Chislehurst is safe enough to live in, but less safe than it looks. Its crime rate runs above the Bromley average. Violence makes up a smaller share than it does nationally. Vehicle crime makes up about twice the national share. The woods and the big gardens make it look safer than the crime record does.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 2,704 crimes in Chislehurst in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 103 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 16% above the rate for the London Borough of Bromley as a whole. It's a middling figure for outer London, but higher than people expect from somewhere with a golf club in an emperor's former house.
Bromley's own rate over the same year was about 89 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Chislehurst's 103. The borough is the yardstick most buyers here use, and on it Chislehurst is the neighbour with slightly more crime.
The area itself is fairly ordinary. There are about 3,950 people per square kilometre on average, unemployment is about 3% and roughly 3% of households are overcrowded. None of those figures causes crime, and none of them is high. Whatever pushes Chislehurst's rate up, these aren't the explanation.
The mix is where the area shows its character. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal category that includes common assault without injury, account for about 24% of recorded crime, against about 35% across England and Wales. Anti-social behaviour makes up around 18%, close to the national 16%. Shoplifting is about 10% against 8%, and "other theft", at about 7%, and public order, at about 7%, both match the national shares almost exactly. The one that stands out is vehicle crime, about 10% here against 5% nationally. People who steal cars and their contents go where the cars are, and a driveway with an expensive car on it attracts them. The police.uk street map shows the year's reports around any address, and it's worth a look for a house whose car would sit on an open drive.
Once a crime is reported, the Metropolitan Police charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, putting it 33rd of 42 forces. In about 53% of the force's cases, nobody is ever identified. These are force-wide figures covering all of London, so they describe what happens after a crime anywhere in the Met's area and not in Chislehurst specifically. They also measure something different from how much crime the area sees.
Chislehurst is slightly less safe than the rest of Bromley, and most of the extra crime is property crime. The figures don't suggest anyone should stay away, but they do suggest locking the car and not leaving anything worth taking in it.