifting (94% above the national rate), bicycle theft (54% above the national rate) and public order (36% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (79% below) and burglary (50% below). On the year before, robbery rose from 80 to 146 and anti-social behaviour rose from 1,620 to 2,299.

What each category covers: crime categories.

9,138 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Worthing district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 80.3 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 2% on the year ending March 2025 (9,370), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Worthing district had the 111th 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 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 Worthing district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Worthing district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was shoplifting, with 1,768 offences (19% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for shoplifting (1.9 times the national rate), bicycle theft (1.9 times the national rate) and robbery of business property (1.8 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.18 times), robbery of personal property (0.38 times) and non-residential burglary (0.49 times).

The largest rises on the year were in bicycle theft (+71%) and other sexual offences (+15%). The largest falls were in theft from the person (−39%) and non-residential burglary (−34%). 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 Worthing 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. Worthing district's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 3 of those 14 years and below it in 11. 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, Worthing district had the 5th 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.

2 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Worthing district; the highest is Crawley (129.6 per 1,000) and the lowest Horsham district (57.0).

Of the 14 areas within Worthing district, Central had the highest crime rate (287.9 per 1,000) and Goring the lowest (51.9), 6 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 31% of the crime recorded in Worthing district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (1,618).

Of the 9,270 crimes in Worthing district with a recorded outcome, 40% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 8.4% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,299 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Worthing district has an estimated population of 113,866 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has less social housing (9.8%, against 17.1%), fewer students (5.1%, against 7.9%) and an older population (23%, against 19%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Worthing district average decile 6.3 (1 = most deprived), close to the middle.

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