Yes, and by Thanet's standards it's comfortably the calmer end. Crime runs about a quarter below the district. Unemployment barely registers. Overcrowding is rare. Here, safe mostly means dull in the right places.
Kent Police figures for the year from June 2025 to May 2026 put Broadstairs's crime rate at about 87 per 1,000 residents, roughly a quarter below the Thanet average. Over those twelve months, 2,463 crimes were recorded across the town. That is a published rate, worked out against the population of the statistical areas the police use, and it is the figure to compare with other places, not the raw count.
The comparison is clearer with both numbers side by side. Thanet as a whole ran at about 119 crimes per 1,000 residents over the same year, against Broadstairs's 87. The rest of the district, which includes the busier town centres of Margate and Ramsgate, is doing most of the work that gives Thanet its reputation. Broadstairs sits on the same island and gets tarred with the same brush by people who haven't looked at the map.
The texture of the place helps explain why it reads as settled. Broadstairs averages about 4,000 residents per square kilometre, dense enough to be a proper town without feeling packed. At the 2021 Census about 2% of residents were unemployed and about 2% of households were overcrowded. None of these figures causes or prevents crime on its own, but together they describe a town with few of the pressures that usually sit behind a high rate. The Culmers built York Gate across Harbour Street in 1540 with two heavy doors to close against threats from the sea. The doors have long since earned their retirement.
The mix of crime looks much like anywhere else, with a slight tilt. Violence and sexual offences make up about 38% of recorded crime, against about 35% nationally. That category is the biggest almost everywhere and covers a wide statutory range, including common assault without injury, so the local share sitting close to the national one is the useful point. Anti-social behaviour accounts for about 19%, against 16% nationally. Shoplifting runs at about 11%, against 8%, and criminal damage and arson at about 10%, against 7%. Other theft, at about 6%, sits close to the national 7%, and public order offences, at about 4%, are below the national 7%. The tilt is towards shop and property nuisance, the kind of crime a high street with 1,000-odd rated businesses attracts, and away from public disorder. No single category stands out as alarming.
What happens after a crime is reported is a separate question, and a force-wide one. Kent Police charges a suspect in about 16% of cases, against about 12% across England and Wales, which puts it sixth of 42 forces. That's a Kent Police figure, not a Broadstairs one, and it says nothing about how safe the town is, only how often a report ends in a charge. The honest flip side is that about 36% of cases across the force close with no suspect identified. For a stolen bike, report it for the insurance and don't expect a knock on the door.
Safety is one of Broadstairs's real strengths: the crime rate sits well under the rest of Thanet, the mix holds no nasty surprises, and most residents' dealings with the police will be limited to a courteous nod.