Hammersmith is less safe than the borough around it, and its crime rate makes that clear. It runs at about 184 recorded crimes a year for every thousand residents. That is roughly a quarter above the Hammersmith and Fulham average. A lot of it is the anti-social behaviour and theft you get around a big shopping and transport centre. Violence makes up a smaller share of the total than it does nationally. It is a busy town centre with a busy police caseload, and the river end is a much calmer place than the Broadway.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 8,869 crimes in Hammersmith in the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026. The published rate for that year is about 184 crimes per thousand residents, roughly 27% above the average for Hammersmith and Fulham as a whole. Twelve months is long enough that one bad weekend or one busy summer can't distort it.
Across the whole borough, the rate is about 145 crimes per thousand residents. Hammersmith's 184 is measured against that, and the comparison is with the rest of the same borough, Fulham included.
It is also one of the most crowded parts of West London. On average about 18,750 people live in each square kilometre, around 8% of households are overcrowded, and unemployment is about 4%. Wikipedia lists Hammersmith as one of London's major centres, with a shopping centre, a bus station, an Underground station and an office complex all at the Broadway, a second shopping centre at Livat Hammersmith on King Street, the town hall and the Lyric Theatre. More people pass through it in a day than live in it, and every incident counts against the residents' rate whoever was involved.
The mix of crime is more useful than the total, as long as each share is set against the national one. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal category that includes common assault with no injury, make up about 24% of Hammersmith's recorded crime, against 35% across England and Wales. Anti-social behaviour runs at about 22% here against 16% nationally, shoplifting at 11% against 8%, other theft at 9% against 7%, and vehicle crime at 6% against 5%. Public order offences, at about 7%, match the national share. A district with two shopping centres on one high street recording more shoplifting than average is about as surprising as the Lyric putting on a play. The police's online crime map breaks incidents down street by street, so look at the roads around the flat you want and the walk from there to the station, and not at the borough total.
Getting someone charged is a separate question from how much crime there is. Across its whole area, the Metropolitan Police Service charged a suspect in about 10% of cases over the twelve months to May 2026, against about 12% nationally. That puts it 33rd of 42 forces. About 53% of its cases were closed without anyone being identified. These figures cover all of London and say nothing about any Hammersmith street, but they do answer the question a burglary victim asks next.
Hammersmith is below average on safety. Most of the problem is the anti-social behaviour and theft that come with a big town centre, not violence, and where you live in relation to the Broadway decides most of what a resident sees of it.