Yes, and not in the mealy-mouthed way most seaside towns claim it. Around 150 recorded crimes across an entire year, for the whole town. A rate roughly half that of the wider district. The kind of place where an unattended bicycle is a low-stakes gamble rather than a donation. If you came here looking for the catch, the crime numbers are not where you will find it.
Over the twelve months to May 2026, police.uk recorded 150 crimes across the town, giving a published rate of about 25 offences per thousand residents. That sits roughly 51% below the East Devon average. Both of those are published figures rather than sums worked out here, and the rate uses its own statistical population base rather than the resident headcount, so it is not something to reverse-engineer at home.
The comparison is easier to hold with both numbers in view. East Devon as a whole runs at about 50 offences per thousand residents. This town runs at about 25. Two numbers, same measure, and the local one is the lower by a distance that no amount of estate agent adjective inflation could have manufactured.
The surrounding texture is what you would expect underneath figures like that. Population density across the area's neighbourhoods averages about 2,300 people per square kilometre, which is a compact built-up town rather than a scattering of farms. Unemployment sits at about 1%, and about 1% of households are overcrowded. None of that causes the crime figures, and anyone claiming a clean line from one to the other is selling something. It does describe the kind of settled, low-churn place these numbers tend to come from.
The mix needs handling with care, because with 150 crimes in total a handful of incidents shifts any share by several points. With that firmly stated: violence and sexual offences account for about 46% of recorded crime here against about 35% nationally, and that category is a broad statutory grouping covering everything from serious offences to common assault without injury, which is why it tops the table almost everywhere in the country. Anti-social behaviour sits at about 16% locally and about 16% nationally, which is as close to identical as these things get. Other theft runs at about 12% against about 7% nationally, and criminal damage and arson at about 10% against about 7%. Public order is about 5% locally against about 7% nationally, and shoplifting about 5% against about 8%. On a base this small, none of that is a settled characteristic of the town. It is one year of low numbers arranged into percentages.
What happens after a report is a different question entirely, and it is answered force-wide rather than street by street. Devon & Cornwall Police charged a suspect in about 8% of cases over the twelve months to May 2026, against about 12% nationally, which places the force 42nd of the 42 ranked. About 26% of cases were closed with no suspect identified. That is a statement about investigation outcomes across two whole counties, not a measure of how safe this town is, and the two should never be stirred together. The honest version for a buyer is that very little happens here, and if something does happen, the odds of anyone being charged for it are not encouraging.
Safety is the strongest thing this town has going for it, and it is strong on published numbers rather than reputation. The only real caveat is what the force does afterwards, and that is a Devon and Cornwall problem rather than a Budleigh Salterton one.