Gravesend is about averagely safe, with a crime rate a bit higher than the borough around it. The gap is about an eighth. Violence makes up the same share of crime here as it does nationally. Anti-social behaviour makes up more. What stands out in Gravesend's figures is nuisance more than danger.
Police.uk recorded 7,124 crimes in Gravesend in the year to May 2026, a published rate of about 110 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 12% above the average for Gravesham as a whole over the same twelve months. The number is above average without being alarming, and the reasons why are clearer once the categories are split out.
In plain numbers, it is about 110 crimes per 1,000 people in Gravesend against about 98 per 1,000 across Gravesham. The borough figure includes Shorne, Cobham and the rest of the countryside to the south and east, where there is a lot of farmland and not much happening at night. A town compared with its own villages was always going to come out higher.
Gravesend is built up enough for that gap to make sense. The average neighbourhood has about 7,200 people per square kilometre. At the 2021 census about 4% of working-age residents were unemployed and about 7% of households were overcrowded. Those are descriptions of the place, and none of them explains a crime rate on its own. They do describe a busy working town more than a commuter village.
By category, violence and sexual offences make up about 35% of Gravesend's recorded crime, the same as the national share of about 35%. That category covers a wide legal range, down to common assault where nobody was hurt, and it is the largest almost everywhere. Anti-social behaviour is the one that stands out, at about 22% here against about 16% nationally. Criminal damage and arson take about 9% against about 7%, other theft about 8% against about 7%, and vehicle crime about 5% against about 5%. Shoplifting is about 4% of the total against about 8% nationally. What Gravesend has more of than most is anti-social behaviour, the kind of crime that is mostly about annoying the neighbours.
Once something is reported, Kent Police charges a suspect in about 16% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 6th of 42 forces in England and Wales over the year to May 2026. About 36% of the force's cases closed with no suspect identified. Both figures cover all of Kent and say nothing about any one street in Gravesend. They answer what happens after a crime, which is a separate question from how likely a crime is. If a particular road matters, look up its own street-level map on police.uk, because the town-wide rate blends the busy centre with the quiet estates.
Gravesend is about as safe as an ordinary Kent town with a busy centre: nothing in the record should put a buyer off, and nothing in it is a selling point either. The figure most likely to affect daily life is the anti-social behaviour.