Abingdon-on-Thames is safe enough for daily life, but it records more crime than the district around it. It has around 69 crimes for every 1,000 residents. That's about a fifth higher than the local average. The local police force charges fewer suspects than most. Its incomes are comfortable, but its crime figures are higher than the rest of the Vale's.
Thames Valley Police recorded 2,710 crimes across Abingdon between June 2025 and May 2026. The published rate for the same twelve months is about 69 per 1,000 people, roughly 19% above the Vale of White Horse average. These are published rates for the area as a whole, and they say nothing about any individual street.
Across the Vale of White Horse as a whole, the rate for the same year is about 58 per 1,000. Abingdon is the busiest town in a largely rural district and is home to the district council, so it collects much of the district's town-centre crime. Its rate is high for the Vale, which isn't the same as high.
Abingdon averages about 5,200 people per square kilometre, which is dense by the standards of the Vale's villages. Unemployment is around 2%, and about 2% of households are overcrowded. It's a busy, crowded town where nearly everyone is employed and most homes have enough space.
Violence and sexual offences make up about 41% of recorded crime in Abingdon, against 35% across England and Wales. That's a broad legal category and includes common assault without injury. Public order offences are about 9% here against 7% nationally, and criminal damage and arson about 8% against 7%. Other theft comes in at about 7%, the same as the national share. Anti-social behaviour, at about 14% against 16% nationally, and shoplifting, at about 6% against 8%, are both below the national average. So Abingdon has more trouble between people than the national pattern and a little less nuisance. Thames Valley Police publishes a street-level crime map, and checking the streets around a particular house will tell you more than any town average.
Thames Valley Police, the force covering Abingdon, charges a suspect in about 9% of cases, against about 12% nationally, and that puts it 37th of 42 forces on this measure. About 37% of its cases close with no suspect identified. These are force-wide figures that describe what happens after a crime is reported, not how likely a crime is in Abingdon. Abingdon had its own borough police force until 1889. Since then it has relied on a much bigger force, and that force charges fewer suspects than most.
On safety, Abingdon is below average. It isn't a dangerous town, but it records more crime than the rest of the Vale, and when a case is reported the local force is less likely than most to charge anyone.