Epsom is safe for a town, but it has more crime than the rest of its borough. It records about a fifth more crime than the borough average. The mix of crimes is very close to the national pattern. Surrey Police charge someone in about one case in ten. Epsom has the crime you would expect of a town centre with a racecourse, a station and a lot of pubs.
Surrey Police recorded 4,546 crimes in Epsom in the year to May 2026, which the published figures put at about 102 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 20% above the average for the borough of Epsom and Ewell. The rate is calculated on a statistical population base, which is different from a simple head count of Epsom's residents.
The borough-wide rate over the same year was about 86 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Epsom's 102. Epsom has the borough's main high street, its station and its 29 pubs, while the rest of the average comes from more residential streets. Anyone moving in from the quieter parts of the borough will notice they have moved somewhere with a Saturday night.
Epsom is a fairly dense town, with an average of about 5,060 people per square kilometre across its neighbourhoods. Unemployment was under 3% at the 2021 census and about 4% of households were overcrowded. These figures describe what the area is like. They do not explain the crime rate, and they suggest a comfortable town with a busy centre more than a struggling one.
The crime mix in Epsom is close to the national pattern. Violence and sexual offences make up about 32% of recorded crime, against about 35% nationally. That category covers a wide legal range, down to common assault with no injury, and it is the largest category almost everywhere. Anti-social behaviour accounts for about 17% against 16% nationally, and shoplifting 8% against 8%. Criminal damage and arson make up 7%, as they do nationally, and other theft 7% against 7%. Public order offences are the one category clearly above the national share, at about 9% against 7%, which fits a town that people come into for a night out. The most organised trouble on Epsom Downs on record was in May 1648, when royalist forces gathered under cover of a horse race and then marched off to Reigate. Nothing since has needed that much planning.
What happens after a crime is reported is decided across the whole force. Surrey Police charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% across England and Wales, which puts it 30th of 42 forces. About 36% of cases are closed with no suspect identified. These figures describe how the force handles cases, not how safe Epsom is, and they cover every town in Surrey. To check a particular street, look at the police's street-level crime map for the roads around the house, not just the town centre.
On safety, Epsom ranks below average for its borough. The extra crime is the ordinary kind that comes with a busy town centre, and the town is a little rowdier than the streets around it rather than dangerous.