Chadwell St Mary is about as safe as the rest of Thurrock, no safer and no worse. Its crime rate and the borough's are within a whisker of each other. The mix leans towards cars and property damage. Violence comes in a little above the national share, and anti-social behaviour a little below. Middle of the table, with a particular problem for anything parked outside.
Police.uk records crime in Chadwell St Mary at about 101 incidents per 1,000 people in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, from 1,257 recorded crimes over those twelve months. That rate is published on its own statistical population base, which is why it should be read as it stands and not recalculated from the head count. Over a year, the place recorded crime at the same pace as its borough.
Thurrock's own rate over the same year was about 102 per 1,000, against Chadwell St Mary's 101. A gap that small is a draw. Buyers looking for a reason to rule the place in or out on crime alone will not find one in those two numbers.
The 2021 census describes a built-up place: around 7,060 people per square kilometre on average across its neighbourhoods, unemployment of about 4%, and about 7% of households overcrowded. That is the texture of the neighbourhood, a dense post-war estate with most adults in work, and none of the three explains the crime figures by itself.
The mix is where Chadwell St Mary stops looking average. Violence and sexual offences make up about 38% of recorded crime here against about 35% across England and Wales, and the category covers everything from serious assault to common assault with no injury, so a share close to the national one is no cause for alarm. Anti-social behaviour runs at about 14% against 16% nationally, and public order at about 5% against 7%, both a little under. The two that stand out are criminal damage and arson, at about 13% against 7%, and vehicle crime, at about 12% against 5%. A quick look at the street-level map on police.uk over the last few months will show whether the street you are looking at is where that happens. The crime that marks Chadwell out is mostly done to what sits outside overnight, and the houses themselves come off lightly.
Essex Police charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% nationally, over the year to May 2026, which puts the force 28th of 42 in England and Wales. That is a force-wide figure covering the whole county, and it describes what happens after a crime, which is a different question from how likely one is. About 37% of the force's cases closed with no suspect identified. For a damaged car or a scratched-up van, the second number is the one that predicts how the story ends.
Chadwell St Mary's safety is middling, close to the borough on the headline rate and worse than most places on cars and criminal damage. Somewhere to live sensibly, with the car parked where you can see it.